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1860 Constitutional Union Convention

U.S. political event held in Baltimore, Maryland

Field	Value
year	1860
party	Constitutional Union
image	John Bell, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, eyes front Crop.jpg
image2	SecEdwardEverett.png
image_size2	95px
date	May 9–10, 1860
city	Baltimore, Maryland
venue	Old First Presbyterian Church
presidential_nominee	John Bell
presidential_nominee_state	Tennessee
vice_presidential_nominee	Edward Everett
vice_presidential_nominee_state
Massachusetts
caption	Nominees
Bell and Everett
only_year	yes

Massachusetts Bell and Everett

The 1860 Constitutional Union National Convention met on May 9, 1860, in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the only national convention ever held by the Constitutional Union Party, which was organized largely by former Whig Party members from the Southern United States who opposed secession. The convention nominated former Senator John Bell of Tennessee for president and former Secretary of State Edward Everett of Massachusetts for vice president.

Bell won the presidential nomination on the second ballot of the convention, defeating Everett, Governor Sam Houston of Texas, Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, former Governor William Alexander Graham of North Carolina, Associate Justice John McLean of Ohio, and several other candidates. In the 1860 presidential election, Bell and Everett finished third in the electoral vote and fourth in the popular vote.

Background

After the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, the Whigs collapsed due to divisions over slavery. Many Northern Whigs shifted to the new Republican Party, while many Southern Whigs joined the American Party, or "Know Nothings." By 1859, the Know Nothing movement had collapsed, but some former Southern Whigs who refused to join their long-time rivals in the Democratic Party had organized themselves into the "Opposition Party." Several of this party's supporters, among them Knoxville Whig editor William Brownlow, former vice presidential candidate Andrew Jackson Donelson, and California attorney Balie Peyton sought to launch a third-party presidential ticket.

In May 1860, disgruntled ex-Whigs and disenchanted moderates from across the country convened in Baltimore, where they formed the Constitutional Union Party. The party's platform was very broad and made no mention of slavery. While there were several candidates for the party's presidential nomination, the two frontrunners were Bell and Sam Houston.

Presidential nomination

Presidential candidates

A Constitutional Union campaign poster, 1860, portraying John Bell and Edward Everett, respectively the candidates for president and vice president. Once Lincoln was inaugurated, and called up the militia, Bell supported the secession of Tennessee. In 1863, Everett dedicated the new cemetery at Gettysburg.

Bell led the initial round of balloting with 68.5 votes to Houston's 59. The remainder of the votes were split among eight other candidates. Houston's military endeavors had brought him national renown, but he reminded the convention's Clay Whigs of their old foe Andrew Jackson. On May 10, Bell received 139 votes to Houston's 69, and was declared the candidate.

Presidential Ballot	Ballot	1st	2nd (Before Shifts)	Bell	Houston	Crittenden	Everett	Graham	McLean	Rives	Botts	Sharkey	Goggin	Not Represented
68.5	139
57	69
28	1
25	9.5
22	18.5
21	1
13	0
9.5	7.5
7	8.5
3	0
49	49

Presidential Balloting / 2nd Day of Convention (May 10, 1860) File:1860ConstitutionalUnionPresidentialNomination1stBallot.png|1st Presidential Ballot File:1860ConstitutionalUnionPresidentialNomination2ndBallotBefore.png|2nd Presidential Ballot (Before Shifts)

Vice presidential nomination

Vice presidential candidates

SecEdwardEverett.png| GovWashingtonHunt.png|

The vice presidential nomination went to Edward Everett of Massachusetts, who had served as president of Harvard University and as Secretary of State in the Fillmore administration. Everett was nominated by acclaimation.

References

Joseph Parks, ''John Bell of Tennessee'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1950).
John Bell was a former U.S. Senator, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Secretary of War
Sam Houston was a sitting Governor of Texas, former U.S. Senator, President of the Republic of Texas, Governor of Tennessee, and U.S. Representative (Tennessee-7)
John Crittenden was a sitting U.S. Senator, former U.S. Attorney General, Governor of Kentucky, U.S. Representative (Kentucky-8)
Edward Everett was a former U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom, Governor of Massachusetts, U.S. Representative (Massachusetts-4)
William A. Graham was a former U.S. Senator, Governor of North Carolina, U.S. Secretary of the Navy
William C. Rives was a former U.S. Senator 1832–1834, and again 1836-1845

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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