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Good Old Fashioned Conventions

1860 Democratic Convention Number 2 - Baltimore, Maryland

By Robert Longley, About.com

When the mainly Northern Democrats gathered again in Baltimore, guess who showed up? The same Southern delegates who had walked out on the Charleston convention were back demanding to be seated.

In a major credentials battle, some of the Southern delegates were readmitted to the convention floor while others were not. The rancor of this debate led to yet another walkout -- this time by 110 delegates.

This time, the walkouts decided to hold their own "Southern Rights Convention," at which they nominated Kentuckian John C. Breckinridge and adopted a platform supporting passage of federal slave codes.

Meanwhile, back at their "real" convention, "loyal" Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas and adopted a platform in support of the Constitution and the Supreme Court, and opposed to slavery. So much for the "united we stand."

The 1860 Election - No Contest

Once the conventional smoke cleared, the presidential election of 1860 boiled down to a three-way race of one Republican - Lincoln, against two Democrats - Douglas and Breckinridge.

With their party hopelessly split, the Northern states solidly behind Lincoln and Democratic newspapers pushing ever harder for secession, neither Democrat stood a chance.

Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th President of the Unites States by a wide margin.

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