The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election.
The first convention, held from April 23 to May 3 in Charleston, South Carolina, deadlocked after failing to nominate a ticket: two subsequent conventions, both held in Baltimore, Maryland in June, ultimately nominated separate presidential tickets.
Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois entered the Charleston convention as the front-runner for the presidential nomination, and while he won a majority on the first presidential ballot of the convention, convention rules at the time required a two-thirds majority to win the nomination, with Douglas' adherence to the Freeport Doctrine regarding slavery in the territories engendering strong opposition from many Southern delegates. Opponents of Douglas's nomination spread their support among five major candidates, including former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie of Kentucky and Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia.
After 57 ballots over a span of two days, in which Douglas consistently won at least half of the delegates, the Charleston convention adjourned when it became apparent no candidate could secure the required two-thirds of all votes.
The Democratic convention reconvened in Baltimore on June 18, but many Southern delegates were either excluded from the convention or refused to participate. The convention adopted a platform in which it pledged to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States upon questions of Constitutional Law regarding slavery.
Douglas was ultimately nominated for president on the second ballot (the 59th ballot overall). Senator Benjamin Fitzpatrick of Alabama was nominated for vice president, but he refused the nomination, and was replaced by former Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia.
The Southern Democrats who had boycotted, or walked out of, the Baltimore convention held their own separate convention and adopted a pro-slavery platform, and nominated incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, with Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon as vice president.
While Douglas and Breckinridge received a combined 47.62% of the popular vote in the 1860 presidential election, they lost the election to Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln.
Charleston convention
Background
The front-runner for the nomination was Douglas, who was considered a moderate on the slavery issue. With the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act, he advanced the doctrine of popular sovereignty: allowing settlers in each Territory to decide for themselves whether slavery would be allowed—a change from the flat prohibition of slavery in most Territories under the Missouri Compromise, which the South had welcomed. However, the Supreme Court’s ensuing 1857 'Dred Scott' decision declared that the Constitution protected slavery in all Territories.
Douglas was challenged for his Senate seat by Abraham Lincoln in 1858, and narrowly won re-election, after the Lincoln-Douglas debates, by professing the Freeport Doctrine, a de facto rejection of Dred Scott, with militant Southern "Fire-Eaters", such as William Yancey of Alabama, opposing him as a traitor. Many of them openly predicted a split in the party and the election of Republican front-runner William H. Seward.
The 1860 Democratic National Convention convened at South Carolina Institute Hall (destroyed in the Great Fire of 1861) in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 23, 1860: the galleries at the convention were packed with pro-slavery spectators.
Party platform disputes Urged by Yancey, the delegations from seven Deep South states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) met in a separate caucus before the convention. They reached a tentative consensus to "stop Douglas" by imposing a pro-slavery party platform which he could not run on if nominated.Heidler, David S. Pulling the Temple Down: The Fire-Eaters and the Destruction of the Union , p. 149. Jefferson Davis, a relative moderate, saw this coalition of the Deep South with Douglas's enemies in the Buchanan administration as potentially dangerous, and called for abandoning a platform as the Whigs had in 1840, just settling on an agreed-to candidate. The moderates, principally found in Alabama and Georgia, were outvoted in caucus.
The "Fire-eater" majority on the convention's platform committee, chaired by William Waightstill Avery of North Carolina, produced an explicitly pro-slavery document, endorsing Dred Scott and Congressional legislation protecting slavery in the territories. Northern Democrats refused to acquiesce, as Dred Scott was extremely unpopular in the North, and the Northerners said they could not carry a single state with that platform: this would end any Democratic prospect of retaining the White House, as no previous candidate had won the presidency without winning either New York or Pennsylvania, and only four (John Adams in 1796, James Madison in 1812, John Quincy Adams in 1824, and James Buchanan in 1856) had been elected without winning both. Douglas and supporters thus preferred the 1856 Cincinnati platform.
On April 30, the minority (Northern) report was substituted for that of the majority (Southern) report by a vote of 165 to 138. The question next in order before the convention was upon the adoption of the second resolution of the minority of the committee: on this question Alabama, Arkansas, one of Delaware's delegates, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas refused to vote. The Douglas party abandoned the vague second resolution, and it was defeated by an overwhelming vote of 238 to 21 (with 44 abstentions).
Between April 30 and May 1, 51 Southern delegates walked out of the convention in protest: the entire delegations of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, three of the four delegates from Arkansas and one of the three delegates from Delaware. These delegates gathered at St. Andrews Hall on Broad Street and declared themselves the real convention as the Institute Hall convention proceeded to nominations.
Since both the majority and the minority resolutions on the Territorial question were rejected, nothing remained except the Cincinnati platform as the Douglas faction had desired. The dominant Douglas forces believed their path was now clear.
Two-thirds rule Before the balloting for president commenced, Mr. Howard of Tennessee succeeded in obtaining a vote of the convention in affirmance of the two-thirds rule: on his motion they resolved, by 141 votes to 112, "that the President of the Convention be and he is hereby directed not to declare any person nominated for the office of President or Vice President unless he shall have received a number of votes equal to two-thirds of the votes of all the Electoral Colleges."
It was well known at the time that this resolution would render the regular nomination of Douglas impossible.
Presidential balloting Six major candidates were nominated at the convention: Douglas, former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie of Kentucky, Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia, Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon, former Senator Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, and Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee.
Presidential candidates
While Douglas led on the first ballot, receiving of the 253 votes cast, the convention had required a two-thirds vote to win the nomination: further to this, convention chairman Caleb Cushing ruled that this was two-thirds of the whole membership, not two-thirds of those present and voting.
This ruling meant Douglas needed 202 votes ( more votes), or 80% of the remaining 253 delegates: this was all but impossible as it would have required several of the remaining Southern delegates to vote for Douglas, who they vehemently opposed.
Consequently, the convention held 57 ballots, and though Douglas led on all of them, he never received more than votes. On the 57th ballot, Douglas received votes, still votes short of the nomination, though far ahead of Guthrie, who was second with . On 3 May, the delegates voted to adjourn the convention, and reconvene in Baltimore six weeks later.
A few votes went to former Senator Isaac Toucey of Connecticut and Senator James Pearce of Maryland, while Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi (the future Confederate President) received one vote on over fifty ballots from Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts. Ironically, during the Civil War, Butler became a Union general, and Davis ordered him hanged as a criminal if he was captured.
Presidential Ballot1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22ndDouglas 145.5147148.5149149.5149.5150.5150.5150150.5150.5150.5149.5150150150150150150150150.5150.5Guthrie 35.536.53737.537.539.538.538.541.539.539.539.539.54141.5424241.541.54241.541.5Hunter 4241.54141.541414140.540.539383828.52726.526262626262626Lane 6666676665.56.56.52020.520.520.520.520.520.520.520.520.5Dickinson 76.56.555344.5144410.50.50.50.5110.50.50.5Johnson 12121212121211111212121212121212121212121212Toucey 2.52.500000000000000000000Davis 1.5111101111.51.51.51.5111111111Pearce1000000000000000000000Withdrawn50505151515151515151515151515151515151515151
Presidential Ballot23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th 41st 42ndDouglas 152.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5152.5152.5152.5152151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5Guthrie 41.541.541.541.542.542424547.547.547.547.547.54864.56666.566.566.566.5Hunter 252535252525252532.522.522.522.52222161616161616Lane 19.519.59.59887.55.55.514.514.512.5131312.51312.512.51313Dickinson 0.51.51.5121212.5131333354.54.55.55.55.55.555Johnson 12121212121212111111111112120.500000Davis 111111111111111.500000Withdrawn5151515151515151515151515151515151515151
Presidential Ballot43rd 44th 45th 46th 47th 48th 49th 50th 51st 52nd 53rd 54th 55th 56th 57thDouglas 151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5151.5Guthrie 65.565.565.565.565.565.565.565.565.565.565.56165.565.565.5Hunter 161616161616161616161620.5161616Lane 131313131313141414141416141414Dickinson 555555444442444Davis 111111111111111Withdrawn515151515151515151515151515151
1st Day of Presidential Balloting / 8th Day of Convention (Tuesday, May 1, 1860)
2nd Day of Presidential Balloting / 9th Day of Convention (Wednesday, May 2, 1860)
Baltimore convention (Northern Democratic) The Democrats re-convened at the Front Street Theater (destroyed in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904) in Baltimore, Maryland, on 18 June.
Delegate re-admission disagreement The southern walk-out delegates had reconvened at Metropolitan Hall in Richmond where it was decided by many delegates to attend the Baltimore convention before giving up on their fellow Democrats. However, the South Carolina delegation chose to remain in Richmond. The resumed convention's first business was to decide whether to re-admit the delegates who had walked out of the Charleston session, or to seat replacement delegates who had been named by pro-Douglas Democrats in some states: other delegates had boycotted the Baltimore convention.
The credentials committee's majority report recommended re-admitting all delegates except those from Louisiana and Alabama, while the minority report recommended re-admitting some of the Louisiana and Alabama delegates as well. On June 22, the minority (Southern) report failed to be substituted for that of the majority (Northern) report by a vote of -150.
After the rejection of the minority report, two votes were taken on the reconsideration of the substitution vote. At first, New York revived hopes of adopting the minority report by voting for its reconsideration. But during the second vote on reconsideration, New York switched back to its original vote.