Part 44 (2/2)
368. Progress of Invention.--The electric telegraph was now in common use. It enabled the newspapers to tell the people what was going on as they never had done before. Perhaps the invention that did as much as any one thing to make life easier was the sewing machine. Elias Howe was the first man to make a really practicable sewing machine. Other inventors improved upon it, and also made machines to sew other things than cloth, as leather. Agricultural machinery was now in common use.
The horse reaper had been much improved, and countless machines had been invented to make agricultural labor more easy and economical. Hundreds of homely articles, as friction matches and rubber shoes, came into use in these years. In short, the thirty years from Jackson's inauguration to the secession of the Southern states were years of great progress.
But this progress was confined almost wholly to the North. In the South, living in 1860 was about the same as it had been in 1830, or even in 1800. As a Southern orator said of the South, ”The rush and whirl of modern civilization pa.s.sed her by.”
CHAPTER 36
SECESSION, 1860-1861
[Ill.u.s.tration: WILLIAM H. SEWARD.]
[Sidenote: Candidates for the Republican nomination 1860.]
[Sidenote: Lincoln nominated. The platform.]
369. The Republican Nomination, 1860.--Four names were especially mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for President.
These were Seward, Chase, Cameron, and Lincoln. Seward was the best known of them all. In the debates on the Compromise of 1850 he had declared that there was ”a higher law” than the Const.i.tution, namely, ”the law of nature in men's hearts.” In another speech he had termed the slavery contest ”the irrepressible conflict.” These phrases endeared him to the antislavery men. But they made it impossible for many moderate Republicans to follow him. Senator Chase of Ohio had also been very outspoken in his condemnation of slavery. Senator Cameron of Pennsylvania was an able political leader. But all of these men were ”too conspicuous to make a good candidate.” They had made many enemies.
Lincoln had spoken freely. But he had never been prominent in national politics. He was more likely to attract the votes of moderate men than either of the other candidates. After a fierce contest he was nominated.
The Republican platform stated that there was no intention to interfere with slavery in the states where it existed; but it declared the party's opposition to the extension of slavery. The platform favored internal improvements at the national expense. It also approved the protective system.
[Sidenote: The Charleston convention, 1860. _McMaster_, 360-361.]
[Sidenote: The Douglas Democrats.]
[Sidenote: The Breckinridge Democrats.]
370. The Democratic Nominations.--The Democratic convention met at Charleston, South Carolina. It was soon evident that the Northern Democrats and the Southern Democrats could not agree. The Northerners were willing to accept the Dred Scott decision and to carry it out. But the Southerners demanded that the platform should pledge the party actively to protect slavery in the territories. To this the Northerners would not agree. So the convention broke up to meet again at Baltimore.
But there the delegates could come to no agreement. In the end two candidates were named. The Northerners nominated Douglas on a platform advocating ”popular sovereignty.” The Southerners nominated John C.
Breckinridge of Kentucky. In their platform they advocated states'
rights, and the protection of slavery in the territories by the federal government.
[Sidenote: The Const.i.tutional Union party.]
371. The Const.i.tutional Union Party.--Besides these three candidates, cautious and timid men of all parties united to form the Const.i.tutional Union party. They nominated Governor John Bell of Tennessee for President. In their platform they declared for the maintenance of the Const.i.tution and the Union, regardless of slavery.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS AND SADDLEBAG.]
[Sidenote: The campaign of 1860.]
[Sidenote: Lincoln elected.]
372. Lincoln elected President, 1860.--With four candidates in the field and the Democratic party hopelessly divided, there could be little doubt of Lincoln's election. He carried every Northern state except Missouri and New Jersey. He received one hundred and eighty electoral notes. Breckenridge carried every Southern state except the ”border states” of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and received seventy-two electoral votes. Bell carried the three ”border” Southern states and Douglas carried Missouri and New Jersey. There was no doubt as to Lincoln's election. He had received a great majority of the electoral votes. But his opponents had received more popular votes than he had received. He was therefore elected by a minority of the voters.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LINCOLN'S BOOKCASE. From the Keyes-Lincoln Memorial Collection, Chicago.]
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