from Bates, 18 from Chase, 9 from Dayton, 3 CHAP. XV. from McLean, 1 from Clay. Lincoln had gained 501, Seward had lost 44. Long before the official tellers footed up their columns, spectators and delegates rapidly made the reckoning and knew the result: Lincoln, 231; Seward, 180.1 Counting the scattering votes, 465 ballots had been cast, and 233 were necessary to a choice; only 1 votes more were needed to make a nomination.

A profound stillness suddenly fell upon the wigwam; the men ceased to talk and the ladies to flutter their fans; one could distinctly hear the scratching of pencils and the ticking of telegraph instruments on the reporters' tables. No announcement had been made by the chair; changes were in order, and it was only a question of seconds who should speak first. While every one was leaning forward in intense expectancy, David K. Cartter sprang upon his chair and reported a change of four Ohio votes from Chase to Lincoln. There was a moment's pause,-a teller

1 THIRD BALLOT IN DETAIL.

For Seward.-Maine 10, New Hampshire 1, Massachusetts 18, Rhode Island 1, Connecticut 1, New York 70, New Jersey 5, Maryland 2, Virginia 8, Kentucky 6, Michigan 12, Texas 6, Wisconsin 10, Iowa 2, California 8, Minnesota 8, Oregon 1, Kansas 6, Nebraska 3, District of Columbia 2.- Total for Seward, 180.

For Lincoln.-Maine 6, New Hampshire 9, Vermont 10, Massachusetts 8, Rhode Island 5, Connecticut 4, New Jersey 8, Pennsylvania 52, Maryland 9, Delaware 6, Virginia 14, Kentucky 13, Ohio 29, Indiana 26, Illinois 22, Iowa 51⁄2, Oregon 4, Nebraska 1.— Total for Lincoln, 2311⁄2.

Scattering.- Rhode Island, Chase 1, McLean 1; Connecticut, Bates 4, Chase 2, Clay 1; New Jersey, Dayton 1; Pennsylvania, McLean 2; Kentucky, Chase 4; Ohio, Chase 15, McLean 2; Missouri, Bates 18; Iowa, Chase ; Nebraska, Chase 2.-Total, for Bates, 22; for Chase, 24%; for McLean, 5; for Dayton, 1; for Clay, 1.

Springfield, Ill. May 23. 1860

How: George Ashmen's

"President of the Republican National Convention. Sir:

I accept the nomination tendend

me by the Convention over which which I

am

your presidio, and formally apprized in the letter of yours

of self and others, acting as tion, for that pumposo_

a commettes of the convers

"The declaration of principles and pentements; which accompanies your letter, meets my approval; and it shall be my caw not to violety, disregarde it, in any part

Implosing the assistance of Divine Providence,

and with duo

f

all who wew.

to the views and

~ feelings

ледани
represented in the Convention.

the nation;

to the rights of all the stater, and territores people of to the inviolability of the "Constitution, and the perpetual unor, harmony, poperity of all, I am most happy to co-operate for the /mactical success

Convention

the principles declared by the Your obligea friend, and fellow citizen A Lincol

FAC-SIMILE OF LINCOLN'S LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.

276

waved his tally-sheet towards the skylight and CHAP. XV. shouted a name,- and then the boom of a cannon on the roof of the wigwam announced the nomination to the crowds in the streets, where shouts and salutes took up and spread the news. In the convention the Lincoln river now became an inundation. Amid the wildest hurrahs, delegation after delegation changed its vote to the victor.

A graceful custom prevails in orderly American conventions, that the chairman of the vanquished delegation is first to greet the nominee with a short address of party fealty and promise of party support. Mr. Evarts, the spokesman for New York, essayed promptly to perform this courteous office, but was delayed a while by the enthusiasm and confusion. The din at length subsided, and the presiding officer announced that on the third ballot Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, received 364 votes, and "is selected as your candidate for President of the United States." Then Mr. Evarts, in a voice of unconcealed emotion, but with admirable dignity and touching eloquence, speaking for Seward and for New York, moved to make the nomination unanimous.

The interest in a National Convention usually ceases with the announcement of the principal nomination. It was only afterwards that the delegates realized how fortunate a selection they made by adding Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, to the ticket as candidate for Vice-President. Mr. Hamlin was already distinguished in public service. He was born in 1809, and became a lawyer by profession. He served many years in the Maine Legislature and four years as a Representative in Congress.

CHAP. XV. In 1848 he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate, and in 1851 was reëlected for a full term. When in 1856 the Cincinnati Convention indorsed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which he had opposed, Mr. Hamlin formally withdrew from the Democratic party. In November of that year the Republicans elected him Governor of Maine, and in January, 1857, reelected him United States Senator.

For the moment the chief self-congratulation of the convention was that by the nomination of Lincoln it had secured the doubtful vote of the conservative States. Or rather, perhaps, might it be said that it was hardly the work of the delegates-it was the concurrent product of popular wisdom. Political evolution had with scientific precision wrought "the survival of the fittest." The delegates leaving Chicago on the various homeward-bound railroad trains that night, saw that already the enthusiasm of the convention was transferred from the wigwam to the country. "At every station where there was a village, until after 2 o'clock, there were tar-barrels burning, drums beating, boys carrying rails, and guns great and small banging away. The weary passengers were allowed no rest, but plagued by the thundering of the cannon, the clamor of drums, the glare of bonfires, and the whooping of boys, who were delighted with the idea of a candidate for the Presidency who thirty years before split rails on the Sangamon River classic stream now and for evermore 1860, p. 154. and whose neighbors named him 'honest.""

Halstead, "Conventions of

CHAPTER XVI

TH

LINCOLN ELECTED

HUS the Presidential canvass in the United CHAP. XVI. States for the year 1860 began with the very unusual condition of four considerable parties, and four different tickets for President and VicePresident. In the order of popular strength, as afterwards shown, they were:

First. The Republican party, which at the Chicago Convention had nominated as its candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and for Vice-President, Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine. Its animating spirit was a belief and declaration that the institution of slavery was wrong in morals and detrimental to society; its avowed policy was to restrict slavery to its present limits in the States where it existed by virtue of local constitutions and laws.

Second. The Douglas wing of the Democratic party, which at Baltimore nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, for President, and whose candidate for Vice-President was Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia.1 It declared indifference as

1 Benjamin Fitzpatrick, of Ala- nomination, and the National bama, had been nominated at Committee substituted the name Baltimore, but he declined the of Herschel V. Johnson.