{"id":2882,"date":"2010-07-14T21:49:29","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T02:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/?p=2882"},"modified":"2010-07-14T21:51:46","modified_gmt":"2010-07-15T02:51:46","slug":"election-of-1860-%e2%80%93-democratic-convention-in-charleston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/2010\/07\/14\/election-of-1860-%e2%80%93-democratic-convention-in-charleston\/","title":{"rendered":"Election of 1860 \u2013 Democratic Convention in Charleston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32177\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2884 alignright\" title=\"The Democratic Party Gone To Smash\" src=\"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/files\/2010\/07\/1860_05_02_democratic-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/files\/2010\/07\/1860_05_02_democratic-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/files\/2010\/07\/1860_05_02_democratic.jpg 529w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe irrepressible conflict has rent the Democratic party asunder, and it has ceased to exist as a national organization.\u201d \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32177\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago (IL) <\/a><em><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32177\" target=\"_blank\">Democrat<\/a><\/em>, May 1, 1860<\/p>\n<p>When the <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/17712\" target=\"_blank\">Democratic National Convention<\/a> opened on April 23, 1860 in <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/9170\" target=\"_blank\">Charleston<\/a>, South Carolina, the delegates\u2019 objectives were to set the platform and select candidates for the <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/9604\" target=\"_blank\">1860 election<\/a>. Illinois Senator <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/5585\" target=\"_blank\">Stephen Douglas<\/a> was one of the politicians who hoped to receive the nomination. While some <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32090\" target=\"_blank\">Democratic newspaper editors<\/a> considered him as the best hope for victory in November 1860, others argued that he exemplified the sectional divisions within the party. Douglas, as the New York <em>Herald<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32098\" target=\"_blank\">explained<\/a>, was not \u201ca moderate man who can unite the whole party.\u201d The divide within the Democratic party became clear when the convention ended on May 1\u00a0without delegates selecting any candidates. Instead, Democrats would <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32281\" target=\"_blank\">reconvene in Baltimore<\/a>, Maryland on June 18. Republican newspapers like the Chicago (IL) <em>Press and Tribune<\/em> were quick to use the Charleston convention to characterize the Democrats as \u201can intensely sectional organization.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/6095\" target=\"_blank\">Abraham Lincoln<\/a>, as the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32105\" target=\"_blank\">Press and Tribune<\/a><\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32105\" target=\"_blank\"> noted<\/a>, had predicted such a development during his debate with Senator Douglas at <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/16652\" target=\"_blank\">Galesburg<\/a>, Illinois on October 7, 1858: \u201c<em>I see the day rapidly approaching when [Douglas\u2019] pill of sectionalism, which he has been thrusting down the throats of Republicans for years past, will be [crowded?] down his own throat.<\/em>\u201d While Northern Democrats eventually selected Douglas as their candidate, Southern Democrats <a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/32311\" target=\"_blank\">nominated <\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu\/node\/5186\" target=\"_blank\">John C. Breckinridge<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe irrepressible conflict has rent the Democratic party asunder, and it has ceased to exist as a national organization.\u201d \u2013 Chicago (IL) Democrat, May 1, 1860 When the Democratic National Convention opened on April 23, 1860 in Charleston, South Carolina, the delegates\u2019 objectives were to set the platform and select candidates for the 1860 election. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,171],"tags":[158],"class_list":["post-2882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antebellum-1840-1861","category-historic-periodicals","tag-campaigns-elections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2882"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2887,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions\/2887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/blogdivided\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}