Chapter 251: A New Constitutional Union Party Holds Its Convention

May 9, 1860

Many Senior Officials Fear The Loss Of The Union

One week after the Democrats recess in Charleston, the new Constitutional Union Party holds its first and only convention in Baltimore. The prime mover behind the event is Kentucky Senator, John J. Crittenden, and the venue is the Eastside District Courthouse. Roughly 250 delegates from 23 states show up for a tightly choreographed session completed in a single day.

What draws the attendees together is a shared fear that the Union of States is about to collapse over the controversies surrounding slavery in the territories. All present agree this must not happen.

Their antidotes lie in rallying emotional support among the public for the “grand old flag” and persuading their fellow politicians to abandon harsh rhetoric and embrace “forbearance, concession and conciliation.”

The leadership of the Constitutional Union Party includes many nationally recognized figures whose service includes the military, the nation’s leading universities, the clergy, as well as the legislative and judicial branches of government. Their home states run from Massachusetts to Texas, albeit concentrated in the upper south, from Virginia and North Carolina through Kentucky and Tennessee. Several are slave owners, but without insisting that the institution be expanded to the territories.

Many are former Whigs, whose political roots trace back to Henry Clay and Presidents Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. After the demise of their party in 1852, some shift to the now defunct Know Nothing/American Party. None seem comfortable with the new Republican alternative, whose policies on slavery seem likely to provoke disunion. A few former Democrats are also in the mix, troubled by the growing divisiveness of its overtly Southern stances.

Another characteristic of this group is their advanced age. Many have been born before the turn of the century and several have fought in the War of 1812. Together they have a shared memory of the early days of the Union, when its very survival remained in doubt.

One man, in particular, has become the spokesman for the birth of the nation. He is Edward Everett, America’s leading lecturer at the time, who tours the country with a stirring, fully memorized, speech about George Washington and the Revolutionary War era – delivered in the name of raising funds to acquire and preserve the Mt. Vernon estate.

In 1851, Everett publishes his compendium on Daniel Webster, including a famous line that captures the spirit of the movement he now joins:

I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!

Profiles Of Several Constitutional Union Party Leaders

The Delegates Pass A Platform Designed To Alienate No One

Members of the Constitutional Union Party are well aware that they have no chance of winning enough popular votes in the 1860 presidential election to defeat the Democrat and Republican nominees.  

Instead their strategy lies in denying both the Electoral College majority required to win outright, and thus throw the election back into the House. Once there, they foresee a prolonged stalemate ending with a compromise candidate in the form of their own nominee.

To preserve this middle ground position for their candidate, the delegates approve a two paragraph platform that avoids any fixed position on the issue of slavery in the territories – and instead promises loyalty to time honored principles of the Constitution and all measures to insure domestic tranquility and preserve the Union. Here it stands in its entirety:

Bell And Everett Chosen To Head The Ticket

The final task for the delegates lies in selecting their nominees for the top of their ticket.

Enthusiasm runs highest for John Crittenden, but, as in the past, he continues to opt out of a run for the presidency.

The next most popular choice is Edward Everett, but his Massachusetts roots fail to correspond to the party’s upper southern demographics.

Almost by default this leaves John Bell in the spotlight. His colleagues consider his manner to be aloof and formal, hardly the stuff of an inspirational leader. But he has steered a middle course in government, mustered enough personal support to have been chosen as Speaker of the House, held a cabinet post, and is a Southern slave owner who has avoided alienating those in the North.

On the first ballot, Bell and Sam Houston take the lead. By the second, however, almost all of the “favorite son” candidates have dropped out and their votes have gone to Bell, who wins the nomination.

Constitutional Union Party Ballot Results

After the Vice-Presidential slot goes easily to the popular northerner, Edward Everett, the convention adjourns.