1860 Republican National Convention
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1860 Republican National Convention
1860 Republican National Convention
1860 Presidential Election
Nominees
Lincoln and Hamlin
Convention
Date(s)
May 16-May 18, 1860
City
Chicago, Illinois
Venue
The Wigwam
Candidates
Presidential Nominee
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois
Vice Presidential Nominee
Hannibal Hamlin of Maine
Other Candidates
William H. Seward of New York
The 1860 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States, held in Chicago, Illinois at the
Wigwam,[1] nominated former Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for President and Senator Hannibal
Hamlin of Maine for Vice President. This was only the second national nominating convention for the Republican
Party.
Other candidates at the convention included former New York Governor William H. Seward, U.S. Senator Salmon
P. Chase of Ohio, former U.S. Representative Edward Bates of Missouri, and U.S. Senator Simon Cameron of
Pennsylvania.
This primary was notable as every candidate that ran for the Republican nomination eventually became a member of
Lincoln's cabinet.
Seward had been the favorite going into the convention, and led on the first two ballots. His lead soon melted away
to the dark horse Lincoln, who captured the nomination on the third ballot. Lincoln's campaign manager, David
Davis, was credited with playing a substantial role in the convention outcome.
Lincoln-Hamlin went on to defeat three other major tickets that year, including Democratic nominee Stephen A.
Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois.
Ballot counts
The Republican National Convention met in mid-May, after the Democrats had been forced to adjourn the 1860
Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina without a nominee and had not yet re-convened in
Baltimore, Maryland. With the Democrats in disarray and with a sweep of the Northern states possible, the
Republicans were confident going into their convention in Chicago. William H. Seward of New York was
considered the front runner, followed by Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, and Missouri's
Edward Bates.
1860 Republican National Convention
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As the convention developed, however, it was revealed that Seward, Chase, and Bates had each alienated factions of
the Republican Party. Delegates were concerned that Seward was too closely identified with the radical wing of the
party, and his moves toward the center had alienated the radicals. Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of
the former Whigs by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s, had opposed tariffs demanded by
Pennsylvania, and critically, had opposition from his own delegation from Ohio. Bates outlined his positions on
extension of slavery into the territories and equal constitutional rights for all citizens, positions that alienated his
supporters in the border states and southern conservatives. German-Americans in the party opposed Bates because of
his past association with the Know-Nothings.
Since it was essential to carry the West, and because Lincoln had a national reputation from his debates and speeches
as the most articulate moderate, he won the party's nomination on the third ballot on May 18, 1860. Lincoln
associates Leonard Swett, Ward Hill Lamon, and David Davis helped engineer Lincoln's nomination, according to
the 1949 doctoral thesis Ward Hill Lamon: Lincoln's Particular Friend, written by Lavern Marshall Hamand at the
Graduate College of the University of Illinois.
Presidential Ballot
Nominee
Home State
1st
William H. Seward
New York
Abraham Lincoln
Illinois
102
Simon Cameron
Pennsylvania
Salmon P. Chase
2nd
3rd
3rd "corrected"
180
111.5
181
231.5
349
50.5
2
0
0
Ohio
49
42.5
24.5
2
Edward Bates
Missouri
48
35
22
0
William L. Dayton
New Jersey
14
10
1
1
John McLean
Ohio
12
8
5
0.5
Jacob Collamer
Vermont
10
0
-
-
Benjamin F. Wade
Ohio
3
0
-
-
John M. Read
Pennsylvania
1
0
-
-
Charles Sumner
Massachusetts
1
0
-
-
John C. Fremont
California
1
0
-
-
Cassius M. Clay
Kentucky
-
2
1
1
173.5 184.5
After seeing how close Lincoln was to the 233 votes needed, Robert K. Enos, an 1860 Ohio delegate, was
responsible for getting 3 fellow Ohio delegates to shift their 4 votes to Lincoln. There is a 5/19/1860 Chicago Press
and Tribune article - "The Four Votes" and other accounts proving that fact. This triggered an avalanche towards
Lincoln with a final count of 364 votes out of 466 cast.[2]
Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was nominated for vice president, defeating Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky.
1860 Republican National Convention
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Vice Presidential Ballot
Nominee
Home State
1st
2nd
Hannibal Hamlin
Maine
194
367
Cassius M. Clay
Kentucky
100.5
86
John Hickman
Pennsylvania
57
13
51
0
Andrew H. Reeder Pennsylvania & Kansas
Nathaniel Banks
Massachusetts
38.5
0
Henry W. Davis
Maryland
8
0
Sam Houston
Texas
6
0
William L. Dayton
New Jersey
3
0
John M. Read
Pennsylvania
1
0
Platform
The 1860 Republican party platform was recommended to the convention by a committee chaired by Judge William
Jessup of Pennsylvania, and was adopted unanimously.[3]
The platform contained seventeen declarations of principle, of which ten dealt directly with the issues of free soil
principles, slavery, the Fugitive Slave Act,[4] and the preservation of the Union, while seven dealt with other issues.
Clauses 12 through 16 of the platform called for a protective tariff, enactment of the Homestead Act, freedom of
immigration into the United States and full rights to all immigrant citizens, internal improvements, and the
construction of a Pacific railroad.[3]
In addition to the preservation of the Union, all five of these additional promises were enacted by the Thirty-seventh
Congress and implemented by Abraham Lincoln or the presidents who immediately succeeded him.
Few of the delegates to the 1860 Republican National Convention were Southerners, and few of these provisions
were drawn up so as to appeal to voters of the South.
Candidate gallery
Former Representative
Edward Bates of
Missouri
Senator Simon Cameron of
Pennsylvania
Former Governor Salmon P.
Chase of Ohio
Former Representative
Abraham Lincoln of
Illinois
1860 Republican National Convention
Senator William H. Seward of
New York
References
[1] Karamanski, Theodore J. (2005). "Wigwam" (http:/ / www. encyclopedia. chicagohistory. org/ pages/ 1355. html). The Electronic
Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Archived (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20070423162443/ http:/ / encyclopedia.
chicagohistory. org/ pages/ 1355. html) from the original on 23 April 2007. . Retrieved March 28, 2007.
[2] Proceedings of the Republican national convention held at Chicago, May 16, 17 and 18, 1860 (http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/
proceedingsofrep00repuiala)
[3] Republican Party National Platform, 1860 (http:/ / www. cprr. org/ Museum/ Ephemera/ Republican_Platform_1860. html) Reported from
the Platform Committee by Judge Jessup of Pennsylvania and adopted unanimously by the Republican National Convention held at Chicago
on May 17, 1860. Broadside printing by The Chicago Press & Tribune, May, 1860
[4] Hyman, Andrew. " The Due Process Plank (http:/ / ssrn. com/ abstract=2048945)," April 30, 2012, Seton Hall Law Review (forthcoming), via
SSRN.
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Article Sources and Contributors
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