1860 Democratic National Conventions
|
1860 presidential election |
|
| Conventions | |
|---|---|
| Date(s) | April 23–May 3, 1860 & June 18–23, 1860 |
| City |
Charleston, South Carolina & Baltimore, Maryland |
| Venue | South Carolina Institute Hall, Front Street Theater & Maryland Institute (Southern) |
| Candidates | |
| Presidential nominee |
Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois (Official) John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky (Southern) |
| Vice Presidential nominee |
Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia (Official) Joseph Lane of Oregon (Southern) |
The three 1860 Democratic National Conventions were crucial events in the lead-up to the American Civil War. The first Democratic national convention adjourned in deadlock without choosing candidates for President and Vice President. A second official convention nominated Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for President and former Senator Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia for Vice President. A third, “rump,” convention, primarily Southerners, nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge for President and Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice President.
The 1860 Democratic National Convention convened at South Carolina Institute Hall (destroyed in the Great Fire of 1861) in Charleston, South Carolina on 23 April 1860. Charleston was probably the most pro-slavery city in the U.S. at the time, and the galleries at the convention were packed with pro-slavery spectators.
The front-runner for the nomination was Douglas. Douglas was considered a moderate on the slavery issue. With the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, he advanced the doctrine of popular sovereignty: allowing settlers in each Territory to decide for themselves whether slavery would be allowed – a change from the flat prohibition of slavery in most Territories under the Missouri Compromise, which the South had welcomed. However, the Supreme Court’s ensuing 1857 Dred Scott decision declared that the Constitution protected slavery in all Territories.
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