[BroJoeK]

In the editorial on page 3 referring to Illinois Senator Douglas's chance for the presidential nomination it notes that he is first choice of, "the entire Northern democracy" while he's opposed by "those Southern Democrats who claim the Constitution carries slavery with it...".
"Next to Douglas on the Democratic side are President Buchanan, Vice President Breckenridge...Senator Davis...
Senator Davis as a representative of the fire-eating section of the South, though a man or remarked ability...may perhaps be ruled out on the ground that his views would not be palatable at the North."

I notice that "the... democracy" is not capitalized here, though it is elsewhere, while Democrat and Democratic are.
Would be curious to learn during what period of years "the Democracy" was used to mean the Democrat party.

Also curious to notice that Senator Davis himself is not called a fire-eater, only that he comes from the fire-eater section of the country.
So I wonder if they mean the same thing by "fire-eater" that we understand today?
Despite his role in the Confederacy Davis is not today considered a fire-eater because he did not lead the charge for secession.

On the Republican side the editorial lists six possible candidates, in order of their preference & likehood:

1. New York Senator Seward, as Mr. Republican considered the obvious choice, he later became Lincoln's Secretary of State, wounded but survived the assassination plot which killed Lincoln.

2. Missouri Senator Edwin Bates, less of a Republican than old Whig, Southern slaveholder, he became Lincoln's Attorney General but opposed the Emancipation Proclamation and resigned in 1864 after being passed over for Supreme Court Chief Justice.

3. Former Ohio Governor, now Senator Salmon Chase became Lincoln's Treasury Secretary and then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after the death of crazy Roger Taney.
   Chase is here called "a thorough out-and-out Republican", but he ran for President in 1868 as a Democrat!

4. Massachusetts Governor, former US House speaker Nathaniel Banks appointed by Lincoln a major general, sent to take charge of Louisiana (from Beast Butler), Banks launched the Red River campaign (failed) in which one of my ancestors took part.

5. Pennsylvania Senator Cameron, appointed Secretary of War by Lincoln proved unsuited and likely corrupt, replaced by Edwin Stanton (from Ohio), a serious war horse.

6. Last and certainly least likely, they mentioned a little known country lawyer from Illinois, what was his name... Abraham London?

[x]

Would be curious to learn during what period of years "the Democracy" was used to mean the Democrat party.

My understanding is that it was common in the 1840s and 1850s. People say it goes back to Andrew Jackson's era, or less often and more questionably to Thomas Jefferson's. I assume it wasn't used as much after the Civil War, but here is an 1868 Atlantic article that uses the phrase.

You can also check Google Ngrams. The phrase took off in the 1830s, fell sharply from a peak in 1857 to a trough in 1864, and then climbed up again in the 1870s and 1880s. At some point, "the Democracy" ceased to mean the Democratic Party, but I don't know when.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Last and certainly least likely, they mentioned a little known country lawyer from Illinois, what was his name... Abraham London?

On Harper's first attempt after the RNC they caption their Matthew Brady-derived portrait as "Abram Lincoln." I'm pondering the biblical connotations.