[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from June 20 (reply #16.)

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[BroJoeK]

Notice Strong's words here:

"Whatever may be the result of this Convention, the Democracy has disgraced itself and damaged itself beyond cure.
I half expect that Republicanism and Abe Lincoln will sweep every vestige of that party out of existence."

Because that is what happened to the old Federalists after the 1814 Hartford Convention, which resulted in nothing serious, really.
But the mere whiff of treason drove men like John Quincy Adams to abandon Federalists entirely and join Jefferson's & Madison's Democratic party.

The result as an "era of good feelings" until new parties asserted themselves.

By stark contrast, the Democrat party never was "swept out of existence" regardless of how awfully it behaved.

[reg45]

Justice Samuel Nelson had voted with Taney on Dred Scott. He would have been only slightly more popular than Breckinridge in the northern states.