Posted on 05/22/2010 2:31:12 PM PDT by AlanD
Lincoln has often been portrayed as gaining the White House largely because of the disarray of the opposition party in the general election. Closer examination reveals that his meteoric rise from prairie lawyer to chief executive came as the result of an extraordinary work ethic, canny allegiance building over three decades, and a political team not afraid of a little skullduggery.
“Make no contracts that bind me,” Lincoln wired his supporters. But Davis ignored him, telling his team that “Lincoln ain’t here and don’t know what we have to meet. So we will go ahead as if we hadn’t heard from him and he must ratify it.”
Using his contacts as a railroad lawyer, Judd convinced clients to discount fares into town—triggering an onrush of locals eager to cheer Lincoln’s progress.
He arranged for the printing of counterfeit ducats and quietly distributed them to Lincoln loyalists along with an appeal to show up early. While Seward supporters paraded through the streets, Lincoln enthusiasts surged into the hall—“men of good lungs” ready to roar for their man. Startled and then angry Seward supporters with official tickets found themselves turned away in droves. Seward’s name went into nomination that day to the expected “deafening shout.”
The Ohio delegation chairman, David Kellogg Cartter, broke the logjam by rising dramatically—moments after someone from the Lincoln camp reportedly promised him “anything he wants”—to switch four votes to the man from Illinois.
Geography and biography, packed galleries and lung power, bare-knuckle politics and deal making, and above all the brilliant strategy of casting Lincoln as everyone’s second choice, triumphed in Chicago. Electability trumped inevitability, and a paradigm shifted. With rival Democrats hopelessly split, delegates to that convention 150 years ago not only chose a candidate—they picked the next president.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanheritage.com ...
No he would not. Lincoln took 180 electoral votes, almost 60% of the total. In all but two states, California and Oregon, he took an absolute majority of the votes cast. So even if Douglas and Breckenridge had not split the Democrat vote Lincoln still would have won the state and at least 173 electoral votes. More than enough to win.
It's that southern courtesy you keep hearing about. </sarcasm>
I never considered McCain to be a conservative. But even comparing with McCain, Frémont did better. Frémont carried 38.5% of the electoral vote while McCain carried only 32.2%.
“Lincoln also didn’t set foot in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, or any other state during his election campaign. Back in the day the candidate did not travel around and campaign as they do today.”
You are wrong about that! Democratic candidate Stephen Douglass campaigned indefatigably throughout ALL regions of the United States in his 1860 Campaign. Lincoln could not be troubled to visit the South.
Lincoln stayed in Illinois and referred all questioners to refer to the Republican Party Platform. No wonder Southerners felt that Lincoln had nothing but contempt for them!
In ascertaining popular opinion and the mood of the electorate, the Popular Vote is much more significant than the Electoral Vote.
Lincoln was opposed by 61 percent of the electorate but didn’t have the decency to appoint one person who didn’t vote for him in the election.
Dixie ping
Aw did you miss me? I guess I haven’t been giving you any attention and you’re feeling neglected. Southern manners do NOT apply to trolls and Obots like AlanB.
quite a bit happened from a feller who eventually won with 39% of the popular vote
Nope, go to the archives containing letters penned by Lincoln. You can read what he personally put in print, not what the PC crowd says he wrote or wished he said—see the difference? The object here is to seek the truth, not the spinning done by the media.
It’s that southern courtesy you keep hearing about. </sarcasm>”
Lincoln turned out to be a cold-blooded killer of any and all who opposed his quest to bring the populace under his thumb. I have two relatives listed on the monument at Vicksburg under the Union flag. Then again, reading outside the “history books” has provided a bit of a different view. The War of 1861 was not a civil war since the South had no interest in taking over the North—they just wanted to be left alone. Lincoln’s decision to force the South into submission killed many an innocent boy on both sides and for what?? So the DC Empire could rule all within reach. Why is the quest to satisfy government greed of more value than a single life?
Abraham Lincoln’s attitude toward the Southern Slave Interests:
“I will give you as much rope as you need.”
That is a quote from the Barking Obama to all states.
Lincoln was a cold-blooded killer bent on control and he has much in common with the current administration. The blood of 600,000 young men rests on his head.
"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally" — Abraham Lincoln
I am not sure what your point is. The Bible sanctions slavery, by the way.
Slavery was headed for economic extinction anyway. There was no need to fight a war over it.
If that's the case, why didn't they just stay in the Union? Lincoln himself said he did not want to intervene in the Southern states and no better framework existed for inter-regional cooperation than the US Constitution.
The truth of the matter is that the South wanted to be left alone so that is could extend it’s slave territories to the South . . specifically, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Mexico.
The South knew that the North would never allow that to happen, so that secession was necessary.
Slavery was headed for economic extinction anyway. There was no need to fight a war over it.
Tell that to the leaders of the confederacy.
"[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God...it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation...it has existed in all ages, has been found among the people of the highest civilization, and in nations of the highest proficiency in the arts." Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.
"Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches. J. J. Little & Ives Company, 1923, Page 286.
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." — Abraham Lincoln
Your original quote was in error....
Early Nineteenth Century politics -- whether in big cities or on the frontier -- was a rough, bareknuckles affair.
That was already going on when Lincoln came on the scene.
“Tell that to the leaders of the confederacy.”
The Leaders of the Confederacy were wrong about a lot of things.
Really? So that story about “Honest Abe” was just a lie?
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