The National Union Convention (5/9/1860)

New York Times archives - Times Machine ^ | 5/9/1860

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Special Dispatch to the New-York Times. BALTIMORE, Tuesday, May 8. There has been a large accession of delegates to-day, and a full representation from nearly every State is now expected. The feeling for HOUSTON is strongest, though Tennessee and some of the other States with whom Mr. BELL is the favorite will strenuously resist his nomination. The McLean interest is not strong, and there is carcely a probability of his nomination. New-York is a unit for HOUSTON, who now stands the best chance.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas, Harper’s Ferry, the election of 1860, secession – all the events leading up to the Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous New York Times thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

1

2

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The National Union Convention – 2
The Republican National Convention – 2
Triple Murder a Hoax – 2
Disaster at Sea-Six Lives Lost – 2

[BroJoeK]

The National Union party is now known as the Constitutional Union party, and it's usually forgotten in the narratives about Lincoln's Republicans versus Douglas Northern Democrats and Breckenridge Southern Democrats.

The Constitutional Union party was the old Southern Whig party and was vital in Whig presidential victories of 1840 & 1848.
When Whigs collapsed, mid-1850s, some Southern Whigs became Democrats, some became American Know-Nothings and by 1860 those in Border States coalesced as the National / Constitutional Union Party.

Mostly ignored today, they actually won more states and electoral votes than Douglas' Northern Democrats.
And they were critical to keeping Border States in the Union in 1861.

They demonstrated that, at least outside the cotton-South, there were Southern majorities who put National Union ahead of radical Democratic party pro-slavery ideology.