The Presidential election of 1860 approached. The struggle in Kansas,
and the debates in Congress which accompanied it, and which not
unfrequently provoked violent outbursts, continually stirred the popular
excitement. Within the Democratic party raged the war of factions. The
national Democratic convention met at Charleston on the 23d of April,
1860. After a struggle of ten days between the adherents and the
opponents of Douglas, during which the delegates from the cotton States
had withdrawn, the convention adjourned without having nominated any
candidates, to meet again in Baltimore on the 18th of June. There was no
prospect, however, of reconciling the hostile elements. It appeared very
probable that the Baltimore convention would nominate Douglas, while the
seceding Southern Democrats would set up a candidate of their own,
representing extreme proslavery principles.

Meanwhile, the national Republican convention assembled at Chicago on the
16th of May, full of enthusiasm and hope. The situation was easily
understood. The Democrats would have the South. In order to succeed in
the election, the Republicans had to win, in addition to the States
carried by Fremont in 1856, those that were classed as "doubtful,"--New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, or Illinois in the place of either New
Jersey or Indiana. The most eminent Republican statesmen and leaders of
the time thought of for the Presidency were Seward and Chase, both
regarded as belonging to the more advanced order of antislavery men. Of
the two, Seward had the largest following, mainly from New York, New
England, and the Northwest. Cautious politicians doubted seriously
whether Seward, to whom some phrases in his speeches had undeservedly
given the reputation of a reckless radical, would be able to command the
whole Republican vote in the doubtful States. Besides, during his long
public career he had made enemies. It was evident that those who thought