is to his credit that he scouted the idea. The democrats, at least the
opponents of Lincoln, were divided into three camps, The first was the
regular party, headed by Douglas. The second was the bolting party of
fire-eaters, who nominated Breckinridge. The third was the party that
nominated Bell and Everett. This was wittily called the Kangaroo
ticket, because the tail was the most important part. Lincoln's popular
vote at the November election was about forty per cent, of the total.
It was plain that if his supporters held together and his opponents
were divided, he could readily get a plurality. There were attempts on
the part of the opponents of Lincoln to run fusion tickets in New York,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, so as to divert the electoral votes from
him; but these came to nothing more than that New Jersey diverted three
of her seven electoral votes.

A curious feature of the campaign was that all four candidates declared
emphatically for the Union. Breckinridge, who was the candidate of the
Southern disunionists, wrote; "The Constitution and the equality of the
states, these are symbols of everlasting union." Lincoln himself could
hardly have used stronger language. Some people were doubtless deceived
by these protestations, but not Douglas. He declared: "I do not believe
that every Breckinridge man is a disunionist, but I do believe that
every disunionist in America is a Breckinridge man." During the period
of nearly six months between nomination and election, Lincoln continued
simple, patient, wise. He was gratified by the nomination. He was not
elated, for he was not an ambitious man. On the contrary, he felt the
burden of responsibility. He was a far-seeing statesman, and no man
more distinctly realized the coming tragedy. He felt the call of duty,
not to triumph but to sacrifice. This was the cause of his seriousness
and gravity of demeanor.