career. He did this and did it well. The large vote which he polled
augured well for the future.

All this we may claim without denying the fact that it was fortunate
for the party and for the country that he was not elected. There was no
doubt of his sincerity or his patriotism. But he lacked self-control,
wariness, patience. He was hot-headed, extreme, egotistical. He never
could have carried the burdens of the first administration of the
republican party.

When the election was over, it was found that Buchanan had carried
every slave state except Maryland, which went to Fillmore. Fremont had
carried every New England state and five other northern states.
Buchanan received 174 electoral votes; Fremont, 114; Fillmore, 8. The
popular vote was, for Buchanan, 1,838,169; for Fremont, 1,341,264; for
Fillmore, 874,534. That was an excellent showing for the new party. It
showed that it had come to stay, and gave a reasonable hope of victory
at the next presidential election.

Lincoln was at the head of the electoral ticket of the state of
Illinois. He usually was on the ticket. He playfully called himself one
of the electors that seldom elected anybody. In Illinois the honors of
the election were evenly divided between the two parties. Buchanan
carried the state by a handsome majority, but Bissell was elected
governor by a good majority. Lincoln had faithfully canvassed the state
and made nearly fifty speeches. One paragraph from a speech made in
Galena should be quoted. The slave party had raised the cry of
sectionalism, and had charged that the republicans purposed to destroy
the Union. Lincoln said: