ican party, which called themselves Constitutional Unionists,
had already met in Baltimore, and nominated John Bell for President and
Edward Everett for Vice-President. Their platform favored the
"Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement of the laws." This
platform was of the milk-and-water variety, appealing too weakly to the
friends and opponents of slavery to develop great strength. The question
of African slavery had become the burning one before the country, and
the people demanded that the political platforms should give out no
uncertain sound.

Amid uncontrollable excitement, the presidential election took place
with the following result:

Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, Republican, 180; Stephen A. Douglas, of
Illinois, Democrat, 12; John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, Democrat, 72;
John Bell, of Tennessee, Union, 39. For Vice-President: Hannibal Hamlin,
of Maine, Republican, 180; Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, Democrat,
12; Joseph Lane, of Oregon, Democrat, 72; Edward Everett, of
Massachusetts, Union, 39.

On the popular vote, Lincoln received 866,352; Douglas, 1,375,157;
Breckinridge, 845,763; Bell, 589,581. Lincoln had the electoral votes of
all the Northern States, except a part of New Jersey; Virginia,
Kentucky, and Tennessee supported Bell, while most of the Southern
States voted for Breckinridge. The Democratic party, which, with the
exception of the break in 1840 and 1848, had controlled the country for
sixty years, was now driven from the field.

SECESSION AND FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.

The hope was general that the South would not carry out her threat of
seceding from the Union, and, but for South Carolina, she would not have
done so; but that pugnacious State soon gave proof of her terrible
earnestness. Her Convention assembled in Charleston, and passed an
ordinance of secession, December 20, 1860, declaring "That the Union
heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North
America is dissolved." The other Southern States, although reluctant to
give up the Union, felt it their duty to stand by the pioneer in the
movement against it, and passed ordinances of secession, as follows:
Mississippi, January 9, 1861; Florida, January 10th; Alabama, January
11th; Georgia, January 19th; Louisiana, January 26th; and Texas,
February 23d.

In the hope of averting civil war numerous peace meetings were held in
the North, and Virginia called for a "peace conference," which a