35 electoral votes.
Divided on the basis of the popular vote, 19 of these would have been
cast for Mr. Lincoln, and 16 against him. But under the "general ticket"
system the entire 35 votes were cast for the Republican candidates, thus
giving them not only the full strength of the majority in their favor,
but that of the great minority against them superadded. So of other
Northern States, in which the small majorities on one side operated with
the weight of entire unanimity, while the virtual unanimity in the
Southern States, on the other side, counted nothing more than a mere
majority would have done.

The manifestations which followed this result, in the Southern States,
did not proceed, as has been unjustly charged, from chagrin at their
defeat in the election, or from any personal hostility to the
President-elect, but from the fact that they recognized in him the
representative of a party professing principles destructive to "their
peace, their prosperity, and their domestic tranquillity." The
long-suppressed fire burst into frequent flame, but it was still
controlled by that love of the Union which the South had illustrated in
every battle-field, from Boston to New Orleans. Still it was hoped,
against hope, that some adjustment might be made to avert the calamities
of a practical application of the theory of an "irrepressible conflict."
Few, if any, then doubted the right of a State to withdraw its grants
delegated to the Federal Government, or, in other words, to secede from
the Union; but in the South this was generally regarded as the remedy of
last resort, to be applied only when ruin or dishonor was the
alternative. No rash or revolutionary action was taken by the Southern
States, but the measures adopted were considerate, and executed
advisedly and deliberately. The Presidential election occurred (as far
as the popular vote, which determined the result, was concerned) in
November, 1860. Most of the State Legislatures convened soon afterward
in regular session. In some cases special sessions were convoked for the
purpose of calling State Conventions--the recognized representatives of
the sovereign will of the people--to be elected expressly for the
purpose of taking such action as should be considered needful and proper
under the existing circumstances.

These conventions, as it was always held and understood, possessed all
the power of the people assembled in mass; and therefore it was conceded
that they, a