in a voice of unconcealed emotion,
but with admirable dignity and touching eloquence, speaking for Seward
and for New York, moved to make the nomination unanimous.

The interest in a National Convention usually ceases with the
announcement of the principal nomination. It was only afterwards that
the delegates realized how fortunate a selection they made by adding
Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, to the ticket as candidate for
Vice-President. Mr. Hamlin was already distinguished in public service.
He was born in 1809, and became a lawyer by profession. He served many
years in the Maine Legislature and four years as a Representative in
Congress. In 1848 he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the United States
Senate, and in 1851 was reelected for a full term. When in 1856 the
Cincinnati Convention indorsed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise,
which he had opposed, Mr. Hamlin formally withdrew from the Democratic
party. In November of that year the Republicans elected him Governor of
Maine, and in January, 1857, reelected him United States Senator.

[Sidenote] Halstead, "Conventions of 1860," p. 154.

For the moment the chief self-congratulation of the convention was that
by the nomination of Lincoln it had secured the doubtful vote of the
conservative States. Or rather, perhaps, might it be said that it was
hardly the work of the delegates--it was the concurrent product of
popular wisdom. Political evolution had with scientific precision
wrought "the survival of the fittest." The delegates leaving Chicago on
the various homeward-bound railroad trains that night, saw that already
the enthusiasm of the convention was transferred from the wigwam to the
country. "At every station where there was a village, until after 2
o'clock, there were tar-barrels burning, drums beating, boys carrying
rails, and guns great and small banging away. The weary passengers were
allowed no rest, but plagued by the thundering of the cannon, the
clamor of drums, the glare of bonfires, and the whooping of boys, who
were delighted with the idea of a candidate for the Presidency who
thirty years before split rails on the Sangamon River--classic stream
now and for evermore--and whose neighbors named him 'honest.'"

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[1] "It is true indeed that the national domain is ours. It is true
it was acquired by the valor and with the wealth of the whole nation.
But we hold, nevertheless, no arbitrary power over it. We hold no
arbitrary authority over a