it had very little to do, for its delegates were bound by
rigid instructions to vote for Abraham Lincoln.

He was chosen on the first ballot, every State voting for him except
Missouri, whose representatives had been instructed to vote for Grant.
Missouri at once changed its vote, and the secretary of the convention
read the grand total of 506 for Lincoln, his announcement being greeted
by a storm of cheers that lasted several minutes.

It was not so easy to choose a Vice-President. Mr. Lincoln had been
besieged by many people to make known his wishes in the matter, but had
persistently refused. He rightly felt that it would be presumptuous in
him to dictate who should be his companion on the ticket, and, in case
of his death, his successor in office. This was for the delegates to the
convention to decide, for they represented the voters of the country. He
had no more right to dictate who should be selected than the Emperor of
China would have had. It is probable that Vice-President Hamlin would
have been renominated, if it had not been for the general feeling both
in and out of the convention that, under all the circumstances, it would
be wiser to select some man who had been a Democrat, and had yet upheld
the war. The choice fell upon Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who was not
only a Democrat, but had been appointed by Mr. Lincoln military governor
of Tennessee in 1862.

The Democrats at first meant to have the national convention of their
party meet on the fourth of July; but after Fremont had been nominated
at Cleveland and Lincoln at Baltimore, they postponed it to a later
date, hoping that something in the chapter of accidents might happen to
their advantage. At first it appeared as if this might be the case.
The outlook for the Republicans was far from satisfactory. The terrible
fighting and great losses of Grant's army in Virginia had profoundly
shocked and depressed the country. The campaign of General Sherman, who
was then in Georgia, showed as yet no promise of the brilliant results
it afterward attained. General Early's sudden raid into Maryland, when
he appeared so unexpectedly before Washington and threatened the city,
had been the cause of much exasperation; and Mr. Chase, made bitter
by his failure to receive the coveted nomination for President, had
resigned from the cabinet. This seemed, to certain leading Republicans,
to point to a breaking up of the government. The "Peace" men were
clamoring loudly f