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50-644: Constitutional Union Party may refer to: Constitutional Union Party (United States) , a party that was active in the United States on a national level in 1860 Constitutional Union Party (Cuba) , a political party in Cuba during the Spanish colonial times . Constitutional Union Party (Iraq) Constitutional Union Party (Lebanon) , a political party in Lebanon and continuation of

100-817: A civil war with the Crittenden Compromise and the Peace Conference of 1861 . Bell declared his support for the Confederacy following the Battle of Fort Sumter , but many other Constitutional Unionists remained loyal to the Union throughout the American Civil War . The Constitutional Union Party had its roots in the Whig Party and the sectional crises of the 1850s. The Compromise of 1850 shook up partisan alignments in

150-458: A distant second to Breckinridge in all of the remaining slave states except South Carolina, which did not hold a popular vote for president. In addition to winning the presidency, the Republican Party made moderate gains in both the U.S. Senate and House in the 1860 elections , though Republicans failed to win a majority of seats in either. However, after southern Democrats withdrew to join

200-526: A foot of land between here and Tierra del Fuego ". The only territories south of the line were parts of New Mexico Territory and Indian Territory . There was considerable agreement on both sides that slavery would never flourish in New Mexico. The South refused the House Republicans' proposal, approved by committee on December 29, to admit New Mexico as a state immediately. However, not all opponents of

250-577: A group of conservative, unionist congressmen in forming the Constitutional Union Party. At Crittenden's behest, fifty former and current members of Congress met in Washington, D.C. in December 1859, where they agreed to form a new party dedicated to preserving the union and avoiding debates over slavery. The new party received the blessing of the respective national committees of the Whig Party and

300-680: A majority of the scalawags (white members of the Republican Party) in almost every state in the South, joining the Republican Party at a higher rate than pre-war Democrats. Some of these scalawags continued to identify primarily as Whigs as late as the 1890s. Crittenden Compromise The Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal to permanently enshrine slavery in the United States Constitution , and thereby make it unconstitutional for future congresses to end slavery. It

350-546: A meeting of more than 100 of the nation's leading politicians, held February 8–27, 1861, in Washington, D.C. The conference, led by former President John Tyler , was the final formal effort of the states to avert the start of war. There too, the Compromise proposals failed, as the provision guaranteeing slave ownership throughout all Western territories and future acquisitions again proved unpalatable. A February 1861 editorial in

400-492: A platform against extending slavery to any new states or territories, and Breckinridge's Southern Democrats, who favored allowing slavery in all territories. Historian Frank A. Towers writes that, "notwithstanding the nuances of local issues in selecting a president, voters could either endorse the compromise vision of the Union by choosing Douglas or Bell, or reject it by opting for Lincoln or Breckinridge." Southern Democrats attacked

450-462: A single fusion ticket in the state of New York. In the event of a fusion victory in the state, Douglas would receive eighteen electoral votes, Bell would receive ten electoral votes, and Breckinridge would receive seven electoral votes. Similar fusion tickets were established in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Nationwide, Lincoln took 39.8% of the popular vote, while Douglas won 29.5% of

500-411: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Constitutional Union Party (United States) The Whig Party collapsed in the 1850s due to a series of crises over slavery. Many former Whigs joined the new, anti-slavery Republican Party, but others joined the nativist American Party . The American Party declined after the 1856 elections , and for

550-624: The Charleston Courier ( Charleston, Missouri ) summed up the mood prevalent in Southern-leaning border counties as the Crittenden proposals went down in defeat: "Men at Washington think there is no chance for peace, and indeed we can see but little, everything looks gloomy. The Crittenden resolutions have been voted down again and again. Is there any other proposition which will win, that the South can accept? If not—there comes war—and woe to

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600-483: The Crittenden Resolution , which provided that the Union would take no actions against slavery. The compromise proposed six constitutional amendments and four congressional resolutions. Crittenden introduced the package on December 18. It was tabled on December 31. It guaranteed the permanent existence of slavery in the slave states and addressed Southern demands in regard to fugitive slaves and slavery in

650-664: The District of Columbia . It proposed re-instating the Missouri Compromise (which had been functionally repealed in 1854 by the Kansas–Nebraska Act and struck down entirely in 1857 by the Dred Scott decision ) and extending the compromise line to the west, with slavery prohibited north of the 36° 30′ parallel and guaranteed south of it. The compromise included a clause that it could not be repealed or amended . The compromise

700-706: The 1856 election, confirming that the Republican Party, rather than the American Party, would replace the Whigs as the main opposition to the Democrats. The American Party collapsed after the 1856 elections, and many Southern officeholders who refused to join the Democratic Party organized themselves into the Opposition Party . Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, Henry Clay 's successor in border-state Whiggery, led

750-688: The 1860 elections John J. Crittenden and other former Whigs formed the Constitutional Union Party. The 1860 Constitutional Union Convention nominated John Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for vice president . Party leaders hoped to force a contingent election in the House of Representatives by denying any one candidate a majority in the Electoral College . The 1860 election essentially consisted of two campaigns, as Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln competed with Northern Democratic candidate Stephen A. Douglas in

800-406: The American Party, and was officially formed on February 12, 1860. Among the members of the new party's executive committee were Crittenden, former Democratic Senator William Cabell Rives of Virginia, 1852 Whig vice presidential nominee William Alexander Graham of North Carolina, former Congressman John P. Kennedy of Maryland, and newspaper editor William Gannaway Brownlow of Tennessee. In

850-802: The Civil War. Other party leaders, including Crittenden and Everett, remained loyal to the Union. Constitutional Unionists were influential in the Wheeling Convention , which led to the creation of the Union loyalist state of West Virginia , as well as in the declaration of the Kentucky General Assembly for the Union and winning Congressional elections in Kentucky and Maryland in June. Many border state Constitutional Unionists, including John Marshall Harlan , joined Union parties that sprung up during

900-576: The Committee of Thirteen even though he was not officially selected as the committee's leader. Crittenden proposed a package of six constitutional amendments, known as the Crittenden Compromise , that would forbid Congress from abolishing slavery in any state, protect slavery in federal territories south of the 36°30′ parallel , and prohibit it in territories north of that latitude. Crittenden's compromise proved unacceptable to both Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats, and it failed to win approval from

950-527: The Committee of Thirteen. In another attempt to avert secession, leading politicians in the Lower North and Upper South organized the Peace Conference of 1861 . The convention proposed a package of seven constitutional amendments that were largely similar to the Crittenden Compromise. On the last day of the 36th United States Congress , both the Crittenden Compromise and the separate plan proposed at

1000-646: The Confederacy, the party gained control of both chambers prior to the start of the 37th Congress . Democrats would have the second-largest number of members in both chambers, although many members identified as Unionists rather than Democrats or Republicans. Following Lincoln's victory, several states in the Deep South seceded and formed the Confederate States of America , but the Upper South initially remained in

1050-768: The Constitutional Bloc Constitutional Union (Morocco) , a liberal conservative political party in Morocco Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Constitutional Union Party . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Constitutional_Union_Party&oldid=1146755276 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Political party disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

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1100-554: The Constitutional Union nominee. Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other The Constitutional Union national convention convened in Baltimore on May 9, 1860. Delegates came from 23 of the 33 states, though the vast majority of delegates came from

1150-412: The Constitutional Union platform, arguing that the issue of slavery could not be ignored in the campaign. Constitutional Unionists responded by attacking Breckinridge (who publicly disavowed disunion) as a secessionist who had fallen under the influence of Fire-Eaters like William Lowndes Yancey . The party also attacked Lincoln as an inexperienced, sectional candidate whose election threatened to provoke

1200-570: The Crittenden Compromise also opposed further territorial expansion of the United States . The New York Times referred to "the whole future growth of the Republic" and "all the Territory that can ever belong to the United States—the whole of Mexico and Central America". President-elect Abraham Lincoln vehemently opposed the Crittenden compromise on grounds that he opposed any policy permitting

1250-403: The Democrats in most Northern states. The nativist American Party displaced the Whigs in the remaining states; though some Democrats joined the American Party, in many Southern states the American Party consisted almost entirely of former Whigs. The 1856 American National Convention nominated former President Fillmore for president in the 1856 presidential election ; Fillmore also received

1300-571: The House as a narrow majority of Northern Democrats voted against it. A new, anti-slavery party known as the Republican Party was formed in May 1854. Republican leaders, including Abraham Lincoln , generally did not call for the abolition of slavery, but instead called for Congress to prevent the extension of slavery into the territories. By 1855, Republicans had replaced the Whigs as the main opposition to

1350-534: The North, and Bell competed with Southern Democratic candidate John C. Breckinridge in the South. Ultimately, Lincoln won the election by winning nearly every Northern electoral vote. Bell took 12.6% of the nationwide popular vote, carried Kentucky , Tennessee , and Virginia , and finished with the second highest vote total in each remaining slave state that held a popular vote. After the election, Crittenden and other Constitutional Unionists unsuccessfully sought to prevent

1400-439: The North, the party drew support from conservative former Whigs such as Edward Everett and Robert Charles Winthrop . Many of these Northerners, including Everett, were followers of Daniel Webster , a Whig senator from Massachusetts who had died in 1852. Party leaders did not expect to win the election outright, but instead sought to win states in the Upper South and the Lower North. They were particularly focused on Maryland,

1450-613: The Peace Convention were rejected in the House and the Senate. The Civil War began with the Confederate attack of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. After Lincoln called up volunteers in response to the Battle of Fort Sumter, Bell declared his support for the Confederacy. Bell's decision helped convince many other Constitutional Unionists and Southern moderates to support the Confederacy during

1500-524: The South, the Constitutional Union ticket competed against Breckinridge. Adhering to precedent, Bell remained at his home during the campaign, but Breckinridge and other party leaders gave numerous speeches. The party campaigned on the slogan, "the Union as it is, the Constitution as it is." The party's official lack of a stance on slavery positioned it between the Lincoln's Republican Party, who campaigned on

1550-620: The South, with elections in the Lower South being contested by Unionists and extremist " Fire-Eaters " rather than Whigs and Democrats . The victory of pro-compromise Southern politicians in these elections, along with President Millard Fillmore 's attempts at diligently enforcing the Fugitive Slave Clause, temporarily quieted Southern calls for secession. The debate over the Kansas–Nebraska Act again polarized legislators sectional lines, with Southern Whigs providing critical votes in

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1600-604: The Union. Although some supporters of Breckinridge opposed secession and some supporters of Bell supported it, the secession movement was generally led by those who had voted for Breckindrige in the 1860 election, and efforts to avert secession in the South were generally led by those had voted for Bell. The Senate created the Committee of Thirteen, consisting of prominent senators such as Crittenden, Douglas, Democrat Robert Toombs of Georgia, and Republican Benjamin Wade of Ohio. Working closely with Douglas, Crittenden assumed leadership of

1650-685: The Upper South. As a large proportion of the delegates were over the age of sixty, some political opponents derided the Constitutional Unionists as the "Old Gentleman's Party". The party adopted a simple platform, stating that they would "recognize no political principle other than the Constitution...the Union...and the Enforcement of the Laws." The party also established the National Central Executive Union Committee to wage

1700-529: The Whig Party, Bell had established a reputation as a moderate on the slavery issue, opposing both the Mexican–American War and the Kansas–Nebraska Act. Houston had served in two wars and had compiled a long political record as a leading member of the Democratic Party, and like Bell he had opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act. However, his status as a former protege of Andrew Jackson alienated many of

1750-525: The continued expansion of slavery. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate rejected Crittenden's proposal. It was part of a series of last-ditch efforts to provide the Southern states with sufficient reassurances to forestall their secession during the final session of Congress prior to the Lincoln administration taking office. The Crittenden proposals were also discussed at the Peace Conference of 1861 ,

1800-432: The delegates, and Bell's backers argued that Houston would have little appeal in the North. Aside from Bell and Houston, other potential candidates for the Constitutional Union presidential nomination included Everett, 1852 Whig nominee Winfield Scott , and Edward Bates of Missouri, who ultimately chose to support the Republican Party. On the first presidential ballot, Bell won 68 1/2 votes compared to Houston's 57, with

1850-415: The lone state won by Fillmore in 1856, as well as Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Constitutional Unionists hoped to deny an electoral vote majority to any one candidate, thereby forcing a contingent election in the House of Representatives . Party leaders hoped that, in such a contingent election, the House would reject the other eligible candidates as too extreme and instead elect

1900-428: The national party, badly damaged the standing of Constitutional Unionists in the North. Bell's ownership of slaves further alienated Northerners, and his and Everett's status as former Whigs limited the party's ability to compete for the support of Northern Democrats. Thus, the 1860 presidential election essentially consisted of two separate campaigns. In the North, Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln faced Douglas, and in

1950-416: The party's election campaign; Congressman Alexander Boteler of Virginia was selected to head the committee. Though the septuagenarian Crittenden was the acknowledged party leader, he declined to seek the presidential nomination due to his age. The two major contenders for the presidential nomination were former Senator John Bell of Tennessee and Governor Sam Houston of Texas. During his long career in

2000-476: The popular vote, Breckenridge won 18.1%, and Bell won 12.6%. Lincoln carried all but one Northern state, winning a majority of the electoral vote with 180 votes to 72 for Breckinridge, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas. Lincoln won every county in New England and most of the remaining counties in the North, but he won just two of the 996 Southern counties. Lincoln won New York by a margin of 7.4 points; had he lost

2050-401: The presidential nomination at the sparsely attended 1856 Whig National Convention . Many supporters of the American Party continued to identify primarily as Whigs, and Fillmore minimized the issue of nativism, instead attempting to use his campaign as a platform for unionism and a revival of the Whig Party. He finished in second in several states in the South and carried just a single state in

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2100-478: The remainder of the delegates voting for Crittenden, Everett, and various favorite son candidates. Bell picked up support from dozens of delegates on the second ballot, thereby clinching the nomination. Houston refused to endorse Bell and ultimately declined to back any candidate in the 1860 election. Seeking to provide sectional balance to the ticket, the convention selected Everett as the party's vice presidential nominee by acclamation. Everett reluctantly accepted

2150-516: The secession of the South. Recognizing Lincoln's likelihood of winning the election, some opponents of the Republican Party discussed the possibility of Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas dropping out in favor of a new candidate, but Douglas and possibly Bell objected to this scheme. In August, August Belmont , the chairman of Douglas's campaign, proposed an "entente cordiale" with the intent of denying Lincoln an electoral vote majority. After much negotiation, Douglas, Bell, and Breckinridge agreed to form

2200-646: The state to the Fusion ticket, he would not have won a majority of the electoral vote and a contingent election would have been held in the House of Representatives. The vast majority of Bell's support came from Southern voters, though he did win three percent of the vote in the North. Bell won a plurality of the vote in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, and finished within five points of Breckinridge or Douglas in North Carolina, Maryland, Missouri, and Louisiana. Bell finished

2250-472: The support of most Northern Democrats, while Vice President John C. Breckinridge garnered the backing of most Southern Democrats. Meanwhile, seeking to rally support in the Deep South, a group of Constitutional Unionists meeting in Alabama issued a platform holding that Congress and territorial legislatures could not prevent individuals from bringing slaves into the territories. This platform, though not adopted by

2300-443: The vice presidential nomination, as he felt that he had had a more accomplished career than Bell. With the nomination of two former Whigs, many regarded the Constitutional Union Party as a continuation of the Whig Party; one Southern newspaper called the new party the "ghost of the old Whig Party." A split in the Democratic Party led to the nomination of two separate Democratic presidential candidates; Senator Stephen A. Douglas had

2350-503: The war. In Missouri, many of the party supported the Unconditional Union ticket organized by Francis P. Blair Jr. and remained active in that state's efforts to remain in the Union by overthrowing the elected government of Claiborne Jackson . Everett supported the Union and in 1863 gave a speech at Gettysburg before Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address . During Reconstruction, former Whigs and Constitutional Unionists constituted

2400-440: The wives and daughters of our land; beauty will be but an incentive to crime, and plunder but pay for John Brown raids. Let our citizens be prepared for the worst, it may come." This statement by editor George Whitcomb came in response to a fiery "letter to the editor" excoriating "disunion", from US Representative John William Noell , whose district included Charleston. The novel Underground Airlines (2016) by Ben Winters

2450-401: Was introduced by United States Senator John J. Crittenden ( Constitutional Unionist of Kentucky ) on December 18, 1860. It aimed to resolve the secession crisis of 1860–1861 that eventually led to the American Civil War by addressing the fears and grievances of Southern pro-slavery factions, and by quashing anti-slavery activities . The Crittenden Compromise is not to be confused with

2500-473: Was popular among Southern members of the Senate, but it was generally unacceptable to the Republicans, who opposed the expansion of slavery beyond the states where it already existed, into the territories. The opposition of their party's leader, President-elect Abraham Lincoln , was crucial. Republicans said the compromise "would amount to a perpetual covenant of war against every people, tribe, and state owning

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