Before he received the nomination of the Republican Party in 1860 Abraham Lincoln's political resume was astonishingly thin: he was a one-term Congressman who hadn't held elective office in more than a decade and wasn't even renominated by the Whig Party to stand for reelection! Yet he and his team ran a brilliant campaign for the nomination culminating in his selection on the third ballot at the national convention in Chicago over a long list of better-known contenders. Inside the "Wigwam," a convention space purposely erected for the Republicans' meeting, the feeling was electric as Ohio's delegation switched their votes to Lincoln:
'Fire the salute!' shouted one of the secretaries relaying the events inside the building to the large outdoor crowd, 'Abe Lincoln is nominated!' The feeling both inside and outside the Wigwam was electric, with bands playing, processions marching, and the news of a surprise nominee spreading in all directions. Delegates spilled out of the building hoarse and exhausted. 'There were men who had not tasted liquor who staggered about like drunkards,' reported the journalist Murat Halstead, 'unable to manage themselves.' One Lincoln man, who could hardly believe his political hero had secured the nomination and still harbored a grudge against presumed frontrunner William H. Seward and his well-heeled machine, joined a boisterous crowd for dinner at the nearby Tremont Hotel. 'Talk of your money and bring on your bullies with you!' he hollered to no one in particular. 'Abe Lincoln has no money and no bullies, but he has the people by ___!'
I hope the story of the election of 1860 strikes readers as essential for understanding our political present, which is still wrought (though hopefully not as dire as then), as well as a fascinating tale from the political past. And in an age where there is talk of an "end of reading" I very much welcome readers looking for absorbing and interesting narrative nonfiction to discover the critical canvass of 1860.
