Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[30] of States, and disunion; for the second, the Blue-Laws of Connecticut; and for the third, the Constitution of the United States--“the Constitution as it is, and the Union under it, now and forever.” The last sentence touched a

Washington Hunt.

sympathetic chord in the Convention, of marvelous sensitiveness. The suggestion was received with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of delight; and on the second day of the session, Joseph R. Ingersoll, Chairman of the Committee on Platform, reported resolutions, which repudiated all creeds formed for a temporary purpose, as “calculated to mislead and deceive the people,” and recommended, as a foundation for the party to plant itself upon in the coming contest, that which was defined by the words:--the Constitution of the country, the Union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws. This platform was adopted unanimously.

The Convention now proceeded to vote for candidates for the offices of President and Vice-president, when two hundred and fifty-four votes were cast; and on the second ballot, John Bell, of Tennessee, an eminent politician, then past sixty-three years of age, was nominated for the Presidency.¹ The renowned scholar, statesman, and diplomat, the late Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, was selected for the office of Vice-president. In the canvass that followed, the adherents of these gentlemen were popularly known as the Bell-Everett party.

The greatest harmony prevailed in this Convention. Not a word was said about “Americanism,” or other old party issues, nor was there a whisper on the subject of Slavery, excepting an ejaculation of Neil S. Brown, of Tennessee, who thanked God that he had at last found a Convention in which the “nigger” was not the sole subject of consideration. The great topic for speech was the Constitution, which they thought would be imperiled by the election of either Douglas, Breckinridge, or the nominee of the Republican party, whoever he might be. The Convention adjourned on the second day of the session, and that night a ratification meeting was held in Monument Square, in Baltimore, whereat speakers and musicians were abundant. The spacious platform, erected in the Square, was spanned by an immense arch, on which were inscribed the words--“the Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the laws.”

Six days after the adjournment of the National Constitutional Union Convention, the representatives of the Republican party assembled in large numbers at Chicago, Illinois--a city of more than one hundred thousand souls, on the verge of a prairie on the western shore of Lake Michigan, where, in 1830, there were only a small fort, and a few scattered houses of traders — a city