Consequences
After the break-up of the Charleston convention, many of those present stated that the Republicans were now certain to win the 1860 Presidential election. The actual division in Democratic popular votes did not affect any state outcomes except California, Oregon, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, and even if those states had been carried by a single Democratic nominee, the Republican nominee would still have had a majority of electoral votes. However, the split in the Democratic Party organization was a serious handicap in many states, especially Pennsylvania, and almost certainly reduced the Democratic popular vote.
James M. McPherson suggested in Battle Cry of Freedom that the "Fire-eater" program of breaking up the convention and running a rival ticket was deliberately intended to bring about the election of a Republican as President, and thus trigger secession declarations by the slave-owning states. Whatever the "intent" of the fire-eaters may have been, doubtless many of them favored secession, and the logical, probable, and actual consequence of their actions was to fragment the Democratic party and thereby virtually ensure a Republican victory.
Read more about this topic: 1860 Democratic National Convention
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