Under the unamended Constitution of Massachusetts popular elections were determined by a majority of the votes cast, and not by a plurality. In the event of a failure to secure a majority, the election of Governor and Lieutenant-Governor was transferred to the Legislature, which made a selection from the three highest candidates. This duty was now devolved upon the Legislature. At the opening of the session there were separate caucuses of the Free-Soilers and Democrats, with committees of conference, which resulted in the understanding that the Democrats should have the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, five of the nine Councillors, the Treasurer, and the Senator for the short term, being the few weeks till the 4th of March following, while the Free-Soilers should have the Senator for the long term, being for six years from the 4th of March. The two parties united on Mr. Sumner as their candidate for Senator. The nomination by the Free-Soilers was communicated in the following letter. "CAUCUS ROOM, STATE HOUSE, 1/2 past 10, A.M. [Jan. 7th, 1851.] "We have just taken the vote by ballot for Senator, and you are the man. "Whole number "For Charles Sumner 82 "Others 00 "We have sworn to stand by you, to sink or swim with you, AT ALL HAZARDS. "If you shall fail us in any respect, may God forgive you!--we never shall. "Yours truly, "E.L. KEYES. "CHARLES SUMNER." The nomination thus unanimously conferred was welcomed beyond the caucus that made it. A letter of Richard H. Dana, Jr., written the next day, congratulates Mr. Sumner. "I have just learned that you have received the unanimous nomination of the Free-Soil caucus, as their first choice for the Senate. Whether the state of parties permits your election or not, this voluntary and unanimous tribute from our party must be a deep gratification to you through life, and I heartily congratulate you upon it." Why Mr. Sumner was selected appears from the _Commonwealth_, which was at the time the organ of the Free-Soil party, and edited by Richard Hildreth, the historian. "Mr. Sumner was selected as the candidate for the Senate, because, while true as the truest to Free-Soil principles, he was supposed to be less obnoxious than any prominent Free-Soiler in the State to the Democratic party. He was never identified with any of the measures of the Whig party, except those relating to Slavery. He never entered a Whig State Convention, except to sustain the sentiment, not of the Whig party alone, but of Massachusetts, against the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War."[61] [61] Daily Commonwealth. April 2, 1851.