The recognized leader of the Whig party was John Bell. Throughout his long career in the service of the national government, he had consistently opposed the doctrine of secession. In the presidential election of 1860, he, even more than Mr. Lincoln, was the Union candidate. When the question of holding a convention was submitted to a vote of the people, he vigorously opposed it. In this opposition he was joined by Neil S. Brown, Cave Johnson, Ewing, and other distinguished Whig politicians. It was due to their efforts that the Convention proposal was defeated. The vote against the Convention was 91,803. This represented the entire Whig party, and the Democrats of East Tennessee. The votes cast for the Convention came almost wholly from the Democrats of Middle and West Tennessee. In short, the election of February was a division along party lines. Its result was simply an indication that the Whig party of Tennessee was still opposed to the doctrine of secession. In June, party lines had been obliterated. For only a few weeks elapsed after the defeat of the Convention, till a majority of the Whig leaders, either in public addresses or through the public press, counselled withdrawal from the Union. The contest now became sectional; it was East Tennessee against Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee. Governor Harris, in his negotiations with the Confederate authorities, was counselled and supported by both Whigs and Democrats. Although the unfavorable verdict of the people upon secession had not been formally reversed, he was conscious that a real change had taken place in their sentiments, and that he was, in fact, executing their will by concluding a military league with the Confederacy. CHAPTER III LOYALTY OF EAST TENNESSEE While we have attempted to show the untenable position of those who maintain that the majority of the people of Tennessee were opposed to separation and it was only a _coup d’état_ of Governor Harris that carried the State into the Confederacy, it is, however, true that a great number of her inhabitants did resist withdrawal and remain openly loyal. This was especially the case with East Tennessee. Her persistent loyalty is a striking illustration of the physical conditions and causes which lay behind the Civil War. Tennessee had been settled by a common stock of pioneers from North Carolina. Many of these, attracted by the beautiful scenery and genial climate, had found homes east of the Cumberland Mountains, while others had crossed the mountains and taken possession of the rich tablelands and the alluvial bottoms of Middle and West Tennessee. When the State was admitted into the Union, in 1796, her population was homogeneous. The institution of slavery existed in all sections of the State.