Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United StatesCrosby, Frank
History
Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States
Crosby, Frank
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Upon the first ballot for a candidate for President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN
received the vote of every State, except Missouri, whose delegates
voted for Gen. Grant. The nomination having, on motion of a Missourian,
been made unanimous, a scene of the wildest enthusiasm followed, the
whole convention being on their feet shouting, and the band playing
“Hail Columbia.”
For Vice-President, the following names were presented: Andrew Johnson,
of Tennessee; Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine; Gen. L. H. Rousseau, of
Kentucky; and Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York.
As the vote proceeded, it was soon apparent that ANDREW JOHNSON was to
be the nominee; and before the result was announced the various States
whose delegations had been divided, commenced changing their votes, and
went unanimously for Mr. Johnson, amid the greatest enthusiasm.
On the 9th of June, Mr. Lincoln was waited on by a committee of the
convention, and notified of his nomination by the chairman, ex-Governor
Dennison, of Ohio, who, in the course of his address, said:
“I need not say to you, sir, that the Convention, in thus
unanimously nominating you for re-election, but gave utterance to
the almost universal voice of the loyal people of the country.
To doubt of your triumphant election would be little short of
abandoning the hope of a final suppression of the rebellion and the
restoration of the Government over the insurgent States. Neither
the Convention nor those represented by that body entertained any
doubt as to the final result, under your administration, sustained
by the loyal people, and by our noble army and gallant navy.
Neither did the Convention, nor do this Committee doubt the speedy
suppression of this most wicked and unprovoked rebellion.”
In reply the President said:
“MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE:--I will neither
conceal my gratification nor restrain the expression of my
gratitude that the Union people, through their Convention, in the
continued effort to save and advance the nation, have deemed me
not unworthy to remain in my present position. I know no reason
to doubt that I shall accept the nomination tendered; and yet,
perhaps, I should not declare definitely before reading and
considering what is called the platform.
“I will say now, however, that I approve the declaration in favor
of so amending the Constitution as to prohibit slavery throughout
the nation. When the people in revolt, with the hundred days
explicit notice that they could within those days resume their
allegiance without the overthrow of their institutions, and that
they could not resume it afterward, elected to stand out, such an
amendment of the Constitution as is now proposed became a fitting
and necessary conclusion to the final success of the Union cause.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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