The United States Presidential Race Of 1860

During one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Abe was accused of being two-faced, 

to which he replied: "If I had another face, do you think I'd wear this one?"

Dear E,

Thanks for your email.

I am reminded of The Republican Party Convention of 1860 in which Lincoln's nomination was a surprise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Republican_National_Convention

That convention also signaled the definitive demise of The Whigs, the party from whose ashes the GOP arose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_Party_(United_States)

In 1860 Lincoln went on to beat three other major tickets. 

United States presidential election, 1860

1856 ← November 6, 1860 → 1864

All 303 electoral votes of the Electoral College 152 electoral votes needed to win Turnout 81.2%[1] Nominee Abraham Lincoln John C. Breckinridge Party Republican Southern Democratic Home state Illinois Kentucky Running mate Hannibal Hamlin Joseph Lane Electoral vote 180 72 States carried 18 11 Popular vote 1,865,908 848,019 Percentage 39.8% 18.1% Nominee John Bell Stephen A. Douglas Party Constitutional Union Democratic Home state Tennessee Illinois Running mate Edward Everett Herschel V. Johnson Electoral vote 39 12 States carried 3 1 Popular vote 590,901 1,380,202 Percentage 12.6% 29.5%

Presidential Election 1860. Red shows states won by Lincoln, green by Breckinridge, orange by Bell, and blue by Douglas Numbers are Electoral College votes in each state by the 1850 Census.

President before election James Buchanan Democratic Elected President Abraham Lincoln Republican

In the above chart, note the remarkable disparity between popular vote and electoral votes.

Even if all non-Lincoln voters had rallied around a single candidate, Lincoln still would have won the presidency -- and handily! --  with only 39.8% of the popular vote, a percentage much nearer a third of all votes cast than half!

It is even more jolting to realize that 60.2% of the general vote would have lost the election by mustering only 123 electoral votes to Lincoln's 180. 

I have not done the math but I can imagine a scenario in which two thirds of the popular vote would still have lost the 1860 election.

Here is Wikipedia's article on the four-ticket United States Presidential Election of 1860: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1860

Pax tecum

Alan

On Fri, Apr 15, 2016 at 12:35 PM, EK wrote:

Will Rogers was a smart man! However, I should add that this applies equally to the Republican Party of today! LOL

From: Alan Archibaldo <alanarchibaldo@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2016 12:07:40 -0400
To: 
Subject: Compromise, Intransigence And The Appeal Of Power Disguised As The Promise Of Salvation Re: Thought for the Day: Politicians

Pax on both houses: Will Rogers: "I Never Met A Man I Didn't Like ...

Dear E,

Thanks for your email.

It is harder for scallywags to "take over" when they are unorganized...

... and easier when political appeals are made with the unifying battle cry of uncompromising principle.

When we compromise, we realize that shades of grey are more representative of "the people" than radical dichotomization of "black and white." 

Matthew 5:

43-45 “You have heard that it used to be said, ‘You shall love your neighbour’, and ‘hate your enemy’, but I tell you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Heavenly Father. For he makes the sun rise upon evil men as well as good, and he sends his rain upon honest and dishonest men alike.

46-48 For if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax-collectors do that! And if you exchange greetings only with your own circle, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do that much. No, you are to be perfect, like your Heavenly Father. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5&version=MSG  (Alan: Increasingly, biblical exegetes consider the word "complete" a more accurate translation that "perfect.")

Lamentably, the emotional energy generated by manichaen separation of "Good" and "Evil" "feels" better and makes it easier to inflame political passion in ways that disguise America's anti-democratic theocratic impulse as "God blessed" patriotism. 

 

Devout Christian, Blaise Pascal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

"American Theocracy," By Kevin Phillips

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/07/american-theocracy-by-kevin-phillips.html

The Newsroom: The Tea Party Is The American Taliban

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-newsroom-tea-party-is-americas.html

If I never sent you (what may be) my favorite quotation, here it is:

"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice.  The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization.  We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal.  Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good.  

The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”  

"Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” by Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton

More Merton Quotes

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/04/merton-best-imposed-as-norm-becomes.html

Pax tecum

Alan

On Thu, Apr 14, 2016 at 9:17 AM, EK wrote:

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it.” 

—  H.L. Mechken (THX, Russell)