Studies in American History 
453 
party machinery built up by the old Democratic leaders and 
now dominated by the slave-owning Bright also began to go 
over to Douglas. During the last weeks of 1859 county after 
county declared for popular sovereignty, denounced the 
Harper’s Ferry incident, and came out for Douglas. The 
Indiana Know-Nothings were still giving the Republicans 
a lot of trouble for they felt that they held the balance of 
power and insisted that no antislavery man be nominated 
for ofiice.^^® 
Lincoln’s strength in Illinois increased from the time it 
became felt that Seward, Greeley, and other Republican leaders 
outside of Illinois had contributed to his defeat in 1858. The 
fear of Seward’s radicalism, a desire to win more votes in 
“Egypt”, and his acceptance by the Germans were factors 
which brought Illinois to back Lincoln. The Illinois Republi- 
can convention of May 9 instructed the delegates to secure 
his nomination at Chicago. Wisconsin was favoring Seward 
for the Republican nomination, and the state convention in- 
structed the delegates to vote for him as first choice. The 
Ohio convention indicated that the first choice of the party 
was for Salmon P. Chase. The split in the Michigan Demo- 
cracy over the Lecompton question was not so wide as in 
Indiana and Illinois, yet more serious than in Wisconsin. 
The presidential campaign of 1860 was begun in the North- 
west, and the outcome was decided there. Lincoln’s nomina- 
tion was the result of the sentiment and organized enthusiasm 
of Illinois. His campaign tactics were adapted to the wider 
vision of the party after four years of experience. It was as 
a conservative Republican and former Henry Clay Whig, 
rather than as a radical Republican, that Lincoln made his 
appeal to all sections of the North. The idealism of the first 
Republican national platform was modified with planks ad- 
vertising homesteads, fair wages, fair prices, and a tariff. 
There had never before been such a campaign as that of 
1860. The crisis at hand aroused the minds and stirred the 
souls of men. In the Northwest all four parties placed tickets 
before the voters. Conservatives who felt no appeal in either 
the Democratic or Republican platform supported the Con- 
stitutional Unionist candidates. Many of the Know-Noth- 
ings of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan found their way into 
Indiana Sentinel, January 31, February 28, 1860. New Albany (Ind.) Tribune, 
January 6, 1860. 
