ABSTRACT
The party met again in Baltimore in June, but the two sides immediately locked horns, and the southern delegates again left. The northern wing of the party remained in Baltimore and nominated Douglas on a platform of popular sovereignty, with Herschel Johnson, the former governor of Georgia, as his running mate. The southern delegates returned to Charleston, where they adopted a platform calling for federal protection of slavery in the territories and named the current vice president, John Breckinridge of Kentucky, as their presidential candidate. The delegates picked Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon to run with him. The 39-year-old Breckinridge had the backing not only of President Buchanan but also of former presidents John Tyler and Franklin Pierce. The Democratic Party-the only national party in 1860-had cleaved itself into sections, dashing one of the last hopes for the Union to remain intact.
