ABSTRACT

East-West factionalism became exacerbated during the war, stirred by differences in attitude toward the South and the war. A movement for a new party, a Union party, based on the Compromise of 1850, was attracting many Democrats. In Washington, Democrats in Congress during a long session produced a large number of floor speeches intended for use as campaign material. By subordinating the conflict between Northern and Southern Democrats, the ill-managed campaign organization was adequate enough to beat a Whig party so split that it went out of business soon after the election. Similarly, the resentment that the president’s neutrality generated among Northern Democrats ended Pierce’s chances. Democrats throughout the country chose sides as Buchanan Lecomptonites or Douglas Anti-Lecomptonites. The Constitutional Democrats—the Charleston seceders—met as planned in Richmond on June 11, but postponed action until after the meeting of the regular convention in Baltimore. The Northern Democrats and their newspapers continued to view the Breckinridge Democrats as “a factious minority.”.