than he had expected. Even Kate could not help enjoying the few conversations they shared, and she laughed despite herself when he jokingly confessed, “I find much comfort in the discovery that Ohio is home to at least three candidates for the presidency, all eminent and excellent men, but each preferring anybody out of Ohio to his two rivals within.”
On their last night in Washington, Kate and her father met Mr. Seward a third time, at a lavish party for the Ohio contingent hosted by the prominent Blair family at their country estate in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was a delightful evening, though news and rumors from the Democratic National Convention recently opened in Charleston dominated conversation. Mr. Douglas was considered most likely to receive the nomination there, and Kate could well imagine how displeased Miss Lane would be to think that Mrs. Douglas might succeed her.
For reasons other than her friend’s satisfaction, Kate resolved to do all she could to prevent that from happening.
The next day, the Chases and Dennisons boarded the train home to Columbus weary but satisfied with the results of their excursion, which in Kate’s estimation had encountered more success than disappointment. If nothing else, her father seemed to have been roused from his complacency. He had discovered for himself that Senator Seward was a formidable opponent whose affairs were well managed by the shrewd Thurlow Weed, that Judge Bates of Missouri was the fortunate beneficiary of Horace Greeley’s endorsement, and that even Mr. Lincoln’s star was on the rise thanks to his astonishingly successful lecture tour.
Her father had expected to leave Washington with his prospects more secure, but to Kate’s relief, he at last seemed to understand that he must marshal his forces swiftly if he hoped to win the nomination.
Chapter Three
----
M AY –S EPTEMBER 1860
B
efore the train pulled into the station in Columbus, Kate’s father had already penned numerous letters to supporters from Ohio to New York thanking them for their promises to stand firm for him at the upcoming convention and asking them to rally more out-of-state delegates to his side. With the Democrats too divided and distracted even to choose a nominee at the party’s national convention in Charleston, unity became the watchword among Republicans. In the second week of May, news came from Decatur that the Illinois Republican Convention had not only nominated Mr. Lincoln—dubbing him the “rail candidate for president” and with great fanfare carrying into the hall two fence rails he had supposedly split as a youth—but had passed a resolution stating that “the delegates from this State are instructed to use all honorable means to secure his nomination by the Chicago Convention, and to vote as a unit for him.” No such resolution bound Ohio’s delegates to Father, but he trusted that they would stand unified behind his candidacy if for no other reason than he was the designated choice of the state convention. It was evident that his success depended upon their support. Father knew he would not win the nomination on the first vote—Seward’s stature was too great for that—but delegates from other states might rally to him as an alternative to the front-runner if he survived the first ballot. Everything depended upon a unified vote for Salmon P. Chase from the Ohio delegation—an outcome Father expected but that was hardly guaranteed.
At the last moment, Father chose his brother Edward as his unofficial representative to the convention; but while Uncle Edward was loyal and true, he was essentially a political novice, lacking political connections, deal-making skills, and access to the back rooms where such deals were made. Father trusted him implicitly, however, and since he intended to follow the established custom of not attending the convention himself, Uncle Edward’s trustworthiness more than compensated for any deficiencies of political
On their last night in Washington, Kate and her father met Mr. Seward a third time, at a lavish party for the Ohio contingent hosted by the prominent Blair family at their country estate in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was a delightful evening, though news and rumors from the Democratic National Convention recently opened in Charleston dominated conversation. Mr. Douglas was considered most likely to receive the nomination there, and Kate could well imagine how displeased Miss Lane would be to think that Mrs. Douglas might succeed her.
For reasons other than her friend’s satisfaction, Kate resolved to do all she could to prevent that from happening.
The next day, the Chases and Dennisons boarded the train home to Columbus weary but satisfied with the results of their excursion, which in Kate’s estimation had encountered more success than disappointment. If nothing else, her father seemed to have been roused from his complacency. He had discovered for himself that Senator Seward was a formidable opponent whose affairs were well managed by the shrewd Thurlow Weed, that Judge Bates of Missouri was the fortunate beneficiary of Horace Greeley’s endorsement, and that even Mr. Lincoln’s star was on the rise thanks to his astonishingly successful lecture tour.
Her father had expected to leave Washington with his prospects more secure, but to Kate’s relief, he at last seemed to understand that he must marshal his forces swiftly if he hoped to win the nomination.
Chapter Three
----
M AY –S EPTEMBER 1860
B
efore the train pulled into the station in Columbus, Kate’s father had already penned numerous letters to supporters from Ohio to New York thanking them for their promises to stand firm for him at the upcoming convention and asking them to rally more out-of-state delegates to his side. With the Democrats too divided and distracted even to choose a nominee at the party’s national convention in Charleston, unity became the watchword among Republicans. In the second week of May, news came from Decatur that the Illinois Republican Convention had not only nominated Mr. Lincoln—dubbing him the “rail candidate for president” and with great fanfare carrying into the hall two fence rails he had supposedly split as a youth—but had passed a resolution stating that “the delegates from this State are instructed to use all honorable means to secure his nomination by the Chicago Convention, and to vote as a unit for him.” No such resolution bound Ohio’s delegates to Father, but he trusted that they would stand unified behind his candidacy if for no other reason than he was the designated choice of the state convention. It was evident that his success depended upon their support. Father knew he would not win the nomination on the first vote—Seward’s stature was too great for that—but delegates from other states might rally to him as an alternative to the front-runner if he survived the first ballot. Everything depended upon a unified vote for Salmon P. Chase from the Ohio delegation—an outcome Father expected but that was hardly guaranteed.
At the last moment, Father chose his brother Edward as his unofficial representative to the convention; but while Uncle Edward was loyal and true, he was essentially a political novice, lacking political connections, deal-making skills, and access to the back rooms where such deals were made. Father trusted him implicitly, however, and since he intended to follow the established custom of not attending the convention himself, Uncle Edward’s trustworthiness more than compensated for any deficiencies of political
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