Now came on the battle in the Presidential convention. The
Democratic convention was dramatic and momentous. It
met at Charleston, S. C., in the last days of April, 1860.
The struggle was between Douglas and the extreme South.
The contest was not over the nomination, but on the resolu-
tions. The Douglas party proposed the reaffirmation of
the Cincinnati platform of 1856, of which the kernel lay
in the words: "Non-intervention by Congress with slavery
in State or Territory"; and to this they would now add
only a clause referring doubtful constitutional points to the
Supreme Court. But the Southern party would accept
nothing short of an affirmation that in the Territories until
organized as States, the right of slave-holding was absolute
and indefeasible, and Congress was bound to protect it.
On this issue the dispute in the convention was obstinate
and irreconcilable.

The South had long held unbroken sway in the Democ-
racy and in the nation. It had absolutely controlled the last
two administrations, though headed by Northern men. Its
hold on the Senate had been unbroken, and temporary suc-
cesses of the Republicans in the House had borne no fruit.
The Supreme Court had gone even beyond the demands of
the South. Only in Kansas had its cause been lost, because
the attempt to coerce a whole territorial population had at
last provoked revolt in the Northern Democracy. The
breach had been in some sort healed, but the leader of the

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