1860 United States presidential election in Texas

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1860 United States presidential election in Texas
Flag of Texas.svg
  1856 November 6, 1860 1872  
  John C Breckinridge-04775-restored.jpg John Bell (Restored).png
Nominee John C. Breckinridge John Bell
Party Southern Democratic Constitutional Union
Home state Kentucky Tennessee
Running mate Joseph Lane Edward Everett
Electoral vote40
Popular vote47,54815,438
Percentage75.47%24.50%

Texas Presidential Election Results 1860.svg
County Results

President before election

James Buchanan
Democratic

Elected President

Abraham Lincoln
Republican

The 1860 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 6, 1860. State voters chose four electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president. Soon after this election, Texas seceded from the United States in March 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America. It would not participate in the following elections in 1864 and 1868. The state would not be readmitted into the Union until 1870 and would not participate in another presidential election until 1872.

Contents

Background

Before candidates were even nominated, Texas, as the frontier of slavery in the United States, was always recognised as extremely important to the extension of slavery, [1] and nefarious tales of abolition plots there were common in the Southern media. [1] Texas delegates to the first Democratic National Convention refused to accept “Northern DemocratStephen A. Douglas′ platform of “popular sovereignty” — locally called “squatter sovereignty” — because they believed that it would prevent the expansion of slavery in the same manner as the Republicans’ “free soil” policy. [2] Texas was among the most insistent states upon a platform that guaranteed expansion of slavery into the territories and consequently the state Democratic party unanimously supported the nomination of Southern Democrat nominee John C. Breckinridge. Douglas, indeed, had so little support amongst the Texas electorate that his supporters had agreed to transfer their allegiance to Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, [3] although their ultimate goal was to support whomever stood the best chance of beating Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who was not on the ballot in Texas. [4]

Analysis

With the state media overwhelmingly behind him, [2] Texas overwhelmingly voted for Breckinridge by a margin of 50.97 points. Breckinridge won 75.47 percent of the vote, making Texas his strongest state. [5] Despite the allegiance of Douglas supporters, Bell carried only three counties in the state and it is sometimes thought that the German-American abolitionists in such counties as Gillespie refrained from visiting the polls. [6] Besides the counties he won, Bell only exceeded forty percent of the vote in six other counties. Douglas gained a mere 18 votes as a write-in candidate.

Results

1860 United States presidential election in Texas [7]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
Southern Democratic John C. Breckinridge 47,54875.47%4
Constitutional Union John Bell 15,43824.50%0
Democratic Stephen A. Douglas (write-in)18 [a] 0.03%0
Total63,004100%4

Results by county

1860 United States presidential election in Texas by county [8] [9] [b]
CountyJohn C. Breckinridge

Southern Democratic

John Bell

Constitutional Union

Total Votes Cast
#%#%
Anderson 85388.30%11311.70%966
Angelina 21363.58%12236.42%335
Atascosa 19490.23%219.77%215
Austin 39574.53%13525.47%530
Bandera 615.79%3284.21%38
Bastrop 43370.18%18429.82%617
Bee 12183.45%2416.55%145
Bell 48671.68%19228.32%678
Bexar 98677.09%29322.91%1,279
Blanco 13682.93%2817.07%164
Bosque 21882.58%4617.42%264
Bowie 32472.00%12628.00%450
Brazoria 39085.71%6514.29%455
Brazos 25395.11%134.89%266
Brown 3981.25%918.75%48
Burleson 50682.14%11017.86%616
Burnet 14852.11%13647.89%284
Caldwell 42376.77%12823.23%551
Calhoun 35074.15%12225.85%472
Cameron 33580.34%8219.66%417
Cass 53669.61%23430.39%770
Chambers 10684.80%1915.20%125
Cherokee 90585.14%15814.86%1,063
Collin 66762.39%40237.61%1,069
Colorado 56959.15%39340.85%962
Comal 20190.95%209.05%221
Comanche [c] 10492.04%97.96%113
Cooke 26466.00%13634.00%400
Coryell 24977.57%7222.43%321
Dallas 86875.81%27724.19%1,145
Denton 58675.61%18924.39%775
DeWitt 49085.51%8314.49%573
Ellis 41666.88%20633.12%622
El Paso 1,04298.96%111.04%1,053
Erath 21491.85%198.15%233
Falls 16165.45%8534.55%246
Fannin 77867.36%37732.64%1,155
Fayette 74462.78%44137.22%1,185
Fort Bend 36292.11%317.89%393
Freestone 56989.18%6910.82%638
Galveston 73072.06%28327.94%1,013
Gillespie 6648.53%7051.47%136
Goliad 24364.12%13635.88%379
Gonzales 64675.12%21424.88%860
Grayson 77663.76%44136.24%1,217
Grimes 60474.85%20325.15%807
Guadalupe 24463.54%14036.46%384
Hamilton 10893.10%86.90%116
Hardin 23193.52%166.48%247
Harris 99072.16%38227.84%1,372
Harrison 68163.70%38836.30%1,069
Hays 16455.41%13244.59%296
Henderson 46479.45%12020.55%584
Hidalgo [c] 64100.00%00.00%64
Hill 38974.95%13025.05%519
Hopkins 81274.98%27125.02%1,083
Houston 43177.10%12822.90%559
Hunt 71275.18%23524.82%947
Jack 10074.07%3525.93%135
Jackson 18161.15%11538.85%296
Jasper 26875.28%8824.72%356
Jefferson 25775.15%8524.85%342
Johnson 44688.32%5911.68%505
Karnes 16071.75%6328.25%223
Kaufman 66379.69%16920.31%832
Kerr 8673.50%3126.50%117
Lamar 79170.44%33229.56%1,123
Lampasas 8052.63%7247.37%152
Lavaca 59684.42%11015.58%706
Leon 57680.67%13819.33%714
Liberty 34598.29%61.71%351
Limestone 48292.34%407.66%522
Live Oak 13392.36%117.64%144
Llano 15376.12%4823.88%201
Madison 23289.92%2610.08%258
Marion 44670.79%18429.21%630
Mason 1794.44%15.56%18
Matagorda 19596.06%83.94%203
McLennan 52472.18%20227.82%726
Medina 14680.22%3619.78%182
Milam 47473.15%17426.85%648
Montague 12078.95%3221.05%152
Montgomery 26369.95%11330.05%376
Nacogdoches 38166.61%19133.39%572
Navarro 49174.17%17125.83%662
Newton [c] 10089.29%1210.71%112
Nueces 12874.42%4425.58%172
Orange 12995.56%64.44%135
Palo Pinto 15296.20%63.80%158
Panola 51879.94%13020.06%648
Parker 77582.36%16617.64%941
Polk 56290.06%629.94%624
Red River 51462.30%31137.70%825
Refugio 15581.15%3618.85%191
Robertson 34178.03%9621.97%437
Rusk 1,14968.93%51831.07%1,667
Sabine 23295.47%114.53%243
San Augustine 21986.56%3413.44%253
San Patricio 6495.52%34.48%67
San Saba 11574.68%3925.32%154
Shelby 42584.49%7815.51%503
Smith 1,15576.85%34823.15%1,503
Starr 4027.40%10672.60%146
Tarrant 61874.82%20825.18%826
Titus 88476.08%27823.92%1,162
Travis 55656.91%42143.09%977
Trinity 21888.98%2711.02%245
Tyler 49698.41%81.59%504
Upshur 94573.89%33426.11%1,279
Uvalde 8180.20%2019.80%101
Van Zandt 33592.03%297.97%364
Victoria 23571.65%9328.35%328
Walker 49975.61%16124.39%660
Washington 90884.23%17015.77%1,078
Webb 7698.70%11.30%77
Wharton 21591.10%218.90%236
Williamson 48768.40%22531.60%712
Wilson 4754.02%4045.98%87
Wise 16965.50%8934.50%258
Wood 51567.14%25232.86%767
Young 9889.91%1110.09%109
Zapata 151100.00%00.00%151
Total47,63975.54%15,42224.46%63,061

See also

Notes

  1. The write-in votes for Stephen A. Douglas are only given as a state total, as they are not included in most county data.
  2. No returns have been located for this election for Clay County.
  3. 1 2 3 Not included in the official returns as they arrived after the deadline.

References

  1. 1 2 Crenshaw, Ollinger (July 1942). "The Psychological Background of the Election of 1860 in the South". The North Carolina Historical Review. 19 (3): 260–279.
  2. 1 2 Ledbetter, Billy D. (October 1975). "Politics and Society: The Popular Response to Political Rhetoric in Texas, 1857-1860". East Texas Historical Journal. 13 (2): 11–24.
  3. Baggett, James Alex; The Scalawags: Southern Dissenters in the Civil War and Reconstruction, p. 38 ISBN   0807130141
  4. Bünger, Walter L. Secession and the Union in Texas. p. 76. ISBN   0292739958.
  5. "1860 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
  6. Morgenthaler, Jefferson. The German Settlement of the Texas Hill Country'. p. 153. ISBN   1932801049.
  7. "1860 Presidential General Election Results - Texas". David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
  8. The Tribune Almanac and Political Register. Tribune Association. 1861.
  9. Dubin, Michael J. United States Presidential Elections. 1788-1870: The Official Results by County and State. ISBN   978-0-7864-6422-7.