1861 Confederate States presidential election in North Carolina

Last updated October 13, 2024

The 1861 Confederate States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 6, 1861, as part of the 1861 Confederate States presidential election. Unlike most Confederate states, where electors were selected by the state legislature, North Carolina selected its 12 electors through a general ticket.^[3]^[4] Each elector on a slate represented a specific district, and the 12 elector candidates who received the highest number of votes were chosen to represent the state in the Electoral College, where they cast their votes for the president and vice president.^[5]

Two slates of electors were pledged to Jefferson Davis in the election, representing the two developing local factions. The "secessionist slate", led by William B. Rodman, consisted of "original secessionists" who had supported secession from early on. They were opposed by the "people's ticket", made up of former Unionists and ran with "conservative"^{[lower-alpha 2]} backing.^[4]

The election itself was muddly with supporters of the opposite view appearing on each of the slates, including four that appeared on both slates^[3] and two others that were listed partially different tickets — one of whom having withdrawn but still appeared on several tickets.^[6] Nevertheless, the secessionist slate won out with its best-performing sole elector winning 27,400 votes, beating the people's ticket's 19,507.^[5]^[6]

Background

In the aftermath of the 1860 presidential election, despite calls from Governor John Willis Ellis for secession, North Carolinians were reluctant to secede from the Union. Lawmakers in the General Assembly felt that Abraham Lincoln's victory was not a sufficient cause for secession, and the general populace believed that the Constitution would protect their rights from Lincoln's administration. When a vote was held in Februaryr 1861 on whether to call a secession convention, the proposal was rejected by voters.^[7]

Despite this, both secessionist and Unionist factions remained active throughout the state, holding meetings to rally support. Governor Ellis, anticipating conflict, began organizing military training camps and preparing troops. Unionists, meanwhile, held out hope that Lincoln would avoid direct interference in the South, which they believed would lead to the Confederacy disbanding. William Woods Holden, a prominent Unionist, warned that secession could result in military occupation and the abolition of slavery, advocating for the creation of a local Constitutional Union Party. At a major Unionist meeting in Randolph County, citizens called for North Carolina to remain neutral and proposed the formation of a "Central Confederacy" of border states.^[7]

Following the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, Lincoln called for volunteer militiamen to subdue the rebellion. This action alarmed many white men and caused most Unionists to shift their stance, leading to the state withdrawing from the Union at the May 1861 secession convention.^[7]

Initially, there was a brief moment of unity among the state's political leaders, but politicians quickly fractured into two camps: enthusiastic Confederates and reluctant Confederates. Early secessionist leaders, having taken control of the state government, excluded former Unionists from public offices and military positions. This exclusion caused resentment and deepened divisions among the state's leaders. Reflecting this partisan divide, early secessionists and former Unionists, such as Holden and Zebulon Vance, organized separate slates of electors for the 1861 Confederate States presidential election, despite both groups endorsing the same ticket.^[7]

Results

The election itself was muddly with supporters of the opposite view appearing on each of the slates, including four that appeared on both slates^[3] and two others that were listed partially different tickets — one of whom having withdrawn but still appeared on several tickets.^[6] There was also an issue with the method of counting. One candidate, who appeared on both slates, represented different districts on each. When tallying the votes, Governor Henry Toole Clark combined the results from both districts, ensuring an easy victory for that candidate. While this may not have disenfranchised voters in this instance, it had the potential to do so.^[5]

Ultimately, the secessionist slate prevailed, with its best-performing sole elector receiving 27,400 votes, compared to the people's ticket's 19,507.^[5]^[6] In addition to the votes cast for the two Davis slates, there were also "many scattering votes", though the Fayetteville observer did not report a specific number.^[5]

The secessionist slate won most of its votes from Breckinridge Democrats and secessionists, while the "people's ticket" won most of its votes from Douglas supporters, Bell supporters, and Unionist. The secessionist voters turned out at a higher rate than the unionists, most likely due to the excitement created by the coming of war and the fact that both tickets represented the same man. This political apathy among the Unionists possibly caused the defeat of the people's ticket.^[4]

General Election Results
	Candidate	Votes	%
Nonpartisan	Jefferson Davis (secessionist slate)	27,400	?
Nonpartisan	Jefferson Davis (people's ticket)	19,507	?
	Scattering	?	?

Notes

↑ The full returns of 24 counties were reported in the November 18 issue of the Fayetteville observer^[1] and the return of Johnston County was reported in the November 13 issue of the Weekly state journal.^[2]
↑ Former Unionist William Woods Holden would eventually form the "Conservative" party, a political coalition of former Unionist opposed to Governor Henry Toole Clark.^[4]

Related Research Articles

The 1860 United States presidential election was the 19th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860. In a four-way contest, the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states had already abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes. Lincoln's election thus served as the main catalyst of the states that would become the Confederacy seceding from the Union. This marked the first time that a Republican was elected president. It was also the first presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1904, 1920, 1940, 1944, and 2016.

In the American Civil War (1861–65), the border states or the Border South were four, later five, slave states in the Upper South that primarily supported the Union. They were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and after 1863, the new state of West Virginia. To their north they bordered free states of the Union, and all but Delaware bordered slave states of the Confederacy to their south.

The Constitutional Union Party was a political party which stood in the 1860 United States elections. It mostly consisted of conservative former Whigs from the Southern United States who wanted to avoid secession over slavery and refused to join either the Republican Party or Democratic Party. The Constitutional Union Party campaigned on a simple platform "to recognize no political principle other than the Constitution of the country, the Union of the states, and the Enforcement of the Laws".

Claiborne Fox Jackson was an American politician of the Democratic Party in Missouri. He was elected as the 15th Governor of Missouri, serving from January 3, 1861, until July 31, 1861, when he was forced out by the Unionist majority in the Missouri General Assembly after planning to force the secession of the state.

Southern Democrats are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the Southern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Jackson affair</span> Massacre during American Civil War

The Camp Jackson affair, also known as the Camp Jackson massacre, occurred during the American Civil War on May 10, 1861, when a volunteer Union Army regiment captured a unit of secessionists at Camp Jackson, outside the city of St. Louis, in the divided slave state of Missouri.

The 1860–61 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 6, 1860, and October 24, 1861, before or after the first session of the 37th United States Congress convened on July 4, 1861. The number of House seats initially increased to 239 when California was apportioned an extra one, but these elections were affected by the outbreak of the American Civil War and resulted in over 56 vacancies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hawkins Polk</span> American politician

William Hawkins Polk was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee's 6th congressional district from 1851 to 1853. He was the younger brother of President James K. Polk. Prior to his election to Congress, he had been a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives (1841–1845), served as U.S. Minister to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1845–1847), and fought as a major in the Mexican–American War.

Henry Emerson Etheridge was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee's 9th congressional district from 1853 to 1857, and again from 1859 to 1861. He also served one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1845–1847) and one term in the Tennessee Senate (1869–1871). After Tennessee seceded in 1861, he was elected Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, serving until 1863.

The American Civil War significantly affected Tennessee, with every county witnessing combat. During the War, Tennessee was a Confederate state, and the last state to officially secede from the Union to join the Confederacy. Tennessee had been threatening to secede since before the Confederacy was even formed, but didn’t officially do so until after the fall of Fort Sumter when public opinion throughout the state drastically shifted. Tennessee seceded in protest to President Lincoln's April 15 Proclamation calling forth 75,000 members of state militias to suppress the rebellion. Tennessee provided a large number of troops for the Confederacy, and would also provide more fleeing soldiers for the Union Army than any other state within the Confederacy.

During the American Civil War, North Carolina joined the Confederacy with some reluctance, mainly due to the presence of Unionist sentiment within the state. A popular vote in February, 1861 on the issue of secession was won by the unionists but not by a wide margin. This slight lean in favor of staying in the Union would shift towards the Confederacy in response to Abraham Lincoln's April 15 proclamation that requested 75,000 troops from all Union states, leading to North Carolina's secession. Similar to Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia, North Carolina wished to remain uninvolved in the likely war but felt forced to pick a side by the proclamation. Throughout the war, North Carolina widely remained a divided state. The population within the Appalachian Mountains in the western part of the state contained large pockets of Unionism. Even so, North Carolina would help contribute a significant amount of troops to the Confederacy, and channel many vital supplies through the major port of Wilmington, in defiance of the Union blockade.

The Confederate government of Kentucky was a shadow government established for the Commonwealth of Kentucky by a self-constituted group of Confederate sympathizers and delegates sent by Kentucky counties, during the American Civil War. The shadow government never replaced the elected government in Frankfort, in which the state legislature had strong Union sympathies while the governor was pro-Confederate. Neither was it able to gain the whole support of Kentucky's citizens; its jurisdiction extended only as far as Confederate battle lines in the Commonwealth, which at its greatest extent in 1861 and early 1862 encompassed over half the state. Nevertheless, the provisional government was recognized by the Confederate States of America, and Kentucky was admitted to the Confederacy on December 10, 1861. Kentucky, the final state admitted to the Confederacy, was represented by the 13th (central) star on the Confederate battle flag.

The East Tennessee Convention was an assembly of Southern Unionist delegates primarily from East Tennessee that met on three occasions during the Civil War. The convention most notably declared the secessionist actions taken by the Tennessee state government on the eve of the war unconstitutional, and requested that East Tennessee, where Union support remained strong, be allowed to form a separate state that would remain part of the United States split from the rest of Confederate Tennessee. The state legislature denied this request, and the Confederate Army occupied the region in late 1861.

The 1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose 27 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

William H. Wisener was an American politician, active primarily at the state level in Tennessee during the mid-19th century. He served four terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, including one term as Speaker (1853–1855). A Southern Unionist, he led the opposition to secession in the House on the eve of the Civil War. After the war, he served in the Tennessee Senate, where he introduced the 13th Amendment for ratification in April 1865.

The 1863 West Virginia gubernatorial election was the first gubernatorial election, held on Thursday, May 28, 1863. Unionist Arthur I. Boreman was elected virtually without opposition. This was the first of two gubernatorial elections held in West Virginia during the American Civil War; 17 counties were occupied by Confederate military forces on Election Day and did not participate in the balloting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Secession Convention of 1861</span>

The Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 was called in the state capital of Richmond to determine whether Virginia would secede from the United States, govern the state during a state of emergency, and write a new Constitution for Virginia, which was subsequently voted down in a referendum under the Confederate Government.

The 1860 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 6, 1860, as part of this 1860 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. By 1860, South Carolina was the only state using this procedure in a presidential election and would be the last time the state would do so.

David Walker was an American lawyer, politician, and judge and notable early settler of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Walker served on the Arkansas Supreme Court for a total of eight years, including two years as chief justice.

The 1861 Tennessee gubernatorial (Confederate) election was held on August 1, 1861, to elect the governor of Tennessee. Incumbent Democratic governor Isham G. Harris won re-election, defeating Independent Democrat William Hawkins Polk, brother of former president James K. Polk, with 63.37% of the vote.

References

↑ Hale, Edward J. (28 November 1861). "Fayetteville observer". Fayetteville observer. p. 3.
↑ Spelman, John. "Weekly state journal". Weekly state journal. p. 3.
1 2 3 McKinney, Gordon B. (2005). Zeb Vance: North Carolina's Civil War Governor and Gilded Age Political Leader. University of North Carolina Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780807875933.
1 2 3 4 Baker, Robin E. "Class Conflict and Political Upheaval: The Transformation of North Carolina Politics during the Civil War". The North Carolina Historical Review. 69 (2): 161–163 – via JSTOR.
1 2 3 4 5 Hale, Edward J. (28 November 1861). "Fayetteville observer". Fayetteville observer. p. 3.
1 2 3 4 Spelman, John. "The state journal". The state journal. p. 3.
1 2 3 4 Beckel, Deborah (2011). Radical Reform: Interracial Politics in Post-Emancipation North Carolina. University of Virginia Press. pp. 24–26. ISBN 9780813930527.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[3] The full returns of 24 counties were reported in the November 18 issue of the Fayetteville observer^[1] and the return of Johnston County was reported in the November 13 issue of the Weekly state journal.^[2]

[7] Former Unionist William Woods Holden would eventually form the "Conservative" party, a political coalition of former Unionist opposed to Governor Henry Toole Clark.^[4]

[1] Hale, Edward J. (28 November 1861). "Fayetteville observer". Fayetteville observer. p. 3.

[2] Spelman, John. "Weekly state journal". Weekly state journal. p. 3.

[:McKinney-4] 1 2 3 McKinney, Gordon B. (2005). Zeb Vance: North Carolina's Civil War Governor and Gilded Age Political Leader. University of North Carolina Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780807875933.

[:Baker-5] 1 2 3 4 Baker, Robin E. "Class Conflict and Political Upheaval: The Transformation of North Carolina Politics during the Civil War". The North Carolina Historical Review. 69 (2): 161–163 – via JSTOR.

[:Fayetteville-6] 1 2 3 4 5 Hale, Edward J. (28 November 1861). "Fayetteville observer". Fayetteville observer. p. 3.

[:Spelman-8] 1 2 3 4 Spelman, John. "The state journal". The state journal. p. 3.

[:Beckel-9] 1 2 3 4 Beckel, Deborah (2011). Radical Reform: Interracial Politics in Post-Emancipation North Carolina. University of Virginia Press. pp. 24–26. ISBN 9780813930527.

[lower-alpha 1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[lower-alpha 2]

[6]

[7]

[1]

[2]