Year: 1943
Type: article
Abstract: When Kentucky gave her electoral votes to the Bell-Everett ticket in the critical election of 1860, her action was unmistakably a repudiation of the extremists in both sections.That a majority of her Hoosier neighbors across the Ohio River had no contrary intentions when voting for Lincoln was perhaps less apparent but equally true.' Nor is i t open to doubt that the people of Indiana, keenly sensitive to the ties of blood, trade, and mutual dependence upon the river outlet, had a wary eye upon Kentucky when they cast their ballots that year.'And in the critical months that followed, the position of Kentucky was a decisive factor in shaping the attitude of Indiana toward secession and civil war.During the secession crisis which swiftly followed the news of Lincoln's election, an overwhelming majority of the people in both Kentucky and Indiana pinned their hopes for saving the Union upon the time-tested palliative of compromise.Had the decision rested in their hands alone, coercion would have remained an unthinkable remedy.Even among Republicans, many conservative businessmen and most of the party followers in southern Indiana blenched a t the 1 With few exceptions the Republican press and party orators took pains to assure Indiana voters t h a t Lincoln's election would be a triumph for conservative principles.Thus the Indianapolis Indiana ilmerican, June 20, 1860, denied that the Republicans contemplated a n attack upon slavery anywhere.The Indianapolis D a d y Journal of September 7, 1860, predicted that Lincoln's policy would be one calculated to "restore and strengthen kind and fraternal feelings between all the patriotic citizens of the several states."A Spencer County Republican convention condemned the "fanaticism of abolitionists" ; the Republicans of Vanderburgh County recognized the right of any new state to be admitted t c the Union with o r without slavery as it might elect; and a meeting of the party faithful in Dearborn C!ynty solemnly resolved that the principle of popular sovereignty was as old as our government and that the Republican party, now, as ever, is ready t o stand and abide by it."Ihid., January 19, February 15, 21, 1860.2 For s discussion of the interdependence and common interests of Kentucky, Indiana, and other portions of the "Borderland," see Edward C. Smith, The Borderland in the Civil War (New York, 1927), 1-8, 23-26.During the campaign Henry S. Lane, Republican candidate for governor of Indiana, frequently referred to his Kentucky origins and insisted t h a t the name of Henry Clay had been inscribed upon his banner ever since he had entered Indiana politics.In a speech at Rockport his tribute to Clay "was truly sublime, causing tears to start in the eyes of many a n old Whig."Indianapolis Daily
Source: Indiana Magazine of History
Author: Kenneth M. Stampp
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2117864763