Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/214

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

206 LESLIE M. SCOTT

Clay, of Kentucky, 2 ; whole number of votes cast, 465 ; neces- sary to a choice, 233.

Third ballot (preliminary) Seward, 180; Lincoln, 231^; Bates, 22 ; McLean, 5 ; Chase, 24^ ; Dayton, 1 ; Clay, 1 ; (final) Lincoln, 364; changes to Lincoln, in the order as given in Official Proceedings, Ohio, 4; New York, 10; Maine, 10; Pennsylvania, 1 ; New Hampshire, 1 ; Rhode Island, 3 ; Con- necticut, 4; Ohio (again), 13; Missouri, 18; Iowa, 2V 2 ', Ken- tucky, 10; Minnesota, 8; Virginia, 8; California, 5; Texas, 6; District of Columbia, 2 ; Kansas, 6 ; Nebraska, 5 ; Oregon, 1 ; others, 15; total change to Lincoln, 132 j/2.

Oregon's vote first ballot : Bates, 5 ; second ballot, Bates, 5 ; third ballot (preliminary), Lincoln 4, Seward 1; (final) Lin- coln 5.

On the preliminary third ballot, Lincoln with 231^ votes lacked but l l /2 votes of the majority to nominate. The stam- pede to him started with Ohio, whose delegate, D. K. Carter, announced the change of 4 Ohio votes to Lincoln. Delegates from other States joined the rush to Lincoln, and, finally, as reported in the Official Proceedings, a delegate from Oregon, who, on the preliminary third ballot, had voted for Seward, also changed to Lincoln, thus giving the nominee the full five votes of this State. The identity of this fifth man is unknown to the present writer. It may be in place to point out, at this junc- ture, that this one vote, on the third ballot, was the only Oregon vote given to Seward, and that the delegates thus were exer- cising the "discretion" which the Oregon Republican conven- tion of April 21, 1859, had allowed to them. Also, it may be pertinent to add that Oregon gave four votes to the preliminary movement to Lincoln on the third ballot, and, at last, gave Lin- coln its other vote, with the announcement of one of its dele- gates (name unknown) : "Oregon also casts her unanimous vote for Abraham Lincoln" ; further, that Greeley, evidently, either joined the Oregon majority that voted first for Bates and then for Lincoln, or led that majority. And it is important to note that Oregon's member of the committee on platform and resolutions was Mr. Greeley.