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party.
John A. Andrew received 104,527 votes;
Erasmus D. Beach, 35,191;
Amos A. Lawrence, 23,816;
Benjamin F. Butler, 6,000; all others, 75.
Mr. Andrew's majority over all the opposing candidates was 39,445.
The eight councillors elected were all Republicans, as were all the members of Congress.
The presidential electors in favor of the election of
Abraham Lincoln and
Hannibal Hamlin, for
President and
Vice-President of the
United States, received about the same majority
Mr. Andrew did for Governor.
Nearly all of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives were of the Republican party.
The newly elected Legislature met on the first Wednesday in January, 1861.
Hon. William Claflin, of
Newton, was chosen
President of the Senate, and
Stephen N. Gifford,
Esq., of
Duxbury, clerk.
Hon. John A. Goodwin, of
Lowell, was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives, and
William Stowe,
Esq., of
Springfield, clerk.
On assuming the duties of
President of the Senate,
Mr. Claflin made a brief address, in the course of which he said,—
While we meet under circumstances auspicious in our own State, a deep agitation pervades other parts of our country, causing every true patriot to feel the greatest anxiety.
Disunion is attempted in some States, because, as is alleged, laws have been passed in others contrary to the Constitution of the United States. Massachusetts is accused of unfaithfulness in this matter in some of her enactments, although she has always been ready to submit to judicial decisions, and is so still.
She has ever guarded jealously the liberties of her citizens, and, I trust, ever will.
We cannot falter now without disgrace and dishonor.
Whatever action we may take, let us be careful of the rights of others, but faithful to our trust, that we may return them to our constituents unimpaired.
Mr. Goodwin, on taking the
Speaker's chair, referred to national affairs in the following words:—
The session before us may become second in importance to none that has been held in these halls, since, threescore years ago, our fathers consecrated them to popular legislation.
For the second time in our history, we see a State of our Union setting at naught the common compact, and raising the hand of remorseless violence against a whole section of her sister States, and against the Union itself.
But for
