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[82] intended to guard. Mr. Douglas was accordingly declared to be the regular nominee of the Democratic party of the Union,1 upon the motion of Mr. Church, of New York, when, according to the report of the proceedings, ‘The whole body rose to its feet, hats were waved in the air, and many tossed aloft; shouts, screams, and yells, and every boisterous mode of expressing approbation and unanimity, were resorted to.’

Senator Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, was then unanimously nominated as the candidate for Vice-President; and the Convention adjourned sine dieon the 23d June, the sixth and last day of its session.2 On the same day, but after the adjournment, Mr. Fitzpatrick declined the nomination, and it was immediately conferred on Mr. Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, by the Executive Committee. Thus ended the Douglas Convention.

But another Convention assembled at Baltimore on the same 23d June,3: styling itself also, and with as little reason, the ‘National Democratic Convention.’ It was composed chiefly of the delegates who had just withdrawn from the Douglas Convention, and the original delegates from Alabama and Louisiana. One of their first acts was to abrogate the two-thirds rule, as had been done by the Douglas Convention. Both acted under the same necessity, because the preservation of this rule would have prevented a nomination by either. This consideration, instead of causing both to desist and appeal to the people of the States to appoint a new Convention for the salvation of the Democratic party, was totally disregarded. r. Cushing was elected and took the chair as President. In his opening address he said: ‘Gentlemen of the Convention, we assemble here, delegates to the National Democratic Convention [applause], duly accredited thereto from more than twenty States of the Union [applause], for the purpose of nominating candidates of the Democratic party for the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States, for the purpose of announcing the principles of the party, and for the purpose of continuing and reestablishing that party upon the firm foundations of the Constitution, the Union, and the coequal rights of the several States.’4

1 Pages 231-236

2 Page 239.

3 Page 241.

4 Page 243.

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