Campaign Trail Results: Game #1500343
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1860
- Player Candidate: Stephen A. Douglas
- Running Mate: Herschel Johnson
- Difficulty Level: Normal
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- Abraham Lincoln | 171 | 1,898,519 | 40.77 |
| ---- John C. Breckinridge | 65 | 929,672 | 19.96 |
| ---- John Bell | 53 | 636,817 | 13.68 |
| ---- Stephen A. Douglas | 14 | 1,191,779 | 25.59 |
Answers:
- How should your party address the slavery issue during this campaign?I have always supported the Democratic ideal, that the citizens of any given state or territory should be allowed to decide the slavery question according to their own dictates.
- What do you have to say about the merits of your running mate, Herschel Johnson?I'm proud to share a ballot with Herschel Vespasian Johnson of Georgia.
- To what extent do you plan to personally campaign in this election?I will break precedent by actively campaigning, and I will focus my stops in the state of Illinois.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Republicans and Abraham Lincoln in this election?Lincoln and his party are abolitionists, whether they care to admit it or not. I don't believe a majority in the North would support them if this were fully understood.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Constitutional Unionists and John Bell in this election?Anyone who supports the Union is fine in my book, at least in comparison to the secessionist Southern Democrats.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Southern Democrats and John Breckenridge in this election?We need to make it perfectly clear that we have no use for this secessionist splinter group, and that we are a national party that truly represents Democracy in this country.
- Will you keep your name on the ballot in Oregon and California, even if doing so might divide the anti-Lincoln vote?I will take my name off the ballot in those states. We just need to make sure Lincoln doesn't win them.
- What should your party's position be on the raid of John Brown, late in 1859?We will keep silent on this episode as we campaign.
- Do you have any comment on the paramilitary “Wide Awake” clubs that have marched in support of Republicans?Every party has political clubs and supporters. There's no reason to take special alarm at the Wide Awakes.
- Should your party continue its familiar attacks on the “black Republicans” as abolitionists and supporters of social and political equality for blacks?It might be in our best interest to play down such rhetoric in this particular campaign. Our base in the North will vote for us anyway, and it's not as if we have any Southern support to lose at this point.
- What position should your party take on the tariff question in this election?Everybody knows that the Democrats are the party of low tariffs, and we intend to keep it that way.
- How much should your party emphasize its support of a Transcontinental Railroad in this election?I've been an advocate of a Transcontinental Railroad for the past decade. We need to make sure that is appreciated by the voters.
- How much should your party emphasize its support of a homestead act in this election?This has been a Democratic idea since the days of Andrew Jackson. We support it completely.
- What position should your party take on foreign immigration and nationalization in this election?The Democrats are in favor of our current naturalization laws. That is my position and I stand by it.
- What is your position on the Supreme Court's Dred Scott v. Sandford decision?There's nothing in this decision which contradicts my own ideas on slavery. Slavery can hardly thrive in a territory where the residents oppose the practice, regardless of the Court's abstractions on the issue.
- Do you have anything to say about the efforts of some to reopen the Atlantic slave trade?This is the type of aggressive, expansive move by the Southern Democrats that led to the split in our party. Under no circumstances would I support the reopening of the Atlantic slave trade.
- Do you support the further expansion of the United States into Mexico, Cuba, or the Caribbean?I don't support the further expansion of the United States. We should be focused on the development of the territories that we have, and not on gaining new ones.
- What is your position on the passage of “personal liberty laws” by various states, to flout the Fugitive Slave Act?I'm not going to make any statements condemning these laws during the present campaign. That would be a hasty, alienating move on our part.
- Would you support a compromise Amendment which permanently protected slavery in the Southern states, in return for no further expansion of the institution?Not really. I'm all for compromise between the sections, but how could we have a permanent Amendment to the Constitution? Couldn't we have another Amendment to amend that Amendment?
- If any Southern state was to secede, would you use military force as President to preserve the Union?If I am elected, this type of thing would not happen. This question has no relevance to events.
- Do you believe that a Republican victory would result in a flood of free blacks into Northern states and western territories?Not at all. This argument has come up in the past, but we should take a more careful analysis of it this time around.
- Should the proposed constitution for the state of Kansas be accepted by Congress, and Kansas admitted as a free state?This action is perfectly in line with my own doctrine. The will of the voters in Kansas clearly calls for admission as a free state.
- What is your position on the creation of land grant universities for secondary education?We support this idea as a positive step for working men in this country.
- Is there a particular state that you would concentrate your efforts on during the final days of the campaign?I will remain in Illinois for the final week of this campaign.
- What is your opinion on the formation of fusion tickets in the Northern states to consolidate the anti-Lincoln vote?I will support any fusion tickets which can be organized, and I will withdraw my name from the slave state ballots. We must find a way to stop Lincoln.