Campaign Trail Results: Game #722871
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1860
- Player Candidate: Stephen A. Douglas
- Running Mate: James Guthrie
- Difficulty Level: Easy
- Winner Take All Mode?: No
- Game Played:
- ConnerSargent
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- Abraham Lincoln | 118 | 1,857,320 | 40.36 |
| ---- John C. Breckinridge | 79 | 867,796 | 18.86 |
| ---- Stephen A. Douglas | 57 | 1,293,044 | 28.10 |
| ---- John Bell | 49 | 583,896 | 12.69 |
Answers:
- How should your party address the slavery issue during this campaign?The threat of a Southern schism has forced our hand. We must accept the protection of slavery in federal territories, and protect the instution in future states like Kansas and New Mexico.
- What do you have to say about the merits of your running mate, James Guthrie?I'm proud to share a ballot with James Guthrie of Kentucky.
- 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?We'll attack the Republicans the same as any other opponents.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Constitutional Unionists and John Bell in this election?We'll attack the Constitutional Union party the same as any other opponents.
- How aggressively should your party attack the Southern Democrats and John Breckenridge in this election?We've obviously had our falling out at the Convention this year, but we will eventually need to rebuild our party. Going on the attack in this case will only make things worse.
- What is your opinion on the formation of fusion tickets in the Northern states to consolidate the anti-Lincoln vote?This is no time for false pride. Let's do what we can to build a fusion ticket where that action makes sense, and worry about the rest when we get to it.
- Will you keep your name on the ballot in Oregon and California, even if doing so might divide the anti-Lincoln vote?No, I will not. I have a good chance of winning them and I need every vote I can get.
- 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?In our volatile environment, it is hardly helpful to have many thousand young men marching in pseudo-military garb, professing their support for the Republicans.
- 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?Let's moderate our stance on the tariff issue a bit, given the peculiar nature of this election. Even President Buchanan appears to be changing his views.
- How much should your party emphasize its support of a Transcontinental Railroad in this election?Of course we'll support this railroad, but there are other issues we should emphasize in this campaign.
- 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?This is an abstract question at this point. We can barely hold this country together as it is, without addressing some theoretical expansion into the Caribbean.
- 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?Absolutely I would. Not only would this prevent a potential war and preserve the Union, but it would remove slavery from the realm of political debate once and for all.
- 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?This is the logical conclusion of the Republican program, if they succeed in closing off slavery and slowly extinguishing it.
- Should the proposed constitution for the state of Kansas be accepted by Congress, and Kansas admitted as a free state?We've had too many competing votes and constitutions to make any determination about Kansas. We should not admit that state at this time, until there is more clarity.
- Do you have any comments on the Lemmon v. New York case which may be making its way to the Supreme Court?The Dred Scott case was bad enough, but it would go against every idea of the popular will if the Supreme Court were to force slavery on the established states.
- Is there a particular state that you would concentrate your efforts on during the final days of the campaign?I will concentrate on Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.