Posted May 2008 on Texas Civilian Yahoo list by Deborah Russell
I am doing some research for another project and came across the election table for 1860. For Texas there were two parties the Southern Democrats and the Constitutional Union. So who would each of those parties have voted for and what one would most Germans belong to? And if anyone has some information on the background of each party that would be helpful too.
There were four parties mentioned Republican and Democrat but these parties were not counted in TX. The Democrats were Fused with the Constitutional Union Party in TX. This is the site I found all this on.
http://www.sewanee.edu/faculty/Willis/Civil_War/tables/1860Election.html
Debbie Russell
Ok. After a very quick search I found this website
http://www.etymonline.com/cw/1860.htm that shows who won Texas; I
knew it was Breckenridge but this shows the vote count. Also try the
Handbook of Texas; they have a specific entry for Constitutional
Union Party and if you search for Southern Democrat there are
several entries that mention it but none specific. You might also
want to search the Southwestern Quarterly online.
Here are few other sites that might be of interest. One note, there
is an article in the NY Times dated Nov. 12 1860 already showing
some of the election results.
http://www.texasalmanac.com/politics/prez.pdf
http://tinyurl.com/56vda3
http://elections.harpweek.com/1860/Overview-1860-1.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6aex33
http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/reagan.html
Chapter 2 of Texas Divided on Google books
http://tinyurl.com/5hprj7
This should keep you going .
Annette Bethke
This morning I attempted to find results by county and can only find a
few. I can't find one site that lists all county results. There may be
a book in our library or perhaps Vicki can find something in her
library to break down the count further.
Annette Bethke
Ralph Wooster's _Texas and Texans in the Civil War_ doesn't give county
by county tallies, but it does say:
"Breckinridge carried Texas and all the other states of the deep South.
His victory in Texas was impressive. He received 47,561 votes, or 75
per cent of the total. He had a majority in every Texas county except
three: Bandera, Gillespie, and Starr, all sparsely populated frontier
counties. In only seven other counties did Breckinridge fail to receive
over sixty percent of the popular vote. The Fusion, or Union, ticket,
in Texas pledged to Bell, received 15,402 votes, or approximately
twenty-five percent of the otal. Stephen A. Douglas picked up a few
scattered votes from loyal supporters who refused to endorse the Fusion
ticket. Electors supporting Lincoln did not appear on the Texas ballot."
Footnote--W. Dean Burnham, _Presidential Ballots, 1836-1892_, p.
764-813. See the explanatory note, 947. For more on the Fusion ticket,
see John V. Mering, "Allies or Opponents? The Douglas Democrats and the
Constitutional Unionists," Southern Studies 23 (Winter 1984): 380-381;
Baggett, "Constitutional Union Party in Texas," 247-250.
I'm wondering if the county by county results might be in the 1861 Texas
Almanac, which we have on microfilm in the library. I'll be back at
work on Monday and can pull it then.
Newpaper coverage for elections in the Civil War period is often
confusing. They don't necessarily give you A got xxx votes and B got
yyy votes. They often (but not always) just say A got 238 majority.
Vicki Betts
I almost forgot--THE best place to find election returns is the State Archives, in the Secretary of State's papers. I got into those records to find election results when I was researching Gonzales County for the Fanning diary.
Vicki Betts
I am doing some research for another project and came across the election table for 1860. For Texas there were two parties the Southern Democrats and the Constitutional Union. So who would each of those parties have voted for and what one would most Germans belong to? And if anyone has some information on the background of each party that would be helpful too.
There were four parties mentioned Republican and Democrat but these parties were not counted in TX. The Democrats were Fused with the Constitutional Union Party in TX. This is the site I found all this on.
http://www.sewanee.edu/faculty/Willis/Civil_War/tables/1860Election.html
Debbie Russell
Ok. After a very quick search I found this website
http://www.etymonline.com/cw/1860.htm that shows who won Texas; I
knew it was Breckenridge but this shows the vote count. Also try the
Handbook of Texas; they have a specific entry for Constitutional
Union Party and if you search for Southern Democrat there are
several entries that mention it but none specific. You might also
want to search the Southwestern Quarterly online.
Here are few other sites that might be of interest. One note, there
is an article in the NY Times dated Nov. 12 1860 already showing
some of the election results.
http://www.texasalmanac.com/politics/prez.pdf
http://tinyurl.com/56vda3
http://elections.harpweek.com/1860/Overview-1860-1.htm
http://tinyurl.com/6aex33
http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/reagan.html
Chapter 2 of Texas Divided on Google books
http://tinyurl.com/5hprj7
This should keep you going .
Annette Bethke
This morning I attempted to find results by county and can only find a
few. I can't find one site that lists all county results. There may be
a book in our library or perhaps Vicki can find something in her
library to break down the count further.
Annette Bethke
Ralph Wooster's _Texas and Texans in the Civil War_ doesn't give county
by county tallies, but it does say:
"Breckinridge carried Texas and all the other states of the deep South.
His victory in Texas was impressive. He received 47,561 votes, or 75
per cent of the total. He had a majority in every Texas county except
three: Bandera, Gillespie, and Starr, all sparsely populated frontier
counties. In only seven other counties did Breckinridge fail to receive
over sixty percent of the popular vote. The Fusion, or Union, ticket,
in Texas pledged to Bell, received 15,402 votes, or approximately
twenty-five percent of the otal. Stephen A. Douglas picked up a few
scattered votes from loyal supporters who refused to endorse the Fusion
ticket. Electors supporting Lincoln did not appear on the Texas ballot."
Footnote--W. Dean Burnham, _Presidential Ballots, 1836-1892_, p.
764-813. See the explanatory note, 947. For more on the Fusion ticket,
see John V. Mering, "Allies or Opponents? The Douglas Democrats and the
Constitutional Unionists," Southern Studies 23 (Winter 1984): 380-381;
Baggett, "Constitutional Union Party in Texas," 247-250.
I'm wondering if the county by county results might be in the 1861 Texas
Almanac, which we have on microfilm in the library. I'll be back at
work on Monday and can pull it then.
Newpaper coverage for elections in the Civil War period is often
confusing. They don't necessarily give you A got xxx votes and B got
yyy votes. They often (but not always) just say A got 238 majority.
Vicki Betts
I almost forgot--THE best place to find election returns is the State Archives, in the Secretary of State's papers. I got into those records to find election results when I was researching Gonzales County for the Fanning diary.
Vicki Betts
