Chapter 8: Showdown in Chicago

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Imagine Chicago, May 1860.

The city is just electric.

You've got 40 ,000 visitors pouring in.

Yeah, it's buzzing.

Totally.

Picture these mechanical Marvel's trains roaring in, crowds cheering like mad brass bands playing, even rockets lighting up the sky.

It really sets the scene.

This wasn't just some party though.

This was, well, this was the crucible where America's future was really being forged.

Absolutely.

It was a truly vibrant, pivotal moment, a tableau set for one of the most significant political conventions ever, right?

Definitely.

The nation's fate really felt like it was hanging in the balance.

So that's our focus today.

We're doing a deep dive into a key chapter from Doris Kearns Goodwin's fantastic book, Team of Rivals.

And our mission really is to figure out how this relatively, well, unknown figure, Abraham Lincoln, somehow emerged from this field of political heavyweights.

Yeah.

How did he secure that presidential nomination and fundamentally change American history?

Exactly.

And the stakes for you, if you were living back then, they were just incredibly high.

The Republican Party, this rising force, was desperate to win the presidency.

Desperate.

They needed those key battleground states, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey.

Winning those was everything.

So the choice of nominee wasn't just about defining the party.

No, it was potentially about whether the nation itself,

already kind of teetering on the brink of civil war, would actually hold together.

Wow.

Yeah.

They really needed someone who could unite all these different groups.

And crucially, someone who could actually win the general election.

That was key.

Availability.

So let's introduce the main players here.

You've got the guy everyone thought would get it, William Seward.

Seasoned statesman, tons of experience.

Then you have other big names, Salmon Chase, Edward Bates, formidable contenders in their own, right?

Right.

And then there's the dark horse from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln.

And his path, as we're going to find out, was anything but simple.

Not at all.

Now, to really get this drama, you have to picture Chicago itself at that time.

It's hard to really convey how much the city had changed.

It's wild.

The sources call its growth almost ridiculous.

I mean, it went from basically a military post and fur station, Wolves in the Streets in 1830.

Wolves in the Streets?

To the first grain market in the world, this bustling metropolis by 1860.

They had miles of wharves, these huge warehouses.

And didn't they raze the streets?

So something about mud.

Oh, yeah.

They literally lifted buildings, sometimes whole blocks, 12 feet up, to put in a sewer system and escape the swampy ground.

An incredible feat of engineering.

It really mirrored the party's ambition, you know.

Wow.

So the delegates arrive in this transformed city.

And it's a frenzy.

The trains were a spectacle.

One reportedly went a mile a minute coming from Buffalo, packed.

Not just delegates and reporters, but get these prize fighters hired to keep the peace.

No way.

Prize fighters?

Yep.

Imagine that scene arriving in Chicago.

The city just went all out of illuminated houses, cannons firing, rockets.

One reporter called it an army with banners, like they were rallying for war.

And the convention hall itself, this wigwam.

So called, yeah, because the chiefs of the Republican Party were to meet there.

Huge place, built to hold 10 ,000 people.

And there's that crazy detail about men desperately trying to find women to get into the galleries.

Isn't that something?

Yeah.

Scouring the streets for women, schoolgirls, washerwomen, even painted ladies.

Because the exclusive galleries were only for gentlemen accompanied by a lady.

It just shows the incredible energy,

the almost frantic need to be there, to be seen.

Exactly.

And at first, all that energy seemed to be pointing straight at William Seward.

He got to Chicago, everyone knew him, he had nearly a majority of delegates already pledged.

And they made that early decision about the voting rules, right?

Simple majority, not two -thirds.

Huge boost for Seward's camp.

They rejected the two -thirds rule, so a simple majority was enough.

Everyone thought, okay, that pretty much seals it for Seward.

It really looked like it was his for the taking.

The sources say, you know, when things wrapped up on the second day, most people believed if they'd started voting then and there.

Seward would have won.

He would have emerged the victor.

But then this pause.

A fateful pause.

The secretary announces the tally sheets aren't ready.

So they adjourn till morning.

Seems like a small thing, a logistical hiccup.

But it turned out to be the exact crack in the dam, you know.

It gave the anti -Seward forces the time they desperately needed to mobilize.

Shows how fast political tides can shift.

So that adjournment was the turning point.

Absolutely crucial.

Which brings us to what you might call the night of a thousand knives.

This period of really intense backroom dealing, shifting alliances,

all aimed at stopping Seward.

What was the main problem with Seward?

Why the opposition?

Well, the core concern, especially from politicians in those vital battleground states like Indiana, Pennsylvania.

They saw him as too radical on slavery and maybe too liberal on immigration, too.

They were terrified.

His image would not only cost him the general election, but drag down their local Republican candidates with him.

And his manager, Thurlow Weed, Seward's longtime friend,

he didn't see it coming or didn't want to.

Weed was incredibly loyal,

maybe too loyal.

Even though he sensed the opposition growing, he just stuck to his guns.

Seward was, without question, the best man for the job, he'd say.

Highlighting his experience, his ability.

Right, highest order of executive ability, large experience in national affairs.

But that devotion, that absolute belief in Seward's superiority might have blinded him to the real practical doubts about his availability, his electability.

And then there's Horace Greeley.

What a character.

How fascinating and kind of vengeful, actually.

He wangled his way in as a proxy delegate for Oregon.

For Oregon?

He wasn't even from there.

Nope, but he got him a vote and he used it relentlessly.

First to promote Edward Bates, but mostly his real goal was just to defeat Seward.

So he was actively working against him.

Tirelessly, going delegation to delegation, saying point blank, you couldn't like Seward if you could nominate him.

And he'd bring guys from Indiana and Pennsylvania to back him up.

Turns out he had this deep, rankling hatred for Seward.

Wow, personal feelings playing a huge role.

Absolutely.

It was pent up for years just waiting for what Goodwin calls a final explosion.

Meanwhile, the other main rivals, Bates and Chase, they had their own problems.

They did.

Bates, for example, he was sort of stuck.

His past support for the Know Nothings, that nativist movement.

Right, anti -immigrant.

Exactly.

That really hurt him with important German -American leaders like Gustav Korner, who basically said German Republicans would never vote for Bates.

But he wasn't liberal enough for others.

Precisely.

Too conservative for the more liberal wing of the party.

So he couldn't build that solid coalition he needed.

And Sam and Chase, big reputation.

Yeah, big reputation, former governor, senator.

But he couldn't even unite his own Ohio delegation.

Some were holding out for other Ohioans.

Yeah.

Plus, he'd made enemies over the years.

And critically, he hadn't appointed really effective campaign managers.

He had, as one friend put it, indecisive or lukewarm friends running things.

That failure to lock down Ohio was fatal for him.

So you've got Seward looking vulnerable, Bates and Chase struggling to gain traction.

Exactly.

And it all feeds into this frantic stop Seward movement that night.

You picture these late night meetings, men gathering in little groups, rumors just flying everywhere.

Like the one about governors resigning.

Yeah, a deliberately circulated rumor that Republican candidates for governor would quit if Seward got the nomination.

Total pressure tactic.

But the big question was, could all these different groups who didn't want Seward actually agree on who they did want?

That was the million dollar question.

Could they concentrate its strengths on a single alternative?

And that's where Lincoln starts to emerge more clearly.

Right.

His whole approach, really by nature,

was not to attack the other candidates.

He avoided making enemies.

Which made him acceptable.

Exactly.

He became this broadly acceptable alternative.

His team wasn't arguing he was necessarily more able than Seward, but that he was more available, more expedient.

He was, they argued, the man who could win.

The second choice everyone could live with.

Pretty much.

No one had a major positive objection to him, as they put it.

And his team in Chicago, they were good.

Oh, they were remarkable.

Led by Judge David Davis, big guy, tons of energy, plus Leonard Sweatt, Norman Judd, Stephen Logan.

They worked methodically, connoisseur, with real dedication.

Picking off delegates one by one.

That was the strategy.

Assigned specific tasks, focused on individuals, and they didn't even have to do the dirty work of attacking Seward.

Greeley and the worried governors were already doing that.

Smart.

And they focused on Indiana early on.

Crucial move.

They knew Indiana Republicans were terrified.

Seward's radical image would sink their whole state ticket.

The candidate for governor, Henry Lane, basically said Seward's nomination meant defeat for them.

So it was a practical calculation for Indiana.

Totally practical.

Electing their state guys came first.

So they promised Lincoln their solid support on the first ballot.

That was huge.

OK, so Indiana's in the bag.

But Pennsylvania, that sounds a bit more controversial.

Deals being made.

Yeah, this is where it gets really interesting and maybe a little murky.

Davis and his team went into heavy negotiations with Simon Cameron's group from Pennsylvania.

Cameron wanted something, a cabinet post.

That was the allegation, the rumor.

And Lincoln himself actually sent a telegram from Springfield saying,

make no contracts that will bind me.

Pretty clear instruction.

But his team didn't quite follow it.

Huh, not exactly.

According to the story, one of them, Dubois, supposedly said, damn Lincoln.

And Davis basically just decided Lincoln ain't here and don't know what we have to meet.

So we will go ahead and he must ratify it.

Wow, that's bold.

Incredibly bold.

Now, Davis probably didn't make a concrete binding promise for Lincoln.

It was likely more nuanced, like promising that the entire Illinois delegation would recommend Cameron for a cabinet spot.

Ah, a subtle difference.

Subtle.

The key.

The Cameron guys, however, conveniently heard it as a guarantee.

Politics, right?

So these moves, Indiana locked down, Pennsylvania leaning.

It starts to snowball.

Absolutely.

In the very early morning hours, there was this informal straw vote in what they called the Committee of 12 Key Strategists.

And with Illinois and Indiana behind them, Lincoln emerged as the strongest anti -seward candidate.

OK.

That led to a crucial agreement.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey would support their own favorite sons on the first ballot just for show, but then switched to Lincoln on the second.

Consolidating the opposition.

Exactly.

The stop Seward movement now had its man.

Lincoln wasn't just a second choice anymore.

He was the unified alternative.

Right.

Let's get to the dialeting itself.

The morning arrives.

The tension must be off the charts.

You can only imagine.

Seward supporters, still acting confident, marched to the wigwam, led by a magnificent band.

Big show of force.

But then they get there.

And many of them can't get in.

It turns out Lincoln's team had pulled another fast one.

The duplicate tickets.

Brilliant, wasn't it?

They printed counterfeit admission tickets the night before and flooded the hall with their own noisy supporters as soon as the doors opened.

Seward's guys arrived to find the place already packed with cheering Lincoln fans.

Talk about playing the ground game.

Masterful maneuvering.

So the nominations begin.

This is the first real test inside the hall.

Huge test.

William Everts from New York nominates Seward.

The place erupts a deafening shout, handkerchiefs waving everywhere.

Even one of Lincoln's guys admitted it appalled us a little.

It was that loud.

But then Lincoln's turn.

Norman Judd nominates Lincoln.

And the response is just irrepressible applause.

Someone described it like a wild colt with a bit between its teeth.

This huge wave of sound, Goodwin says, was the first distinct impression in Lincoln's favor.

And the seconding speeches turned into a shouting match.

Literally a trial of lungs, as one observer put it.

Seward's side would yell like Comanches, Panthers, just raw noise.

Then Lincoln's side would answer with this coordinated roar.

Someone said it sounded like a thousand steam whistles just trying to outshout each other.

Incredible atmosphere.

It's the first ballot results come in.

There are immediate surprises.

Seward leads, as expected,

173 and a half votes.

But Lincoln gets 102,

way more than many anticipated.

Pulling votes from unexpected places.

Yeah, some from New England, Virginia splitting its votes, Ohio not fully behind Chase.

And critically, Indiana delivered a solid vote for Lincoln, just as promised.

That was a startler.

So Lincoln's immediately the clear number two.

Right, the clear cut alternative.

The field narrows instant.

And then crucial second ballot.

And the shift is dramatic.

Lincoln picks up more votes from New England, Delaware switches,

and then the bombshell.

Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania.

They announce 44 votes for Lincoln.

The place goes wild, startling the vast auditorium like a clap of thunder.

Suddenly Lincoln is at 181 votes, just three and a half behind Seward's 184 and a half.

Wow, Chase and Bates are fading fast.

Their support just collapses.

It's effectively a two -man race now.

The tension is just unbearable.

Okay, third ballot.

This is it.

You can feel the momentum.

Lincoln keeps gaining votes, creeping closer.

He reaches 231 and a half votes, just one and a half votes short of the nomination.

So close.

The hall goes into this profound stillness, just absolute silence waiting.

Then David Carter of Ohio gets up.

Ohio chases home state.

Exactly.

He stands up and announces Ohio is switching four of its votes to Abraham Lincoln.

And that's it.

That's it, pandemonium.

The place just explodes.

People applauding rapturously.

Women waving handkerchiefs.

Men throwing their hats in the air by the thousands.

Lincoln is the nominee.

Must have been devastating for Seward's camp.

Absolutely crushing.

Grown men, great men, weeping openly, their faces looking drawn, white and aged.

Thurlow Weed, his loyal manager, called it the great disappointment of his life.

Just heartbreaking for them.

But then the party comes together.

Remarkably quickly, yes.

Other states rush to change their votes, make it unanimous.

You get these really poignant moments like Austin Blair from Michigan saying they lay down their first best loved candidate was bleeding of the heart.

Even Evert's, Seward's guy, gives this moving tribute.

Unity was crucial.

And Chicago celebrates.

Big time.

News shouted from the wigwam roof, cannons firing, huge bonfires, parades with guys carrying fence rails, that symbol of Lincoln's humble background.

And back in Springfield,

how did Lincoln take the news?

Very quietly,

very characteristically.

He was likely in a shop or the newspaper office, just waiting.

When the telegram arrived, he apparently just read it and said calmly,

I knew this would come when I saw the second ballot.

Understood.

Totally.

Then he famously excused himself saying, there's a little woman down on 8th Street who will be glad to hear the news and went home and tell Mary.

Meanwhile, Springfield itself just erupted banners, bells, speeches, crowds surrounding his house.

The impossible had happened.

Amazing story.

Let's talk quickly about how the rivals reacted afterwards.

Seward.

Seward was, initially, pale as ashes.

He knew it was over.

Final and irrevocable.

But publicly, he put on an incredibly brave front.

His daughter Fanny wrote, he alone has a smile.

He even issued a gracious statement pledging support.

What?

Inside.

Inside, he was furious, angry, hurt, and humiliated.

He later told a friend he wished he'd kept a diary, just so he could have recorded all his cursing and swearing at the time.

Can't blame him.

What about Chase?

Chase took it hard.

He was just wracked by the thought, convinced that Ohio's disunity, his own delegation not backing him fully, cost him everything.

He got quite bitter about it.

Even in his congratulations to Lincoln.

Yeah, even in his letter to Lincoln, he couldn't help but complain about his delegation's perfidy as he saw it.

He really struggled to accept the outcome wasn't someone else's fault.

And Bates?

He seemed calmer.

Outwardly, yes.

Very composed.

Said he wasn't at all mortified, felt he'd gained standing.

But his private journal tells a slightly different story.

He admitted feeling irritation.

Thought the nomination came down to accident or trick.

And he was worried about the party platform, thought it went too far on slavery, making the party seem like it favored Negro equality, which he feared would hurt them nationally.

So calm surface, but some simmering resentment and concern underneath.

Okay, so wrapping up why Lincoln, why did he win against these giants?

It's complex, right?

Incredibly complex, and people have debated it forever.

One argument from journalist Murat Halstead, who was there, was simply that it was the defeat of Seward rather than the nomination of Lincoln.

Meaning Seward just had too many enemies.

Exactly.

Seward was well known, but that meant he'd accumulated numerous and formidable enemies over his long career.

Lincoln, being comparatively unknown, didn't carry that baggage.

Makes sense.

And luck played a part.

Location, location, location.

Definitely a factor.

The convention being in Chicago,

Lincoln's home state, a key battleground state that allowed his team to pack the galleries, exert local pressure.

Gustav Koerner flat out said, had the convention been held at any other place, Lincoln would not have been nominated.

You can't ignore that.

And his strategic positioning was brilliant, or maybe just fortunate.

He occupied this middle ground less radical than Seward or Chase on Slavery, less conservative than Bates, acceptable to both former Know Nothings and German Americans, in a way the others weren't.

The perfect compromise candidate, in a way.

He really was.

He could unite factions that deeply distrusted each other.

And we have to credit his team's management, David Davis and the others.

Absolutely.

They run a brilliant operation, as Goodwin puts it.

Clever use of promises, strategic maneuvering, seizing opportunities.

They played the convention game exceptionally well.

But Goodwin argues it goes deeper than just strategy and luck.

It comes down to Lincoln himself, his character, his experience.

Yes, that's her core argument, and it's really compelling.

While all those factors mattered, she argues Lincoln was uniquely the best prepared to answer the call,

precisely because of who he was and what he'd lived through.

How so?

Well, think about it.

He had risen with fewer advantages, so he was more self -reliant, more proactive in shaping his own destiny.

While Seward was touring Europe before the convention, Lincoln was out giving speeches, building support.

He took the Cooper Union invitation that Chase turned down a huge platform.

He was more grounded.

More grounded, maybe more cautious in a good way.

His equable nature, Goodwin calls it.

He rarely over -promised or said things he wasn't sure of, which gave him credibility compared to rivals who sometimes shifted their positions.

And that connection with ordinary people.

Years riding the judicial circuit in Illinois, given this incredible, keen sense of what people felt, thought, needed, and wanted.

A kind of political empathy his more elite rivals had perhaps lost touch with.

He could also bring people together, even former opponents.

Huge strength.

He built friendships without making lasting enemies.

Look at how he reconciled with Judd and Trumbull, guys who'd beaten him before.

Contrast that with Chase, who held grudges, or Bates, who didn't inspire that same burning personal loyalty.

Lincoln knew how to build and maintain a coalition.

And finally, his ambition.

It wasn't just about power for its own sake.

Goodwin describes it as a profound and elevated sense of ambition.

Remarkably free from pettiness or malice.

It was deeply tied to his commitment to the anti -slavery cause.

He wanted to succeed, yes, but for a larger purpose.

And it didn't compromise his integrity.

That blend was unique.

So when you put it all together, Lincoln's nomination in 1860 wasn't just one thing.

It was this intricate, mixed, smart strategy.

Yes, lucky breaks, sure.

Divisions among his rivals, definitely.

But ultimately, it was also about the man himself.

His character, his intuition, his unique preparation through experience.

He emerged as this unifying figure right when the nation desperately needed one.

It really makes you think.

Here's a final thought for you to chew on.

In our own political world, often dominated by insiders, big promises, maybe sharp elbows,

how did Lincoln's, well, different path, his humble roots, his steady consistency, that ability to connect across divides turn out to be his greatest strengths?

What does that tell us today about the kind of leadership qualities that are truly essential when facing the biggest challenges imaginable?

Something to ponder.