The victory of John Bell and the Constitutional Union ticket in Virginia was seen at the moment as a vote for moderation. But Bell only narrowly won the state with 74,481 votes, just 156 more than the more radical Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge. Abraham Lincoln gained only 1,929 votes, around 1 percent. Within months Virginia seceded from the Union. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
"The Vote in Virginia. Disunion Rebuked in the South," New York Times, November 7, 1860.
The American Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1861 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1864), 729.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Campaigns/Elections
