Senator Stephen A. Douglas would enter the northern convention in Charleston as the political favorite for the presidential nomination. Douglas, a historic foe to Lincoln, would be the main competitor in the North. Held in the soon-to-be-seceded state of South Carolina, the primary would fail to select a candidate. Still, a second convention would send Douglas to challenge the Republican candidate (alongside a cast of other characters) Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1860.
Lincoln would go on to be elected president in 1860 and immediately face the looming crisis of secession. In his inaugural address (which can be accessed here) he simplified the real divide that America faced, “One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute”. The core issue of slavery dividing the nation took precedence over other divides and led to secession. The South, alienated by Lincoln’s rhetoric that challenged their ideological and economic commitment to slavery, would go on to form the Confederacy and threaten the survival of the Union.
The division between secessionists and anti-secessionists defined the political climate and created coalitions. The broad coalitions built up from (real or perceived) existential threats are common today in big-tent politics. Douglas, who fiercely campaigned against Lincoln and historically disagreed with him, would go on to campaign against secession and speak positively of Lincoln’s inaugural address. Similarly, Samarth Desai in “Jackson Redivivus” presents the case that the anti-secessionist tent unites the contrasting presidencies of Lincoln and Jackson. Jackson’s rhetoric and ideas in the “nullification proclamation” would be woven into Lincoln’s address and response. In their rejection of secession, Lincoln and Jackson’s contrasting presidencies fit squarely inside the anti-secessionist coalition.
In modern politics, candidates often drop from primaries to unify behind a broader coalition, as seen in 2020 when Biden became the consensus candidate. Partisan differences are also set aside in defense of fundamental principles displayed by Dick Cheney endorsing Kamala Harris. The diverse figures in today’s “anti-MAGA” coalition showcase how (a perception of) existential threats to democracy can unite disparate groups.
In 1860, the threat to the Union brought together unlikely allies like Lincoln and Douglas to unite under the banner of preserving the Union. Just as the Democratic Party today embodies big-tent politics, unitizing various factions to defend democracy, the struggle over the Union in the 1860s showed how fundamental values can bridge ideological divides. Both then and now, political coalitions expand when the stakes rise beyond partisan politics to the survival of the system itself.
Sources:
Desai, S. P., (2022) “”Jackson Redivivus” in Lincoln’s First Inaugural”, The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association43(1): 3. doi: https://doi.org/10.3998/jala.2751
Lincoln, Abraham. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. -1916: Abraham Lincoln, March 1861 First Inaugural Address, Final Version. March, 1861. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/mal0773800/>.
The “rising of the stakes” that you point out is an important one I think, especially in the context of the 2024 presidential election. We saw this happen in the anti-MAGA campaign back when Joe Biden was still the presidential candidate. Though lots of people in the democratic party saw him as an unfit candidate, a vote for Biden was a vote against Trump.