The interest in a National Convention usually ceases with the announcement of the principal nomination.  It was only afterwards that the delegates realized how fortunate a selection they made by adding Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, to the ticket as candidate for Vice-President.  Mr. Hamlin was already distinguished in public service.  He was born in 1809, and became a lawyer by profession.  He served many years in the Maine Legislature and four years as a Representative in Congress.  In 1848 he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate, and in 1851 was reelected for a full term.  When in 1856 the Cincinnati Convention indorsed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which he had opposed, Mr. Hamlin formally withdrew from the Democratic party.  In November of that year the Republicans elected him Governor of Maine, and in January, 1857, reelected him United States Senator.

  [Sidenote] Halstead, “Conventions of 1860,” p. 154.

For the moment the chief self-congratulation of the convention was that by the nomination of Lincoln it had secured the doubtful vote of the conservative States.  Or rather, perhaps, might it be said that it was hardly the work of the delegates—­it was the concurrent product of popular wisdom.  Political evolution had with scientific precision wrought “the survival of the fittest.”  The delegates leaving Chicago on the various homeward-bound railroad trains that night, saw that already the enthusiasm of the convention was transferred from the wigwam to the country.  “At every station where there was a village, until after 2 o’clock, there were tar-barrels burning, drums beating, boys carrying rails, and guns great and small banging away.  The weary passengers were allowed no rest, but plagued by the thundering of the cannon, the clamor of drums, the glare of bonfires, and the whooping of boys, who were delighted with the idea of a candidate for the Presidency who thirty years before split rails on the Sangamon River—­classic stream now and for evermore—­and whose neighbors named him ‘honest.’”

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[1] “It is true indeed that the national domain is ours.  It is true
it was acquired by the valor and with the wealth of the whole nation. 
But we hold, nevertheless, no arbitrary power over it.  We hold no
arbitrary authority over anything, whether acquired lawfully or
seized by usurpation.  The Constitution regulates our stewardship;
the Constitution devotes the domain to union, to justice, to defense,
to welfare, and to liberty.  But there is a higher law than the
Constitution which regulates our authority over the domain, and
devotes it to the same noble purposes.  The territory is a part, no
inconsiderable part, of the common heritage of mankind, bestowed upon
them by the Creator of the universe.  We are his stewards, and must so
discharge our trust as to secure in the highest attainable degree
their happiness.”—­William H. Seward, Senate Speech, March 11, 1850. 
App.  “Globe,” p. 265.