Please click the icon to follow us on Facebook.on this day the Democrat Party gathered at the South Carolina Institute Hall in Charleston for ten weeks of agonising soul-searching which concluded with the nomination of compromise candidate Jeff Davis (pictured, below) who would triumph at the Presidential election in the fall.

Davis was a smart choice being far more qualified than his opponent and fellow Kentuckian Abraham Lincoln (pictured, left) and also able to hold together the Democrat Vote due to respect for his national status. A man surely of the stature of his fifteen predecessors perhaps even of the same leadership stock as the first five Presidents who guided the Union through equally troubled times.

Born in poverty with no education, Lincoln was given an axe at the age of twelve and entered into manual labour. He never adminstered anything bigger than a two-man law office. Deeply depressed, he was addicted to mercury, consuming more than nine thousand times the recommended daily dosage. As a result of his mercury-fueled short temper he was of course quite unsuitable for high office. During his single term as a Congressman his only achievement was to enrage his colleagues with "out of tune" opinions of the American-Mexican War, seemingly arguing against a sea-to-sea Union.

In contrast, Jeff Davis was a true nation-builder who would resign his seat in Congress to lead Mississipi troops to glory against superior Mexican Forces at the Battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista. And as Lincoln mismanaged his law office in Springfield, Illinois, Davis made a spectacular return to Washington that would result in his appointment to the Cabinet position of Secretary of War. As the professional head of the US Army, he would be considered one of the most successful holders of the post in the nation's history.

Lincoln might have continued to lose paperworks in his office (or his black stovepipe hat) but his political ambition was reignited by the Missouri Compromise. The Dredd Scot decision followed and the continuation of slavery moved to the very top of the national agenda. Despite his eloquence he lost his Senate Race against Stephen A. Lincoln. Then came the Harper's Ferry Raid.

During the campaign the Democrats would make compelling reference to the last note written by the madman who organized the raid "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with the blood".. Because only Jeff Davis would defend the continuation of constitutional liberty in a manner that would prevent white people from killing each other in a States War. Garbed in black outfit Lincoln was easily characterised as the nation's undertaker and axeman.