In 1860 Virginia's 15 electoral votes went to John Bell of Tennessee, the nominee of the Constitutional Union Party.1 Bell beat John C. Breckinridge, the Southern Democratic nominee, by 156 votes out of about 170,000 cast.2 Cardinal News gives the totals as 74,481 for Bell, 74,325 for Breckinridge, 16,198 for Stephen A. Douglas and 1,887 for Abraham Lincoln.3 Virginia was one of only three states Bell carried, along with Kentucky and Tennessee.4 Lincoln won the presidency with 180 electoral votes; Bell finished with 39.5
A state convention called to consider Virginia's response to the secession crisis met in Richmond from February 13, 1861, and on April 4 it rejected a resolution to secede, 90 to 45.6 After Fort Sumter surrendered on April 13 and Lincoln called for troops on April 15, the convention voted 88 to 55 on April 17 to submit an ordinance of secession to the voters.7 On May 23, 1861, Virginia voters approved the ordinance, which repealed the state's 1788 ratification of the Constitution.8
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Each numbered entry quotes the words that support that sentence, as they appear on the linked page.
- Back to sentence 1
Virginia cast 15 votes for Bell as President and 15 votes for Everett as Vice President.
archives.gov/electoral-college/1860 A group of Southern Whigs (a party that had withered away) who favored slavery but opposed secession formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated former Tennessee Sen. John Bell.
cardinalnews.org/2024/09/26/the-six-closest-presidential-elections-in-virginia - Back to sentence 2
John Bell got 44% of Virginian's votes to beat John Breckinridge by 156 votes of the 170,000 cast.
virginialiving.com/culture/webxtra-virginia-votes-the-1860-presidential-election Bell: 74,481, 44.63% Breckenridge: 74,325, 44.54%
cardinalnews.org/2024/09/26/the-six-closest-presidential-elections-in-virginia - Back to sentence 3
Bell: 74,481, 44.63% Breckenridge: 74,325, 44.54% Douglas: 16,198, 9.71% Lincoln: 1,887, 1.13%
cardinalnews.org/2024/09/26/the-six-closest-presidential-elections-in-virginia - Back to sentence 4
In the end, Bell eked out a narrow victory in Virginia, one of just three states he carried (Kentucky and Tennessee were the others).
cardinalnews.org/2024/09/26/the-six-closest-presidential-elections-in-virginia Kentucky cast 12 votes for Bell as President and 12 votes for Everett as Vice President.
archives.gov/electoral-college/1860 - Back to sentence 5
Electoral Vote Winner: 180 Main Opponent: 12 Total/Majority: 303/152
archives.gov/electoral-college/1860 Breckinridge received 72 votes for President, and Bell received 39.
archives.gov/electoral-college/1860 - Back to sentence 6
The convention, which was called to consider Virginia's response to the secession crisis, had been meeting in Richmond since 13 February.
uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/?p=2734 Two weeks earlier, on 4 April, the convention delegates rejected a resolution to secede by a vote of 90 to 45.
uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/?p=2734 - Back to sentence 7
Following the surrender of Fort Sumter on 13 April and President Abraham Lincoln's call for troops on 15 April
uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/?p=2734 Late in the afternoon on 17 April, the convention chose the Confederacy and voted 88 to 55 to submit an ordinance of secession to the voters in a referendum.
uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/?p=2734 - Back to sentence 8
On 23 May, Virginia voters approved the Ordinance of Secession, which repealed Virginia's 1788 ratification of the Constitution of the United States
uncommonwealth.lva.virginia.gov/?p=2734
Sources checked on October 3, 2026
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