Constitutional Union party

American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. the political party formed in 1859 chiefly by former Whigs to rally moderates desirous of preserving the Union. In 1860 it nominated John Bell for president and Edward Everett for vice president.

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Example Sentences

Lincoln won election with just 39.8 percent 0f the vote, while a fourth candidate, John Bell, won 12.6 percent as head of the short-lived Constitutional Union party, a fragmentary Whig offshoot.

From Salon • Feb. 6, 2016

A Constitutional Union party, embracing Northern and Southern Unionists of Whig or Democratic antecedents, might have supplied the gap left by the old Whig party.

From Stephen A. Douglas A Study in American Politics by Johnson, Allen

Constitutional Union party, possibility of, 349; nominates Bell, 425;prospects, 428.

From Stephen A. Douglas A Study in American Politics by Johnson, Allen

In May the convention of the Constitutional Union party met, also at Baltimore.

From Abraham Lincoln, Volume I by Morse, John T. (John Torrey)

In 1850, it was a "Constitutional Union" party that accepted the Compromise and arrested secession in the South; and Webster, foreseeing a "remodelling of parties", had prophesied that "there must be a Union party".

From Webster's Seventh of March Speech and the Secession Movement, 1850 by Stephenson, Nathaniel W. (Nathaniel Wright)