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

Meanwhile, a Constitutional Union party had been formed in Georgia, and had elected delegates to a convention of that party in Baltimore.

From Robert Toombs Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage by Stovall, Pleasant A.

The Constitutional Union party, which ignored slavery in its platform, declaring that it recognized no political principles other than "the Constitution of the country, the Union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws."

From The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Nicolay, Helen

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)

Jefferson Davis had always been a States' Rights Democrat, and had been defeated for Governor of Mississippi by the Constitutional Union party.

From Robert Toombs Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage by Stovall, Pleasant A.