 The April 1864 session of the East Tennessee Convention was wrought with infighting.Johnson opened the Convention with a speech attacking slavery, but it quickly became clear that Conservative Unionists, led by Nelson, John Baxter, Frederick Heiskell, and William B. Carter, were in the majority.Those who supported emancipation, led by Brownlow and Daniel C. Trewhitt, called for "immediate and unconditional emancipation" and the arming of black soldiers, and endorsed Lincoln for president.