In January 1860 Hunter delivered a speech in favor of slavery and the right of slaveholders to carry their slaves into the territories . At the first session of the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Charleston , South Carolina , Hunter was a contender for the presidential nomination , but received little support except from the Virginia delegation . On seven of the first eight ballots , he was a very distant second to the leader , Stephen A. Douglas , and was third on the remaining 42 ballots . When the convention reconvened in Baltimore , most Southerners withdrew , including Hunter , and Douglas won the party 's nomination
1860 Democratic National Convention
1860 Democratic National Conventions
Robert M. T. Hunter