The Whig Party had collapsed in the 1850s due to a series of sectional crises over slavery . Though some former Whigs joined the Democratic Party or the new , anti-slavery Republican Party , others joined the nativist American Party . The American Party collapsed following the 1856 elections , and in the lead-up to the 1860 elections John J. Crittenden and other former Whigs founded the Constitutional Union Party . The 1860 Constitutional Union Convention met in May 1860 , nominating John Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for vice president . Party leaders hoped to force a contingent election in the House of Representatives by denying any one candidate a majority in the Electoral College
1860 Constitutional Union Convention
1860 Constitutional Union Convention
Constitutional Union Party (United States)