Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois entered the Charleston convention as the front-runner for the presidential nomination, and while he won a majority on the first presidential ballot of the convention, convention rules at the time required a two-thirds majority to win the nomination, with Douglas' adherence to the Freeport Doctrine regarding slavery in the territories engendering strong opposition from many Southern delegates: opponents of Douglas's nomination spread their support among five major candidates, including former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie of Kentucky and Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia.

After 57 ballots over a span of two days, in which Douglas consistently won at least half of the delegates, the Charleston convention adjourned when it became apparent no candidate could secure the required two-thirds of all votes.

The convention adopted a platform in which it pledged to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States upon questions of Constitutional Law regarding slavery.

Douglas was challenged for his Senate seat by Abraham Lincoln in 1858, and narrowly won re-election, after the Lincoln-Douglas debates, by professing the Freeport Doctrine, a de facto rejection of Dred Scott, with militant Southern "Fire-Eaters", such as William Yancey of Alabama, opposing him as a traitor.

[2] Urged by Yancey, the delegations from seven Deep South states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) met in a separate caucus before the convention.

They reached a tentative consensus to "stop Douglas" by imposing a pro-slavery party platform which he could not run on if nominated.

[3] The "Fire-eater" majority on the convention's platform committee, chaired by William Waightstill Avery of North Carolina, produced an explicitly pro-slavery document,[4] endorsing Dred Scott and Congressional legislation protecting slavery in the territories.

Northern Democrats refused to acquiesce, as Dred Scott was extremely unpopular in the North, and the Northerners said they could not carry a single state with that platform: this would end any Democratic prospect of retaining the White House, as no previous candidate had won the presidency without winning either New York or Pennsylvania, and only four (John Adams in 1796, James Madison in 1812, John Quincy Adams in 1824, and James Buchanan in 1856) had been elected without winning both.

Since both the majority and the minority resolutions on the Territorial question were rejected, nothing remained except the Cincinnati platform as the Douglas faction had desired.

After the unanimous nomination of Fitzpatrick as the candidate for vice president, the convention adjourned on June 23, the sixth and last day of its session.

Fitzpatrick's refusal of the vice-presidential nomination occurred sixteen years after Silas Wright was the first to turndown the honor.

On motion of Mr. Dick, the lone remaining delegate from North Carolina, the vice-presidential nomination was conferred on former Senator and Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia[5] by acclamation.

Despite instructions from their state convention, the Mississippi delegation, with Jefferson Davis' concurrence, desired that his name be removed from possible consideration for the sake of harmony.

After New York cast an obligatory vote for Dickinson, Breckinridge was declared the unanimous choice of the convention for president.

[2] In the general election, the actual division in Democratic popular votes did not directly affect any state outcomes except California, Oregon, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.

James M. McPherson suggested in Battle Cry of Freedom that the “Fire-eater” program of breaking up the convention and running a rival ticket was deliberately intended to bring about the election of a Republican as president, and thus trigger secession declarations by the slave-owning states.

Whatever the “intent” of the fire-eaters may have been, doubtless many of them favored secession, and the logical, probable, and actual consequence of their actions was to fragment the Democratic party and thereby virtually ensure a Republican victory.