Adhering to precedent, Bell remained at his home during the campaign, but Breckinridge and other party leaders gave numerous speeches. The party campaigned on the slogan, "the Union as it is, the Constitution as it is." The party's official lack of a stance on slavery positioned it between the Lincoln's Republican Party, who campaigned on a platform against extending slavery to any new states or territories, and Breckinridge's Southern Democrats, who favored allowing slavery in all territories. Historian Frank A. Towers writes that, "notwithstanding the nuances of local issues in selecting a president, voters could either endorse the compromise vision of the Union by choosing Douglas or Bell, or reject it by opting for Lincoln or Breckinridge." Southern Democrats attacked the Constitutional Union platform, arguing that the issue of slavery could not be ignored in the campaign. Constitutional Unionists responded by attacking Breckinridge (who publicly disavowed disunion) as a secessionist who had fallen under the influence of Fire-Eaters like William Lowndes Yancey. The party also attacked Lincoln as an inexperienced, sectional candidate whose election threatened to provoke the secession of the South.