Although John Crittenden's Senate term did not expire until 1861, the Kentucky General Assembly met to choose his successor in 1859. Until just days before the election, the contest was expected to be between Breckinridge and Boyd, who had been elected lieutenant governor in August; Boyd's worsening health prompted his withdrawal on November 28, 1859. On December 12, the Assembly chose Breckinridge over Joshua Fry Bell, the defeated candidate in the August gubernatorial election, by a vote of 81–53. In his acceptance speech, delivered to the Kentucky House of Representatives on December 21, Breckinridge endorsed the Supreme Court's decision in "Dred Scott v. Sandford", which ruled that Congress could not restrict slavery in the territories, and insisted that John Brown's recent raid on Harpers Ferry was evidence of Republicans' insistence on either "negro equality" or violence. Resistance in some form, he predicted, would eventually be necessary. He still urged the assembly against secession – "God forbid that the step shall ever be taken!" – but his discussion of growing sectional conflict bothered some, including his uncle Robert.