The Election of 1860

1
The Election of 1860
2
Why does this election matter?

• The United States presidential election of 1860
  set the stage for the American Civil War. The
  nation had been divided throughout most of the
  1850s. What were these issues?
• In 1860 these issues finally came to a head,
• fracturing the formerly dominant Democratic
• Party into Southern and Northern factions
  and
• bringing Abraham Lincoln and the Republican
• Party to power without the support of a
  single
• Southern state.
• The immediate result of Lincoln's victory was
  declarations of secession by South Carolina and
  other states, which were rejected as illegal by
  the then-current President, James Buchanan and
  President-elect Abraham Lincoln.

3
Meet the Candidates
Abraham Lincoln Republican Illinois

• John C. Breckinridge
• Southern Democrat
• Kentucky

Stephen Douglas Northern Democrat Tennessee

• John Bell
• Constitutional Union
• Tennessee

4
The Campaign

• The contest in the North was between Lincoln and
  Douglas, but only Douglas took to the stump and
  gave speeches and interviews. In the South, John
  C. Breckinridge and John Bell were the main
  rivals, but Douglas had an important presence in
  southern cities, especially among Irish
  Americans.
• Stephen A. Douglas was the first presidential
• candidate in history to undertake a
  nationwide
• speaking tour. He traveled to the South where
  
• he did not expect to win many electoral
  votes,
• but he spoke for the maintenance of the
  Union.

5
Lincolns Campaign

• There was little effort to convert
  non-Republicans, and there was virtually no
  campaigning in the South except for a few border
  cities such as St. Louis, Missouri, and Wheeling,
  Virginia indeed, the party did not even run a
  slate in most of the South.
• In the North, there were thousands of Republican
  speakers, tons of campaign posters and leaflets,
  and thousands of newspaper editorials. These
  focused first on the party platform, and second
  on Lincoln's life story, making the most of his
  boyhood poverty, his pioneer background, his
  native genius, and his rise from obscurity.
• His nicknames, "Honest Abe" and "the
  Rail-Splitter," were exploited to the full. The
  goal was to emphasize the superior power of "free
  labor," whereby a common farm boy could work his
  way to the top by his own efforts
• How was this campaign tactic similar to the most
  recent election?

6
The Results

• The election was held on November 6. Lincoln won
  an electoral majority without an absolute
  majority of total popular votes. While Lincoln
  captured less than 40 of the popular vote, the
  divisions of the nation allowed him to capture 17
  states plus four electoral votes in New Jersey,
  for a total of 180 electoral votes.
• The exaggerated sectionalism of the vote is
  evident, as Lincoln was not even on the ballot in
  nine Southern states - and won only two of 996
  counties in the entire South.
• In the six states still permitting slavery where
  he was on the ballot, he came in fourth in every
  state except Delaware
• The voter turnout rate in 1860 was the
  second-highest on record (81.2, second only to
  1876, with 81.8).
• When else in history has a president won an
  electoral majority without an absolute majority
  of popular votes?

7
Electoral Map
8
In your notesheet.

• Who were the main candidates?
• Who won the election?
• What will Lincolns election as president do to
  the nation?

9
Lincoln is President-Elect

• Now what happens?

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NOVEMBER 6, 1860 Lincoln elected president
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December 20, 1860 South Carolina secedes
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January 9, 1861 Mississippi secedes
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January 10, 1861 Florida secedes
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January 11, 1861 Alabama secedes
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January 19, 1861 Georgia secedes
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January 26, 1861 Louisiana secedes
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February 1, 1861 Texas secedes
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February 4, 1861 Southern states meet in
Birmingham, Alabama
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February 8, 1861 Confederate Constitution adopted
20
February 9, 1861 Jefferson Davis becomes
President of the Confederacy
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March 4, 1861 Lincoln inaugurated
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April 12, 1861 Ft. Sumter fired upon
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April 17, 1861 Virginia secedes
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May 6, 1861 Arkansas secedes
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May 6, 1861 Tennessee secedes
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May 21, 1861 North Carolina secedes
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June, 1861 Four slave states vote to stay in the
union
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June, 1861 West Virginia is formed
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August 16, 1861 Lincoln prohibits trade with CSA