*The election of 1860 was the most bitter in American history.  It was won by Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer who had been a member of the Illinois state legislature and served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Whig (where he opposed the Mexican War).  The Republicans chose him as a compromise because he was seen as a moderate with few enemies.

*Lincoln ran against three other major candidates.  In 1860 the Democratic party split into Northern and Southern wings, each of which nominated its own candidate (Stephen Douglas in the North, John C. Breckinridge in the South).  Some southerners (mostly old Whigs who had not become Republicans) formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee.

*Lincoln stood for higher tariffs, a transcontinental railroad (and other internal improvements), homesteads in the west, and the containment of slavery—but he promised not to interfere with slavery where it existed.

*Lincoln was not even on the ballot in most Southern states (and did not win any of them (most of the South voted for Breckinridge, with Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia supporting Bell and Missouri supporting Douglas)) and only won 39.8% of the popular vote—but that is not what matters. 

*However, Lincoln won every Northern state (except New Jersey which split its votes between Lincoln and Douglas) and 180 out of 303 electoral votes.

*To Southerners, Lincoln’s election without a single Southern vote proved that the North could dominate the South any time it wished.  A few leaders tried to create new compromises, but to no avail—neither Republicans nor Southerners would give up their principles.  Decades of mistrust and paranoia, pushed to the breaking point by Bleeding Kansas and John Brown’s Raid convinced some Southerners that their rights and property would no longer be protected in the Union. 

*As Southerners threatened to secede, President Buchanan did nothing.  His opinion was that while secession was illegal, he also had no legal right to stop it, and many Northerners felt that they should not force Southerners to stay in the Union if they wanted out.  Some Northerners, though, remembered the pro-Union speeches of Daniel Webster (Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable) and others said ‘Oh, for an hour of Jackson!’

*Ones state had always led the way in opposing national laws and supporting states’ rights.

*On 20 December, 1860, South Carolina voted to leave the Union.  Over the next few months, six other southern states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas seceded (along with the southern half of the New Mexico Territory, which named itself Arizona; many inhabitants of Indian Territory also favoured the South, although all tribes were split).

*In February representatives from these seven states chose Jefferson Davis of Mississippi (a former Congressman, Senator, Secretary of War, and a veteran of the Mexican War) as president of the Confederate States of America.  A confederation (like America’s government between 1781 and 1789) is a loose union of states in which the states are more powerful than the national government.  This ended up creating many of the same problems for the South as it had for the US under the Articles of Confederation.  What were some of those problems?

*By the time Lincoln was inaugurated on 4 March, 1861, seven states had left the Union and eight more slave states were considering it.  Although many Southerners did not want to leave the Union, more or more feared they would have to in order to protect their rights.

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This page last updated 22 March, 2009.