Bell. Breckinridge carried the remaining
Southern states, most of which barred
Lincoln’s name from appearing on the
ballot. Lincoln won, but he faced a
nation in which one region had given
him almost no support. He would be
vulnerable in four years and many
believed he would be forced to form a
cautious, conservative government.
Although the states of Virginia,
Kentucky, and Tennessee rejected the
Democratic and Republican candidates,
they recognized the risk they faced as
states of the Upper
South bordering
free states. Living
along the northern
boundary of a
slave republic,
their slaves would
be tempted by the
freedom that lay
across the border.
Also, if it came to
war, it was the
Upper South that
would become the
likely battlefield.
In the majority
of these slave states,
many wealthy
slaveholders hoped
to preserve the Union.
They believed slavery
was safer protected by
federal law than within
an independent slave state
bordering free territory.
Many of these states had
also developed more mixed
economies and were less
dependent on cotton exports.
They had broad connections to
their Northern neighbors, but
feared they would face hostility
from the Deep South.A chance for compromise?
No candidate captured a majority
of the popular vote, and neither
Lincoln nor Breckinridge received
much more than a bare majority in his
region. Lincoln’s opponents together
outpolled him by nearly a million
votes. In the South, Breckinridge lost
the popular vote in the slave states to a
combined opposition, which received
55 percent of the total Southern vote.
The upper South wanted compromise,
not conflict.THE ELECTION OF 1860and men from the Border
States who opposed disunion.
By ignoring the issue of slavery
they appealed to the Southern
residents of Tennessee, Virginia,
and Kentucky who threw their
support behind them. The party’s
presidential nominee, John Bell of
Tennessee, promised to abide by the
Constitution and preserve the Union.
A vicious campaign ensued. In
traditional election spirit, public
speakers and political newspapers
attacked and defamed their
opponents using sectional language
and personal insults.
Douglas traveled the country
warning against disunion, despite facing
hostile crowds and accusations of
drunkenness. Racial epithets were
flung at the Republicans, who
were called advocates of
African-American
equality and
mixing of the
races. Lincoln’s
running mate, the
swarthy senator
from Maine,
Hannibal Hamlin,
was often described
as a mulatto. John
Breckinridge faced
shouts of “traitor”
and “destroyer of the
Union,” while Bell was
characterized as the
leader of an elderly and
irrelevant faction.
Lincoln elected
Although Lincoln won a
majority of the electoral votes
with 180, he carried less than 40
percent of the national popular
vote and 54 percent of the Northern
popular vote. Douglas won only New
Jersey and Missouri, while Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Virginia selected John
LINCOLN’S INAUGURATION IN WASHINGTONAFTER
Lincoln campaign torch
The election set the scene for vast
rallies and parades. About 10,000
Lincoln supporters marched through
Chicago carrying torches in what was
“the longest and most imposing thing
of its kind ever witnessed.”The nation was divided. Northerners
disagreed among themselves, but a
majority opposed the expansion of slavery.
Most white Southerners owned no slaves,
but were connected to slave society by ties
of exchange and kinship.SECESSION AND WAR
Within days of Lincoln’s election, South
Carolina passed a bill scheduling a secession
convention. On December 20, it severed its
union with the United States 46–47 ❯❯.
In the months between his election and his
inauguration on March 4, 1861, Lincoln hoped
disunion could be averted. But the day after his
inauguration he found a desperate dispatch
on his desk from Fort Sumter 50–53 ❯❯.
“The Democratic
Party Gone to
Smash. The Work
is done. The
irrepressible conflict
has rent the
Democratic Party
asunder.”
CHICAGO DEMOCRAT, MAY 1, 1860Political advertisement
The Carolina Clothing Depot used a single notice to
advertise the store’s clothes and take a political stance,
declaring the intention of South Carolina to secede
from the Union in the event of a Lincoln victory.Votes cast
for Lincoln.Votes for his
opponents.1,865,908
2,819,121