The Secession Crisis 365votes of victory. Before the roll could be called again,
delegates began to switch their votes, and in a land-
slide, soon made unanimous, Lincoln was nominated.
A few days earlier the remnants of the American
and Whig parties had formed the Constitutional
Union party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee
for president. “It is both the part of patriotism and of
duty,” they resolved, “to recognize no political princi-
ple other than the Constitution of the country, the
union of the states, and the enforcement of the laws.”
Ostrichlike, the Constitutional Unionists ignored the
conflicts rending the nation. Only in the border
states, where the consequences of disunion were sure
to be most tragic, did they have any following.
With four candidates in the field, no one could
win a popular majority, but it soon became clear that
Lincoln was going to be elected. Breckenridge had
most of the slave states in his pocket and Bell would
run strong in the border regions, but the populous
northern and western states had a majority of the
electoral votes, and there the choice lay between the
Republicans and the Douglas Democrats. In such a
contest the Republicans, with their attractive eco-
nomic program and their strong stand against slavery
in the territories, were sure to come out on top.
Lincoln avoided campaigning and made no public
statements. Douglas, recognizing the certainty of
Lincoln’s victory, accepted his fate and for the first time
in his career rose above ambition. “We must try to save
the Union,” he said. “I will go South.” In the heart of
the Cotton Kingdom, he appealed to the voters to
stand by the Union regardless of who was elected. He
was the only candidate to do so; the others refused to
remind the people that their election might result in
secession and civil war.
When the votes were counted, Lincoln had
1.866 million, almost a million fewer than the combined
total of his three opponents, but he swept the North
and West, which gave him 180 electoral votes and the
presidency. Douglas received 1.383 million votes, so dis-
tributed that he carried only Missouri and part of New
Jersey. Breckenridge, with 848,000 popular votes, won
most of the South; Bell, with 593,000, carried Virginia,
Tennessee, and Kentucky. Lincoln was thus a minority
president, but his title to the office was unquestionable.
Even if his opponents could have combined their popu-
lar votes in each state, Lincoln would have won.The Secession Crisis
Only days after Lincoln’s victory, the South Carolina
legislature ordered an election of delegates to a con-
vention to decide the state’s future course. On
December 20 the convention voted unanimously to
secede, basing its action on the logic of Calhoun.
“The State of South Carolina has resumed her posi-
tion among the nations of the world,” the delegates
announced. By February 1, 1861, the six other states
of the lower South had followed suit. A week later, at
Montgomery, Alabama, a provisional government of
the Confederate States of America was established.
Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas
did not leave the Union but announced that if the
federal government attempted to use force against the
Confederacy, they too would secede.
Why were white Southerners willing to wreck
the Union their forebears had put together with so
much love and labor? No simple explanation is possi-
ble. Lincoln had assured them that he would respect
slavery where it existed. The Democrats had retained
control of Congress in the election; the Supreme
Court was firmly in their hands as well. If the North
did try to destroy slavery, secession would perhaps be
a logical tactic, but why not wait until the threat
materialized? To leave the Union meant abandoning
the very objectives for which the South had been
contending for over a decade: a share of the federal
territories and an enforceable fugitive slave law.Table 13.1 Descent into War: The 1850s
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin1852 Best-selling novel fuels abolitionist sentiment and enrages Southerners.Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 Opens Kansas and Nebraska Territories for settlement and repeals Missouri Compromise
of 1820 by allowing residents to determine whether the new states would be slave or free.
Lecompton Constitution 1857 Proslavery constitution drafted by proslavery “government” of Kansas: It is accepted by
President James Buchanan but rejected by Congress.
Dred Scott Case 1857 Supreme Court rules that Congress lacked the authority to ban slavery from the territo-
ries; slavery is legal everywhere unless states prohibit it.
John Brown’s Raid at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia1859 Brown attacks federal arsenal in order to initiate slave rebellion; Brown’s execution angers
abolitionists; the martyrdom of Brown infuriates Southerners.
Election of 1860 1860 The Democrats, divided over slavery, disintegrate. Lincoln wins presidency but receives no
electoral votes from South.