The Election of 1860
The passions and conflicts of the preceding decade over states’ rights and slavery were embodied
in the presidential contest of November 1860. Americans participated in the election campaign with
great enthusiasm but little or no sense that the outcome would be disunion and war.
AN IMPERFECT UNIONMaryland, but radical Southerners
again disrupted the proceedings and
marched out. While the remaining
Democrats nominated Stephen A.
Douglas, the Democrats of the Deep
South and their allies reconvened in
Richmond, where they chose Vice
President John Breckinridge as their
candidate for president.Lincoln, Bell, and Douglas
In mid-May, the Republicans gathered
in Chicago in a newly built convention
center—dubbed the Wigwam—that
could hold 12,000. Promising not to
threaten slavery in the South, the
Republican candidates repeated their
opposition to its spread into the West.
They also pledged free homesteads for
westward-bound settlers and tariffs to
protect Northern industry.
Recognizing the need for a moderate
candidate who would be able to carry
Pennsylvania and the Midwestern
states, Republican delegates selected
Abraham Lincoln on the third ballot.A
number of outspoken Southern
advocates of secession were
opposed not only to any
compromise with the North, but also
to the Union itself. Known by their
opponents as “fire-eaters,” they were
hostile to the growing power of the
North, and any open discussion of
abolition fueled their commitment to
an independent South. They included
men like Virginian Edmund Ruffin,
BEFORE
Two of the four major candidates for the
presidency in 1860—Lincoln and Douglas—
had been opponents in the senatorial
campaign in Illinois two years before.
THE LINCOLN—DOUGLAS DEBATES
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln 38-39 ❯❯
accepted the challenge to unseat the powerful
Democrat Senator from Illinois, Stephen A.
Douglas ❮❮ 30–31. Their seven public
debates were transcribed by reporters and
published across the nation. Although
his calm, logical arguments frequently
discomfited Douglas, Lincoln lost by 4,000
votes. Yet he gained a reputation as a
restrained anti-slavery moderate.
Lincoln was not an abolitionist, but
he articulated the sentiment of a
growing number of Northerners
who saw slavery as the gravest threat
to the Union and the future greatness
of the nation.
Following the division of the
Democrats, a new coalition and rival
faction came together in Baltimore.
The Constitutional Union Party was
made up of conservative ex-WhigsMusic for victory
In order to win the public’s vote, political parties had
portraits of their candidates printed on the covers of
sheet music, like this one for the Douglas campaign.LINCOLN AT THE PODIUM
A four-way contest
Lincoln, the watchman, foils the
efforts of the three other
candidates trying to break into
the White House—Breckinridge is
hauled up to a window by
President James Buchanan; Bell is
lookout as Douglas unlocks a door.
who had long spoken out in defense of
slavery. He actually hoped that the
Republicans would win the election,
since this would force Southerners to
“choose between secession and
submission to abolition domination.”The Democrats divided
In late April 1860, the Democrats
gathered in Charleston, South Carolina,
to nominate their candidate. They
could not have chosen to meet in a
more polarized city. Street orators called
for disunion, while fire-eaters among
the Southern delegates openly scorned
Senator Stephen A. Douglas and his
Northern supporters. At a certain point,
the Northern majority reaffirmed its
support for popular sovereignty, which
allowed the local voters to determine
the legality of slavery in the territories.
In reaction to this, Southern delegates
stormed from the hall.
After 57 failed ballots and a hasty
compromise, the convention was
rescheduled for June in Baltimore,