Election of 1860

UNIT 11: Civil War Begins

Lesson: The Election of 1860

Tennessee State Standards:

8.61 Describe the election of 1860 and its candidates: John Bell, Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and John Breckinridge, and analyze how the campaigns reflected sectional turmoil in the country.

The Presidential Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln

John Breckinridge

John Bell

Stephen Douglas

FOUR CHALLENGERS FOR PRESIDENT

Intense differences over the issue of slavery had a profound effect on the Presidential Election of 1860. The north and the south were clearly at odds over slavery and its place in new territories. The list of candidates also represented the glaring sectional turmoil in the country.

THE REPUBLICANS CHOOSE LINCOLN

Those opposing the spread of slavery joined the Republican Party, which had formed in the early 1850s. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois as their candidate for president.

Lincoln vowed to stop the spread of slavery. He gave speeches saying that slavery should be kept only in the states where it had existed previously. People in the south hated Lincoln. Most southern states did not even include Lincoln on the ballot for the Presidential Election of 1860.

Abraham Lincoln16th President of the United States

John Breckinridge, Southern Democratic Nominee for President in 1860

Stephen Douglas, Northern Democratic Nominee for President in 1860

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SPLITS

The Democratic Party basically broke into two.

Stephen Douglas was pro-slavery, but Southern Democrats did not want him as president because of his devotion to popular sovereignty. Northern Democrats sided with Douglas because they believed he could beat the Republicans.

Southern Democrats instead chose John Beckinridge of Kentucky who expressed support for slavery.

A THIRD PARTY FORMS

A third group, called the Constitutional Union Party, nominated John Bell of Tennessee. They stayed neutral on the issue of slavery. Instead, they simply pointed to the Constitution as their platform. They would support nothing unless it was stated in the Constitution.

THE RESULTS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1860

In the end, there was even further division beyond north and south. The north was split between Douglas and Lincoln. The south was split between Bell and Breckenridge.

With the Democratic Party in disarray, Republican Abraham Lincoln won the Presidential Election on November 6, 1860. South Carolina had threatened to secede from the union if Lincoln was elected, and on December 20, it did.

South Carolina seceded nearly 3 months before Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President. In the time between his election victory and his inauguration on March 4, 1861, Lincoln watched seven states secede from the union.

John Bell, Constitutional Union Party Candidate for President in 1860

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