President Elections of 1860 for the United States

The presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil war. By 1860, the nation had been divided mostly up to that point regarding questions of states’ rights and slavery in the territories. Southerners were outraged over the plan by abolitionist, John Brown, to start a slave rebellion at Harper Ferry, Virginia. This event garnered headlines all over the nation in newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, the Northern Republic seemed equally anger by the Supreme Court decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Stanford, which declared free soil unconstitutional. The Northern Democrats, however, struggled to persuade the Americans that their policy of popular sovereignty still made since.

The secession of South Carolina on December 20, 1860, by a vote of 169-0 was a response to the election of Abraham Lincoln of 1860. Lincoln perceived as an abolitionist wanted to contain slavery rather than ending it. The majority party above the Mason-Dixon line were Republicans and below were primarily Democrats and Republicans were viewed as abolitionists. The election of a Republican threatened the South’s status quo. The primary catalyst for secession was based on slavery. Different social cultures and political beliefs developed due to the South’s intimate and reliant relationship on slavery. Southern whites feared the end of slavery and this paranoia was shared among plantation slave owners and white Yeoman farmers. Southern whites felt that the North were threatening the supposed tranquility of the South. The South’s agrarian economy, honor, and independence were believed to be in danger. Slavery was intertwined with the South’s social, cultural, and economic makeup. As a result of slavery, the South developed a paternalistic culture and racial ideology of white supremacy. The perceived notion that the North was influencing it’s political and social beliefs on the South lead them to believe that secession was the only act of self-preservation. The growing differences between the South and North made it difficult to negotiate. This fear was exaggerated and accelerated the South’s eventual implosion. The South believed that without slavery it would self-destruct and

By the year of 1860, the North and the South was developed into extremely different sections. There was opposing social, economic, and political points of view, starting back into colonial periods, and it slowly drove the two regions farther in separate directions. The two sections tried to force its point of view on the nation as a whole. Even though negotiations had kept the Union together for many years, in 1860 the condition was unstable. The presidential election of Abraham Lincoln was observed by the South as a risk to slavery and many believe it initiated the war.

In November of 1860, the presidential election was one of the most momentous in the history of the United States. The land was split between North and the South and was smoldering for almost a decade. The candidates for the presidential election of 1860 were Abraham Lincoln, Republican, John Breckinridge, Southern Democrat, John Bell, Constitutional Union, and Stephen Douglas, Northern Democratic. Abraham Lincoln was against the increase of slavery into the new territories. Lincoln did not receive one vote from the south, but he did win over 50% of the Electoral College votes so Lincoln won the presidency to become the 16th President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was known as one of America’s greatest heroes because of his inconceivable impact on our nation and his unique appeal. Lincoln was a captain in the military and a lawyer all before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln was one of two U.S. presidents who was assassinated while in office. Lincoln was also the president during the roughest part of American history, the Civil War. Lincoln was heavily in favor of abolishing slavery and so most of the citizens in the northern states of the U.S... On the other hand, the south had large plantations and favored slavery because the slaves worked for free and made plantation owners and other farmers a staggering amount of profit. The slaves were not treated as human beings; therefore, the slaves were mistreated. Slave owners often beat their slaves

The controversy over slaves ultimately led to the secession. Abraham Lincoln thinks slavery is wrong and he wants to stop it from spreading. Earlier, he had warned that slavery could separate a nation. In the 1860 election Lincoln is elected, but southerners are worried he will end slavery forever. Southern states start to secede because they are worried. First South Carolina succeeds, then North, Texas, and then Florida too. They give themselves a new name called the Confederate States of America. (Wise...)

Tensions between the North and South had grown steadily since the anti slavery movement in 1830. Several compromises between the North and South regarding slavery had been passed such as the Nebraska-Kansas and the Missouri act; but this did little to relieve the strain. The election of President Lincoln in 1861 proved to be the boiling point for the South, and secession followed. This eventually sparked the civil war; which was viewed differently by the North and the South. The Northern goal was to keep the Union intact while the Southern goal was to separate from the Union. Southern leaders gave convincing arguments to justify secession. Exploring documents from South Carolina’s secession ordinance and a speech from the Georgia

Immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely

In the late 1850’s, tension were rising between the northern states and the southern states. These tensions began long ago, but continued to rise before the election of 1860. The main topic of debate at this time was slavery. Southern states relied on slavery for economic production. Many in the north wanted to limit the spread of slavery, or outright ban it. Those opposed to slavery had numerous reasons from political to ethical and religious reasons. The election of 1860 had 4 large candidates: Abraham Lincoln, John C Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas. Abraham Lincoln won the popular vote and electoral vote and was elected president in 1860, taking over from James Buchanan. In the

To begin with, immediately after the election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, the newly-established Republican Party’s presidential nominee, eleven states of the South seceded from the Union. These events marked the beginning of the Civil War and the war was a result of many political tensions that had emerged between the North and the South in the prior decades, all of which were associated with the institution of slavery installed in the Southern United States. President Lincoln began the Civil War with the South in response to states’ secession from the Union, and therefore, the war was not solely concentrated over the issue of slavery in American society. The North fought to preserve the Union while the Confederacy fought to

The Democratic Party split in 1860 over the slavery issue. The Democrats from the Northern states were against slavery or at least the expansion of slavery in the new territories while the Democrats from the Southern states wanted to preserve slavery in their states and were for extending it in the new territories. On April 23, 1860, the Democrats met in Charleston, South Carolina with the goals of finalizing their platform and nominating a presidential candidate. In the North the Democratic candidate was the moderate Stephen Douglas. Voters in the South chose John Breckenridge, a defender of "Southern rights". The Southern Democrats hated Douglas, although he was not completely opposed to slavery in the West, he wanted to limit the institution 's use in the territories, by initiating popular sovereignty. A key play by Lincoln in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates in 1858 helped the Southerners realize this. Because the Democrats were split between different candidates and the Republican Party was united behind Abraham Lincoln, they won more electoral votes. Therefore, Lincoln became president.

The political turmoils of nineteenth century America gave way to a massive Civil War which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The United States were divided geographically and ideologically. The North was an industrial powerhouse based on (relatively) free labor that focused on factories and manufactures. In its economy it had no need for slaves and was dead set against the very institution of slavery. On the other hand, the south was the agricultural center of the U.S.A. and relied heavily on a large slave population to do most of the manual labor. The election of 1860 pitted these two different world views against each other. The pro slavery Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge and the abolitionist Republican Abraham Lincoln were

The north supported the admission of California as a free state, the Compromise of 1860 stated that "California ought to be admitted into the Union without restrictions as to the inclusion or exclusion of slavery" (Doc.5). The north also had a strong Republican federal government, they were the main support for Abraham Lincoln in the Election of 1860 (Doc 8.). In effect of the election of 1860, the North had control of the House of Representatives, Senate, and Presidency. The south had a democratic government, after the election of 1860 the southerners did not know that a Republican president had won the campain. President Lincoln was not listed on the southerners voting ballots. After the Dred Scott decision and the election of 1860, sectionalism increased in the United States. In December 20, 1860, South Carolina secedes from the Union and four other states follow. By February 1861, these states begin to call themselves the Confederate States of America. They elect their own president named Jefferson Davis. When Lincoln comes to power in March 1861, he states that states can not secede from the Union, but people can. Meaning that people can give up their patriotism, but states can't because the first three words in the Constitution are "We the People". These series of events already created tension between the Union and Confederacy. Then the first battle

The American Civil War initiated directly from the northern and southern strained relations on the controversial matter of states’ right opposed to federal supremacy, slavery, and economic sectionalism. The Presidential Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 engendered the secession of seven states forming the Confederate States of America, following of four states after emerging battle of the Civil War. Why was the election of Lincoln the catalyst that led to the United States secession? Republicans opposed the enlargement of slavery flowing throughout the territories, therefore restricting the practice of slavery. Southern states discerned on the depriving control of federal government eventually overpowering slavery to become prohibited. In

The election of Lincoln in November 1860 was the final trigger for secession.[74] Efforts at compromise, including the "Corwin Amendment" and the "Crittenden Compromise", failed. Southern leaders feared that Lincoln would stop the expansion of slavery and put it on a course toward extinction. The slave states, which had already become a minority in the House of Representatives, were now facing a future as a perpetual minority in the Senate and Electoral College against an increasingly powerful North. Before Lincoln took office in March 1861, seven slave states had declared their secession and joined together to form the Confederacy.

Almost all his votes came from the North. "In winning the North, the "railsplitter" had split off the South." (Bailey, 435) Sectionalism could be seen with the votes given to each candidate from the states. Four days after Lincoln was elected, South Carolina called a special election in which they decided to secede from the Union. Ten more states followed South Carolina. Civil War began soon, lasting