The Lincoln – Douglas Debates

and The Election of 1860

Republican PartyLincoln and Douglas Debates

• 18581. A series of 7 formal political debates 2. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were

campaigning for a seat in the U.S. Senate for the state of Illinois.

3. One of the main issues was slavery.4. Lincoln gained national recognition and he

became a viable candidate for the 1860 presidential election. Lincoln became known as an Antislavery candidate.

The Election of 1860• What Happened – 4 candidates were running to become president

• two from the North• two from the South

– The two most extreme candidates were Abraham Lincoln from the North who was against the expansion of slavery

– John Breckinridge from the South who believed the federal government should support slavery in the western territory.

• How it led to the Civil War #2– Even though Lincoln promised touch slavery where already

existed, the South promised to secede from the Union if Lincoln won the presidency

The South Secedes from Union

• After Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 the Southern states began seceding or withdrawing from the Union.– On December 20th 1860, South Carolina became the first

state to secede– Other states in the Deep South where slave labor and the

production of cotton were vital began to secede.• Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and

Texas all join South Carolina within six weeks of South Carolina’s secession • After the battle at Fort Sumter, Virginia Tennessee and

Arkansas joined the Confederacy.