The Election of 1860

I. The Republican Convention

A. Party Platform

1. criticized the Democrats for the Kansas-Nebraska Act and “Bleeding Kansas”

2. called for the establishment of a Transcontinental Railroad

3. pledged to not support the expansion of slavery

B. Republican Front Runners

1. Sen. William Seward was seen as a front runner to gain the nomination but many Republican were concerned over his strong antislavery views

2. Salmon P. Chase was a former member of the Whig Party and the governor of Ohio. Chase had been a politician in Ohio for a number of years, but had alienated some of his closest supporters

3. Edward Bates was an established politician from Missouri. Bates had become a Republican after being a member of the Whig and Know Nothing Parties.

*4. Abraham Lincoln would win the nomination after the third ballot. Lincoln was chosen because Republicans felt that his moderate views on slavery made him the most appealing of all the candidates.

I. The Candidates

A. Democrats

1. divided over the issue of slavery and the party split in two

2. Stephen Douglas was nominated by Democrats from the North

3. John C. Breckinridge from Kentucky was nominated from the South

4. the Constitutional Union Party was formed and nominated John Bell

Candidate StrengthsWeakness/Liability

C. Results

1. Douglas, Bell, and Breckinridge hoped to win enough votes to prevent Lincoln from winning in the electoral college

2. Bell and Douglas split the votes in the South

3. the results angered many southerners, Lincoln did not win a single Southern state

Person/Party Votes % Electoral Votes

Lincoln (R) 1,865,593 39.8 180Douglas

(Northern Democrat)

1,382.713 29.5 12

Breckinridge (Southern Democrat)

848,356 18.1 72

Bell-Constition

Union592,906 12.6 39

II. Secession

A. South Carolina

1. southern whites feared that Lincoln would move to abolish slavery in the South

2. slavery must be put on a “course of ultimate extinction”

3. On December 20, 1860, the legislature of South Carolina dissolved, “the union subsisting between South Carolina and other States”

B. Confederate States of America

1. By February 1, 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had seceded from the Union

2. delegates met in Montgomery Alabama and elected Jefferson Davis the President of the Confederate States of America