Election of 1860 A House Divides; A Union Dissolves Text Credit: 2003 Teacher Fellows Candidates: Abraham Lincoln, Republican (pictured), Stephen Douglas, Democrat, John C. Breckenridge, National Democrat, and John Bell, Constitutional Union Party C-SPAN Video Clip | Fun Fact | Historically Significant Elections Campaign Overview | Electoral Overview

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW The election of l860 was going to be decisive for the future of the union. Southerners viewed Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party as intolerable abolitionists who threatened the southern way of life. Taking advantage of the conflicts within the Democratic Party over the "peculiar institution" of slavery, Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans formed a united front and achieved a majority of electoral votes, despite earning less than a majority of the popular votes. The Republican strategy worked. The split in the Democratic Party assured Lincoln's victory, prompting seven states to secede by his March inauguration. In the News With increased migration to the west and the admission of new states to the Union, the debate over slavery's expansion underscored the sectional divisions that culminated in the election of l860. The l857 Supreme Court ruling on Dred Scott v. Sanford concluded that black men and women, slave or free, were not citizens of the United States, and thus had no constitutional rights. Even more significant, the Court nullified the Missouri Compromise, declaring that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories. While the Dred Scott decision exacerbated the controversy over slavery, John Brown's l859 raid at Harper's Ferry was incendiary. Brown and twenty-one men, including two of Brown's sons and five blacks, barricaded themselves at a federal armory, hoping to incite a slave insurrection. Two days later, troops commanded by Col. Robert E. Lee surrounded the armory and a firefight ensued. John Brown was arrested and later stood trial for charges of treason and murder. In December, he was hanged. Brown became a martyr to northern abolitionists and his raid became a point of contention in the upcoming election. Democrats charged Republican radicalism as inciting the raid, while moderate Republicans distanced themselves from Brown's violence. The Republican Party platform, calling for a halt to the extension of slavery, further instigated sectional tensions between the North and the South. Tactics/Strategy Opposition to Lincoln was vicious and racist. Cartoon images lampooned Lincoln's looks and warned of a Republican victory as tantamount to race mixing. Douglas ran a vigorous campaign including his wife in many of his campaign stops throughout the nation. Lincoln remained in Springfield while his political lieutenants organized "Wide Awake" rallies, barbecues and torchlight parades on behalf of the "Rail Splitter." John Bell remained silent. However, supporters of his "Old Gentleman's Party" contributed to newspaper articles promoting his campaign. Platforms Both the Northern Democratic and Southern Democratic platforms were quite similar. However, Douglas opposed any federal interference in a territory's decision to legalize or ban slavery. He promoted himself as the only "national candidate." The Breckenridge platform stressed "the duty of the federal government. . . to protect property in the territories," an obvious reference to slaveowners' rights to their slaves. The Republicans attempted to avoid the explosive issue of slavery by outlining an agenda that would appeal to voters in the North. Their platform included federal support for Western settlement (the Homestead Act), internal improvements, a Pacific Railroad, and a protective tariff. The Constitutional Union Party promoted themselves as an "anti-extremist party" whose purpose was to block the Republicans. Slogans Promoting the Republican support of a homestead act, Lincoln ran under the slogan of "Vote Yourself a Farm" and "Free Speech, Free Home, Free Territory." The Constitutional Union Party pledged "reconciliation, fraternity and forbearance" by supporting "the Union, the Constitution and the Enforcement of the Laws." Douglas Democrats wrote songs pledging the "Little Giant," as "the light of liberty" and a "hero of the mind."

ELECTORAL OVERVIEW The effects of the Dred Scott decision and the Republican nomination of Abraham Lincoln strained the Democratic Party to the breaking point. Many, especially those in the South, feared that Lincoln was an abolitionist. Also, Democrats divided over the endorsement of a federal slave code that would have affirmatively protected the constitutional "property" right of slaveowners to hold slaves in the territories. At the party convention in Charleston, South Carolina, Democrats failed to agree on a nominee or a solid party platform, prompting a walk out by the Southern delegation. Reconvening in Baltimore, Democrats from the North nominated Stephen Douglas, who championed "popular sovereignty." Disgruntled Southern Democrats refused to accept Douglas and the party formally split. In a separate convention, these "National Democrats" organized a slave code ticket, with John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky as their nominee. The newly formed Constitutional Union Party drew from "Old-line Whigs" and remnants of the Know Nothing Party. Under the candidacy of John Bell they sought to "maintain, protect, and defend the Constitution of our Fathers." By allowing internal rifts in the Democratic Party to disrupt the Democratic campaigns, the relatively new Republican Party, an amalgam of former Whigs, ex-Democrats, and members of smaller anti-slavery parties, united forces. Lincoln carried the election winning 40 percent of the popular vote, about all of which came from the North. Electoral College Results Lincoln  180 Douglas  12 Breckenridge  72 Bell  39 Aftermath No presidential election in American history had more serious consequences. Lincoln's election provoked secession of the Southern states, which triggered civil war. Over 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War, more Americans than in all other wars America fought in put together. Northern victory in the Civil War abolished slavery and terminated the political viability of state secession from the United States.