The next 4-5 years will mark the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, and today marks the 150th Anniversary of the election that sparked the crisis. On November 5, 1860, in one of the most important elections in American history, the new Republican Party achieved its first electoral victory with the election of Abraham Lincoln as president.
The Republican Party at this point in history was a brand new party, consisting of former Whigs, Free Soilers, and some Northern Democrats. From the beginning, the Republican Party embraced the ideology of free labor as the best economic system for the states. There were many divisions within the party on issues such as slavery in the South, tariffs, etc., but the ideology of free labor held the party together. The Democratic Party was not so lucky. Throughout the 1840s-50s, the Democratic Party had maintained a fragile union between Northern and Southern wings by simply ignoring the slavery issue. By 1860, the issue of slavery in the Western territories could not be contained or ignored. At the Democratic Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, Southern delegates walked out. The Democratic Party, until this point the last national institution not divided into North and South, would go into the election of 1860 divided and weak. The Southern Democrats nominated Kentuckian John C. Breckinridge for President, and the Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas of Illinois.
The election of 1860 also saw the emergence of a third party, the Constitutional Union party. This party sought a third way, between what it saw as extreme views in both North and South. The view of this party was that the Union and the Constitution should be preserved at any cost, slavery be damned. John Bell of Tennessee was put forth by the Constitutional Unionists for president.
With the Democratic vote split between Northern and Southern candidates, the election of Lincoln was thus assured. Lincoln carried 18 states, 180 electoral votes, and 39.8% of the popular vote. Breckinridge finished second with 11 states, 72 electoral votes, and 18.1% of the popular vote. Stephen Douglas, the Little Giant from Illinois, came in fourth behind John Bell, with only 12 electoral votes and 2 states carried. Kentucky, ever the fence-sitter, voted for Tennessean John Bell.
The election of a Republican to the White House inflamed the South and stoked fears of Northern assaults on slavery and the Southern way of life. Less than two months later, South Carolina would make good on its threat and, on December 20, she seceded from the Union. Six more Southern states would secede before Lincoln was inaugurated (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). Lincoln’s election did not solve the crisis but only brought it to a head.
The Republican Party at this point in history was a brand new party, consisting of former Whigs, Free Soilers, and some Northern Democrats. From the beginning, the Republican Party embraced the ideology of free labor as the best economic system for the states. There were many divisions within the party on issues such as slavery in the South, tariffs, etc., but the ideology of free labor held the party together. The Democratic Party was not so lucky. Throughout the 1840s-50s, the Democratic Party had maintained a fragile union between Northern and Southern wings by simply ignoring the slavery issue. By 1860, the issue of slavery in the Western territories could not be contained or ignored. At the Democratic Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, Southern delegates walked out. The Democratic Party, until this point the last national institution not divided into North and South, would go into the election of 1860 divided and weak. The Southern Democrats nominated Kentuckian John C. Breckinridge for President, and the Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas of Illinois.
The election of 1860 also saw the emergence of a third party, the Constitutional Union party. This party sought a third way, between what it saw as extreme views in both North and South. The view of this party was that the Union and the Constitution should be preserved at any cost, slavery be damned. John Bell of Tennessee was put forth by the Constitutional Unionists for president.
With the Democratic vote split between Northern and Southern candidates, the election of Lincoln was thus assured. Lincoln carried 18 states, 180 electoral votes, and 39.8% of the popular vote. Breckinridge finished second with 11 states, 72 electoral votes, and 18.1% of the popular vote. Stephen Douglas, the Little Giant from Illinois, came in fourth behind John Bell, with only 12 electoral votes and 2 states carried. Kentucky, ever the fence-sitter, voted for Tennessean John Bell.
The election of a Republican to the White House inflamed the South and stoked fears of Northern assaults on slavery and the Southern way of life. Less than two months later, South Carolina would make good on its threat and, on December 20, she seceded from the Union. Six more Southern states would secede before Lincoln was inaugurated (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). Lincoln’s election did not solve the crisis but only brought it to a head.