United States History Student Edition

The Election of 1860 The issue of slavery led to a split in the Democratic Party. The election of 1860 then became a four-way race.

Total: 303 ELECTORAL VOTE

Wash. Territory

NH 5

12.9% 39

4.0% 12

Unorg. Terr.

ME 8

VT 5

OR 3

MN 4

MA 13

NY 35

Nebraska Territory

WI 5

MI 6

59.4% 180

23.8% 72

CT 6 RI 4

IA 4

PA 27

OH 23

NJ 7*

IN 13

IL 11

Utah Territory

DE 3 MD 8

CA 4

VA 15

Kansas Territory

MO 9

POPULAR VOTE Total: 4,685,030

KY 12

SC 8 NC 10

Indian Terr.

TN 12

12.6% 590,901

New Mexico Territory

AR 4 LA 6

GA 10

AL MS 9 7

39.8% 1,865,908

18.1% 848,019

TX 4

FL 3

29.5% 1,380,202

Lincoln (Republican) Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) Bell (Constitutional Union)

Douglas (Democrat) Mixed Territories

* Four electors in New Jersey voted for Lincoln and three voted for Douglas.

GEOGRAPHY AND CIVICS CONNECTION 1. Exploring Regions Describe the area won by Abraham Lincoln in the election. 2. Spatial Thinking Which states did the moderate candidate, John Bell, win? Why do you think he won those states?

In other Southern states, leaders debated the question of secession , or withdrawal from the Union. Some members of Congress tried to find ways to prevent it. Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky suggested a series of amendments to the Constitution. They included a protection for slavery south of 36°30’ N latitude—the line set by the Missouri Compromise—in all present and future territories. Republicans rejected Crittenden’s idea. They had just won an election by promising to stop slavery’s spread into any territories. “Now we are told . . .” Lincoln wrote, “the government shall be broken up unless we surrender to those we have beaten.” Leaders in the South also rejected the plan.

states’ rights theory that individual states are independent and have the right to control their most important affairs justify to find reasons to support secession. Each state, they argued, had voluntarily chosen to enter the Union. Southerners defined the Constitution as a contract among the independent states. They believed that the national government By February 1861, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia had joined South Carolina and seceded. Delegates from these states met to form a new nation. Calling themselves the Confederate States of America, they chose Jefferson Davis as their president. Southerners used states’ rights to justify

secession withdrawal; to leave the Union

Lincoln, Abraham. Letter to J. T. Hale, January 11, 1861. In McClure’s Magazine, Volume 12. New York and London: The S. S. McClure Co., 1899.

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