1860 Election

In the lead-up to the 1860 presidential election, the Democratic Party, deeply divided over the issue of slavery and unable to choose a consensus nominee, split into two factions. The Northern Democrats chose Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, while Southern Democrats chose sitting Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. A newly formed Constitutional Union Party nominated Senator John Bell of Tennessee. To the surprise of many, little-known Abraham Lincoln of Illinois became the Republican nominee. Lincoln finished first in the four-way race, winning 180 electoral votes but less than 40 percent of the popular vote. Within weeks of his election, several Southern states had seceded from the Union, and the country was inching ever closer to the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861-1865).

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Did You Know?

Abraham Lincoln's name was not even on the ballot in 10 of the 15 Southern states.

At the Republican convention, front-runner William H. Seward of New York faced insurmountable obstacles: conservatives feared his radical statements about an "irrepressible conflict" over slavery and a "higher law" than the Constitution, and radicals doubted his moral scruples. Hoping to carry moderate states like Illinois and Pennsylvania, the party nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for president and Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for vice president. The Republican platform called for a ban on slavery in the territories, internal improvements, a homestead act, a Pacific railroad, and a tariff.

The Democratic convention, which met at Charleston, could not agree on a candidate, and most of the southern delegates bolted. Reconvening in Baltimore, the convention nominated Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for president and Senator Herschel Johnson of Georgia for vice president. Southern Democrats then met separately and chose Vice President John Breckinridge of Kentucky and Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon as their candidates.

Former Whigs and Know-Nothings formed the Constitutional Union party, nominating Senator John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of Massachusetts. Their only platform was "the Constitution as it is and the Union as it is."

By carrying almost the entire North, Lincoln won in the electoral college with 180 votes to 72 for Breckinridge, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas. Lincoln won a popular plurality of about 40 percent, leading the popular vote with 1,766,452 to 1,376,957 for Douglas, 849,781 for Breckinridge, and 588,879 for Bell. With the election of a sectional northern candidate, the Deep South seceded from the Union, followed within a few months by several states of the Upper South.

The Reader's Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Copyright © 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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