Hello, and welcome back to another edition of Lace ‘Em Up’s Presidential Election series today we will be going over the Election of 1860. The most important presidential election in American History as the nation is on the brink of civil war and four different candidates are looking to become the President with the future of the entire nation at stake.

A Divided Nation

For much of the 1850s, the United States has been destroying itself over the issue of slavery. Events like Senator Charles Sumner being canned at the hands of Senator Preston Brooks on the Senate floor, the conflict known as ‘Bleeding Kansas’ to the 1859 arsenal raid and the later public hanging of abolitionist John Brown have made the growing divisions within the U.S. increase.

Things were certainly not helped by President James Buchanan who wasn’t really doing anything to ease the tension. Southern states were thinking about seceding from the Union nor was the Supreme Court helping matters when they released their ruling on a very important case around the time of Buchanan’s inauguration.

The case in question involved Dred Scott, an African American slave who sued the widow and brother of his former slave master to get his and his family’s freedom. In March of 1857, seven out of the nine Supreme Court Justices agreed with the previous decisions made by the lower courts but added even more to it in hopes of ending the Slavery issue.

In short, the ruling said that Scott was indeed still a slave whether or not he entered a free state as he and many other African Americans were not supposed to be treated as citizens but treated more like property. This decision further fueled racial tensions in the country with many anti-slavery supporters protesting what they saw was the increasing rise of ‘Slave Power’ both in Washington and now the Supreme Court.

An Un-Democratic Party

With James Buchanan promising to only serve one term as President not to mention his failures in keeping the country together. The Democrats were struggling to find someone who could also calm down both the Northern and Southern wings of the party; By the time of the Democratic National Convention. Pro-slavery Democrats decided to walk out of the convention due to their refusal to compromise on the issue of slavery and decided to nominate their own candidate instead.

The remaining Democrats would meet up once again to nominate a candidate and after 59 ballots they chose Stephen A. Douglas who was still the Senator of Illinois and the man who came up with the ideas of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and “Popular Sovereignty”. Benjamin Fitzpatrick, who was the Senator of Alabama was nominated as Douglas’ running mate, but he refused the nomination. They would then chose the former Governor of Georgia, Herschel V. Johnson with Douglas and Johnson being supported by a group of Northern/Moderate Democrats who became known as the “Northern Democratic Party”.

Not too long after this, the pro-slavery Democrats later known as the “Southern Democratic Party” decided to hold their own convention in order to nominate a candidate for President. This was in the form of Buchanan’s Vice President, John C. Breckinridge from Kentucky along with Joseph Lane who was the Senator from Oregon as his running mate.

Abraham Lincoln & Backroom Dealings

The Republican Party returned in 1860 to run another candidate for President as the divisions within the Democratic Party gave the GOP hope that they could finally win the Presidency. A number of names ran for the nomination including Abraham Lincoln who was the former U.S. Representative of Illinois and a self-taught country lawyer who became famous after a series of debates between himself and Stephen Douglas back in 1858 for the position of Illinois Senator which saw Douglas come out on top.

Despite this loss, Lincoln believed he could become the party’s nominee but he had to get past New York Senator, William H. Seward for the nomination which was going to be far from easy. Seward’s campaign team was led by politician and former newspaper publisher, Thurlow Weed who helped Zachary Taylor and William Henry Harrison get elected thanks to his skills as a ruthless political organizer.

In response, David Davis who was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives heads the campaign team for Lincoln and their trying to get enough delegates to throw their support behind their man. But Thurlow Weed has devised a plan where he intends to stack the halls with people who will support Seward while also making deals with the delegates to ensure victory for Seward.

While many of us know Lincoln to be an honest man, that didn’t stop him from playing dirty especially if it meant getting the nomination for President. Sure enough, that’s exactly what he did as his team was making deals with several delegates in the hopes that they would throw their support to Lincoln in exchange for many of them getting cabinet positions in his administration if elected President. However Lincoln himself goes on to tell his team that he doesn’t wish to know anything about these deals that they are making in order to remain the “honest politician” he presented himself to be.

On the day of the convention, many of Seward’s supporters led by Weed attempted to enter the halls but they soon discovered that the halls were already filled because Lincoln’s team got a hold of a convention ticket and made a large number of counterfeit tickets and stacked the halls with people who would vote for Lincoln.

After much balloting and deal-making, Abraham Lincoln secured the Republican Party’s nomination for President with his running mate being Hannibal Hamlin, an anti-slavery Senator from Maine who was seen as a less radical choice for VP compared to the other man who was vying for the position; Kentucky Representative and abolitionist. Cassius Marcellus Clay.

The Constitutional Union Party

Realizing that the Democratic Party was fractured and the Republicans were looking to abolish slavery (even though Lincoln promised to do the opposite), many Americans were not satisfied and were looking for an alternative who promised to keep the country together during this tumultuous period of time.

Thus ‘The Constitutional Union Party’ was created with their party slogan being: “The Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is”. They nominated John Bell, a former Senator of Tennessee and Edward Everett, a former Senator from Massachusetts as Bell’s running mate.

With the election now becoming a four-way race for the Presidency, the candidates will be fighting for the most electoral votes in their respective areas with Bell and Breckinridge’s support coming from the Southern region of the country. Lincoln and Douglas’ support came from the Northern and Western regions which meant that the winner of this election would end up getting less than 50% of the popular vote.

The Dark Cloud of War

Despite Lincoln and the Republican Party’s promise to not abolish slavery, most Southerners refused to believe that and prevented Lincoln’s name from getting on the ballot in several Southern states even in the states that he did appear on, Lincoln only got less than 1% of the popular vote.

As if suppressing the vote in their own home region wasn’t bad enough, Southerners were going so far as to say that if Lincoln won the election then the South would begin to actively secede from the Union in order to create their own country. This led to Stephen Douglas heading to the South not to campaign for President but to convince them not to break up the Union for the sake of the country, but alas his words fell on deaf ears.

This election is also notable for being the first one in which Oregon and Minnesota officially became states not to mention the voter turnout for this election was the highest it had ever been in all of American History. About 81% of the population coming out in droves to go out and vote with the future of the United States literally hanging in the balance.

Election of 1860: The Results

Abraham Lincoln won and became 16th President of the United States receiving 180 electoral votes and 39.8% of the popular vote with ‘Honest Abe’ winning just enough of the Northern states to get the victory.

John C. Breckinridge came in second place receiving 72 electoral votes but came in third place in the popular vote receiving 18.1%; Breckinridge would be the last Vice President until 1960 to run for the office of President upon getting his party’s nomination without his predecessor dying years earlier.

John Bell came in third place in the Electoral College receiving 39 electoral votes but came in fourth place in the popular vote with 12.6%. The Constitutional Union Party like so many third parties before them would fade into obscurity following this election.

Stephen Douglas came in fourth place receiving 12 electoral votes but came in second in the popular vote with 29.5%. Douglas only won the state of Missouri but got three votes in the state of New Jersey making him the only one out of the four candidates to win votes in a slave state and a free state.

The common misconception for some time was that Douglas, Bell and Breckinridge all campaigning cost them the opportunity to win the election, which isn’t true as the amount of electoral votes all three men had combined would have been 123 votes and you needed 152 to win. So now Lincoln has become the first Republican to win the Presidency for the GOP and not long after doing so, problems begin to reach their boiling point within the South.

The Civil War Begins

Not too long after Lincoln won the election, seven Southern states (South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas) seceded from the Union to create their own country known as the “Confederate States of America” (or the C.S.A. for short). Jefferson Davis, the Senator from Mississippi was sworn in as their President just days before Lincoln became the new President of the United States.

As Lincoln was to begin his time in office, he did not recognize the C.S.A. as a legitimate country and even tried to tell the remaining Southerners at his inauguration speech to reconsider. It wasn’t working as the South continued to secede and in April of 1861, the Battle of Fort Sumter saw a South Carolina militia attack the military base leading to a shocking surrender at the hands of the Union.

This attack at Fort Sumter coupled with Abraham Lincoln’s election officially kicked off one of the bleakest periods in the nation’s history: The American Civil War.

Be sure to come back for the next Presidential Election as will be talking about the Election of 1864, the first presidential election since 1812 to take place during wartime, but If you are interested in learning more about U.S. political history on this site, be sure to follow Lace ‘Em Up on Twitter @laceemupoffice you can follow me also on Twitter @hakeemfullerton and I’ll see you in the next article.