u.s. presidential election, 1860

The U.S. presidential election of 1860 is widely considered to be a realigning election. The United States had been divided through most of the 1850's on the issue of slavery, with Northern abolitionists arguing that slavery should end, and Northerners and Southerners fighting for each new state admitted to the Union (see:Bleeding Kansas), and disputes over whether to allow slavery in the territories. The election was noteworthy for the exaggerated sectionalism of the vote, with Lincoln receiving no votes in nine states in the South - he was not even on the ballot in some of them - and he won only 2 of 996 counties in the entire South. Breckinridge and Bell also received no votes in three northern states. Two Illinois politicians, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas competed extensively in the north, while incumbent Vice President John Breckinridge and John Bell stumped throughout the southern states. The election of Abraham Lincoln made South Carolina's secession from the United States a foregone conclusion. The state was long waiting for an excuse to secede and unite the southern states against the anti-slavery forces. Upon confirming that the results were final, South Carolina declared "that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the 'United States of America' is hereby dissolved." The march to the American Civil War was on.

Nominations

Republican Party nomination

Going into the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, William H. Seward of New York, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio and Pennsylvania's Simon Cameron were considered the leading contenders for the presidential nomination. However, each of these candidates had offended numerous delegates in one way or another - such as by joining or forming other parties to run against Whigs, who now composed a significant portion of the party. Having few opponents in the party, Abraham Lincoln received the party's nomination on the third ballot, May 16, 1860. Maine's Hannibal Hamlin was chosen as the Vice Presidential nominee. The party platform clearly stated that slavery would not be allowed to spread any farther, and also promised that tariffs protecting industry would be imposed. A law granting free homesteads in the west to settlers was also part of the platform.

Constitutional Union Party nomination

Diehard former Whigs and Know-Nothings who felt they could not support the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party formed the Constitutional Union Party, nominating John C. Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett for vice president in Baltimore on May 9, 1865 (one week before Lincoln was nominated). John Bell was a former Whig and large slaveholder who had opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Lecompton constitution. Edward Everett had been president of Harvard University and a former secretary of state and Cotton Whig in the Fillmore administration. The party platform advocated compromise to save the Union, with a slogan of "the Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is."

Democratic Party nominations

The Democratic Party was similarly divided. At the convention in Charleston in April 1860, 50 southern Democrats walked out over a platform dispute. Six candidates were nominated: Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Joseph Lane of Oregon, James Guthrie of Kentucky, and Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter of Virginia. Douglas was ahead on the first ballot, needing 57 more votes. On the 57th ballot, Douglas was still ahead, but was still 50 votes short of the nomination. In desperation, on May 3 the delegates agreed to stop voting and adjourn the convention. They convened again in Baltimore on June 18. This time 110 southern Democrats (led by "fire-eaters") walked out when the convention would not adopt a resolution supporting slavery in the territories. After many ballots, the remaining Democrats nominated the ticket of Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Herschel Vespasian Johnson of Georgia. The Southern Democrats reconvened in Richmond, Virginia and on June 28 nominated incumbent Vice President John Cabell Breckinridge of Kentucky for President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice President. This divide was, of course, caused by the issue of slavery. Those in the South nominated a solidly pro-slavery candidate, while those in the North nominated a candidate who maintained a middle field when discussing slavery.

General election

Campaign

Stephen Douglas became the first presidential candidate in history to undertake a nationwide speaking tour. He traveled to the South where he did not expect to win many electoral votes, but he spoke for the maintenance of the Union.

Results

While Lincoln captured less than 40% of the popular vote, the sectional divisions of the nation allowed him to capture 17 states plus 4 electoral votes in New Jersey for a total of 180 electoral votes. Although the three-way split of the non-Republican vote confuses the issue, the vote split was irrelevant to Lincoln's victory - what won the election for Lincoln was winning the electoral majority. This is a classic example of how to get an electoral majority without a popular majority. Even had the more than 60% of voters who voted against Lincoln united behind one candidate, that candidate would have lost 173-130 in the electoral college. Only in California, Oregon, and New Jersey had he won electoral votes with less than 50% of the popular vote.http://www.etymonline.com/cw/1860.htm Only in California, Oregon, and Illinois had Lincoln's victory margin been less than 7%. Douglas, meanwhile, the only candidate to receive votes in every state (except for South Carolina, which did not hold a popular vote), finished second in the popular vote, but due to the north-south split garnered only Missouri's 9 electoral votes and three of seven electoral votes in New Jersey, good for fourth place. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia's electors, while Breckinridge won every other slave state except Missouri. ^(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
^(b)

Results by state

olspan=2\|	align=center colspan=3\|Abraham Lincoln Republican	align=center colspan=3\|Stephen Douglas (Northern) Democrat	align=center colspan=3\|John Breckinridge Southern Democrat	align=center colspan=3\|John Bell Constitutional Union	align=center colspan=2\|State Total
lign=center\|State	style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%"\|electoral votes	align=center\|#	align=center\|%	style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%"\|electoral votes	align=center\|#	align=center\|%	style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%"\|electoral votes	align=center\|#	align=center\|%	style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%"\|electoral votes	align=center\|#	align=center\|%	style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%"\|electoral votes	align=center\|#
lign=left\|Alabama	\|9	-	-	-	13,618	15.1	-	48,669	54.0	9	27,835	30.9	-	90,122	AL
lign=left\|Arkansas	\|4	-	-	-	5,357	9.9	-	28,732	53.1	4	20,063	37.0	-	54,152	AR
lign=left\|California	\|4	38,733	32.3	4	37,999	31.7	-	33,969	28.4	-	9,111	7.6	-	119,812	CA
lign=left\|Connecticut	\|6	43,488	58.1	6	15,431	20.6	-	14,372	19.2	-	1,528	2.0	-	74,819	CT
lign=left\|Delaware	\|3	3,822	23.7	-	1,066	6.6	-	7,339	45.5	3	3,888	24.1	-	16,115	DE
lign=left\|Florida	\|3	-	-	-	223	1.7	-	8,277	62.2	3	4,801	36.1	-	13,301	FL
lign=left\|Georgia	\|10	-	-	-	11,581	10.9	-	52,176	48.9	10	42,960	40.3	-	106,717	GA
lign=left\|Illinois	\|11	172,171	50.7	11	160,215	47.2	-	2,331	0.7	-	4,914	1.4	-	339,631	IL
lign=left\|Indiana	\|13	139,033	51.1	13	115,509	42.4	-	12,295	4.5	-	5,306	1.9	-	272,143	IN
lign=left\|Iowa	\|4	70,302	54.6	4	55,639	43.2	-	1,035	0.8	-	1,763	1.4	-	128,739	IA
lign=left\|Kentucky	\|12	1,364	0.9	-	25,651	17.5	-	53,143	36.3	-	66,058	45.2	12	146,216	KY
lign=left\|Louisiana	\|6	-	-	-	7,625	15.1	-	22,681	44.9	6	20,204	40.0	-	50,510	LA
lign=left\|Maine	\|8	62,811	62.2	8	29,693	29.4	-	6,368	6.3	-	2,046	2.0	-	100,918	ME
lign=left\|Maryland	\|8	2,294	2.5	-	5,966	6.4	-	42,482	45.9	8	41,760	45.1	-	92,502	MD
lign=left\|Massachusetts	\|13	106,684	62.9	13	34,370	20.3	-	6,163	3.6	-	22,331	13.2	-	169,548	MA
lign=left\|Michigan	\|6	88,481	57.2	6	65,057	42.0	-	805	0.5	-	415	0.3	-	154,758	MI
lign=left\|Minnesota	\|4	22,069	63.4	4	11,920	34.3	-	748	2.2	-	50	0.1	-	34,787	MN
lign=left\|Mississippi	\|7	-	-	-	3,282	4.7	-	40,768	59.0	7	25,045	36.2	-	69,095	MS
lign=left\|Missouri	\|9	17,028	10.3	-	58,801	35.5	9	31,362	18.9	-	58,372	35.3	-	165,563	MO
lign=left\|New Hampshire	\|5	37,519	56.9	5	25,887	39.3	-	2,125	3.2	-	412	0.6	-	65,943	NH
lign=left\|New Jersey	\|7	58,346	48.1	4	62,869	51.9	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	121,215	NJ
lign=left\|New York	\|35	362,646	53.7	35	312,510	46.3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	675,156	NY
lign=left\|North Carolina	\|10	-	-	-	2,737	2.8	-	48,846	50.5	10	45,129	46.7	-	96,712	NC
lign=left\|Ohio	\|23	231,709	52.3	23	187,421	42.3	-	11,406	2.6	-	12,194	2.8	-	442,730	OH
lign=left\|Oregon	\|3	5,329	36.1	3	4,136	28.0	-	5,075	34.4	-	218	1.5	-	14,758	OR
lign=left\|Pennsylvania	\|27	268,030	56.3	27	16,765	3.5	-	178,871	37.5	-	12,776	2.7	-	476,442	PA
lign=left\|Rhode Island	\|4	12,244	61.4	4	7,707	38.6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	19,951	RI
lign=left\|South Carolina	\|8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	SC
lign=left\|Tennessee	\|12	-	-	-	11,281	7.7	-	65,097	44.6	-	69,728	47.7	12	146,106	TN
lign=left\|Texas	\|4	-	-	-	18	0.0	-	47,454	75.5	4	15,383	24.5	-	62,855	TX
lign=left\|Vermont	\|5	33,808	75.7	5	8,649	19.4	-	218	0.5	-	1,969	4.4	-	44,644	VT
lign=left\|Virginia	\|15	1,887	1.1	-	16,198	9.7	-	74,325	44.5	-	74,481	44.6	15	166,891	VA
lign=left\|Wisconsin	\|5	86,110	56.6	5	65,021	42.7	-	887	0.6	-	161	0.1	-	152,179	WI
OTALS:	303	1,865,908	39.8	180	1,380,202	29.5	12	848,019	18.1	72	590,901	12.6	39	4,685,030
O WIN:!!152	colspan=15 style="background:#dddddd"\|

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