In the Presidential Election of 1860, the four candidates were Abraham Lincoln, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas. Abraham Lincoln was elected from the state of Illinois and was a Republican, John Breckinridge represented the southern states and was nominated by the Democratic Party, John Bell represented the Constitutional Union, and Stephen Douglas candidate for the Democrats.
Some of the early candidates that lost rather quickly were William H. Seward of New York, Simon Carmeron of Pennsylvania, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Edward Bates of Missouri, William L. Dayton of New Jersey, John McLean of Ohio, and Jacob Collamer of Vermont. After the Republicans chose their candidates the Democrats met again in Baltimore. For three days nothing was discussed but admission. When the factions came out from Alabama and Louisiana were admitted all anti-Douglas delegates from the South walked out.
Abraham Lincoln was from the state of Illinois. Lincoln had failed to win a majority of the popular vote. His partner in this election for Vice President was Hannibal Hamlin of Maine. During this election for President, he had been opposed by the Southerners. They claimed that the Cotton Belt states would secede if "that Black Republican," were elected.
John Breckinridge was from Kentucky. Before he was a nominee for president, John was the Vice President for James Buchanan. While he was still vice president, he was elected to the US Senate. His Vice President was Joseph Lane of Oregon. Breckinridge had won twelve popular votes. Breckinridge represented slaveholding interests. Men who were strongly against Douglas supported him.
John Bell of Tennessee, of three states had thirty-nine votes. He was knocked out of the race quite early in the election. Some conservative old men worried by the disruptive forces were deceiving the Union. John Bell polled a large vote in the South. Overall, his candidacy won twelve point six percent of the popular vote. Stephen Arnold Douglas carried only one state, Missouri. His Vice President was John Herschel and had eleven states. Douglas, "The Little Giant," split the democratic ranks, he was a candidate for Northern and Western faction after Southern delegates had withdrawn in protest.
William Seward was the front runner when the Republicans met in Chicago in May, but Abraham Lincoln quickly pulled ahead and won the nomination on the third ballot. The republican platform opposed slavery in the territories but upheld the right of slavery in the South. They opposed the Dred-Scott decision also.
Southern-Democrats, who called themselves National Democrats, nominated John Breckinridge. The candidates were taking very small active parts in their campaign except for Stephen Douglas. He campaigned actively throughout the country. William Seward had failed to be the Republican nominee, so he campaigned for Lincoln in the North. Later Lincoln offered William the chief position in the cabinet, secretary of state. Eventually Seward took the position.
The first vote:
Whole number 465
Necessary for choice 233
William H. Seward, of New York 173 1/2
Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois 102
Simon Carmeron, of Pennsylvania 50 1/2
Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio 49
Edward Bates, of Missouri 48
William L. Dayton, of New Jersey 14
John McLean, of Ohio 12
Jacob Collamer, of Vermont 10
This is a map of the United States with all of the states that are counted for voting. It shows the percentiles of the states for each presidential candidate. There are thirty-three states that were counted. South Carolina was the only state that the percent was not located for. The turquoise colored states represented Stephen A. Douglas’s states, green was for Abraham Lincoln, brown was for John Brekinridge, and gray was for John Bell. Abraham Lincoln had a total of seventeen states, Breckinridge received eleven, John Bell pulled in three, and Stephen Douglas took in two.
Douglas and Lincoln were neck and neck towards the middle of the election race. But for Douglas and Lincoln, this wasn’t their first face off. The last time these two met up was in 1858 with their series of debates for the re-election for Senate. Although, Lincoln didn’t win the election for Senate, it actually helped him. Meaning this, it gained him national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President. In this election, however, it was a little different from the Senate election. This time Lincoln took the victory! Honest Abe, as he was called, was a fifty-one year old lawyer, carried eighteen states with one hundred and eighty of the three hundred and three total electoral votes.
Lincoln was sworn into office on March 4, 1861. These pictures of Abraham Lincoln were taken during his term at office.
