Background
editTensions in American politics had been steadily rising in the decades leading up to 1860, particularly over the expansion of slavery in the United States. The United States gradually split among sectional lines between Northern states (which had abolished slavery) and Southern states (where slavery was legal).[1] National political parties struggled to address the issue— while the Whig Party and Democratic Party had been the nation's two major parties in the early 1830s, by the mid-1850s the Whig party had lost the vast majority of its power and the Democratic party was divided.[2]
Nominations
editThe 1860 presidential election conventions were unusually tumultuous, due in particular to a split in the Democratic Party that led to rival conventions.
Republican Party nomination
edit1860 Republican Party ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abraham Lincoln | Hannibal Hamlin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former U.S. Representative for Illinois's 7th (1847–1849) |
U.S. Senator from Maine (1848–1857 & 1857–1861) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Campaign |
The Republican National Convention met in mid-May 1860, after the Democrats had been forced to adjourn their convention in Charleston. With the Democrats in disarray and a sweep of the Northern states possible, the Republicans felt confident going into their convention in Chicago. William H. Seward from New York was considered the front-runner, followed by Abraham Lincoln from Illinois, Salmon P. Chase from Ohio, and Missouri's Edward Bates.
As the convention developed, however, it was revealed that Seward, Chase, and Bates had each alienated factions of the Republican Party. Delegates were concerned that Seward was too closely identified with the radical wing of the party, and his moves toward the center had alienated the radicals. Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of the former Whigs by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s. He had also opposed tariffs demanded by Pennsylvania, and—critically—had opposition from his own delegation from Ohio. Bates outlined his positions on the extension of slavery into the territories and equal constitutional rights for all citizens, positions that alienated his supporters in the border states and Southern conservatives. German Americans in the party opposed Bates because of his past association with the Know Nothings.
Since it was essential to carry the West and because he had a national reputation from his debates and speeches as the most articulate moderate, Lincoln won the party's nomination for president on the third ballot on May 18, 1860. Senator Hannibal Hamlin from Maine was nominated for vice-president, defeating Cassius Clay from Kentucky. Hamlin was surprised by his nomination, saying he was "astonished" and that he "neither expected nor desired it."[3]
The party platform[4] promised not to interfere with slavery in the states, but opposed slavery in the territories. The platform promised tariffs protecting industry and workers, a Homestead Act granting free farmland in the West to settlers, and the funding of a transcontinental railroad. There was no mention of Mormonism (which had been condemned in the Party's 1856 platform), the Fugitive Slave Act, personal liberty laws, or the Dred Scott decision.[5] While the Seward forces were disappointed at the nomination of a little-known western upstart, they rallied behind Lincoln. Abolitionists, however, were angry at the selection of a moderate and had little faith in Lincoln.[6][7]
Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination
edit
1860 Democratic Party ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stephen A. Douglas | Herschel V. Johnson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. Senator from Illinois (1847–1861) |
41st Governor of Georgia (1853–1857) |
At the Democratic National Convention held in Institute Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1860, 51 Southern Democrats walked out over a platform dispute. The extreme pro-slavery "Fire-Eater" William Lowndes Yancey and the Alabama delegation first left the hall, followed by the delegates of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, three of the four delegates from Arkansas, and one of the three delegates from Delaware.
Six candidates were nominated: Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois, James Guthrie from Kentucky, Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter from Virginia, Joseph Lane from Oregon, Daniel S. Dickinson from New York, and Andrew Johnson from Tennessee. Three other candidates, Isaac Toucey from Connecticut, James Pearce from Maryland, and Jefferson Davis from Mississippi (the future president of the Confederate States) also received votes.
Douglas, a moderate on the slavery issue who favored "popular sovereignty", was ahead on the first ballot, but needed 56.5 more votes to secure the nomination. On the 57th ballot, Douglas was still ahead, but 51.5 votes short of the nomination. In desperation, the delegates agreed on May 3 to stop voting and adjourn the convention.
The Democrats convened again at the Front Street Theater in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 18. This time, 110 Southern delegates (led by "Fire-Eaters") walked out when the convention would not adopt a resolution supporting extending slavery into territories whose voters did not want it. Some considered Horatio Seymour a compromise candidate for the National Democratic nomination at the reconvening convention in Baltimore. Seymour wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper declaring unreservedly that he was not a candidate for either spot on the ticket. After two ballots, the remaining Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois for president.
Benjamin Fitzpatrick from Alabama was nominated for vice president, but he refused the nomination. That nomination ultimately went instead to Herschel Vespasian Johnson from Georgia.
-
Former Treasury Secretary James Guthrie
Southern Democratic Party nomination
edit
John C. Breckinridge | Joseph Lane |
---|---|
for President | for Vice President |
14th Vice President of the United States (1857–1861) |
U.S. Senator from Oregon (1859–1861) |
The Charleston bolters reconvened in Richmond, Virginia on June 11. When the Democrats reconvened in Baltimore, they rejoined (except South Carolina and Florida, who stayed in Richmond).
When the convention seated two replacement delegations on June 18, they bolted again, now accompanied by nearly all other Southern delegates, as well as erstwhile Convention chair Caleb Cushing, a New Englander and former member of Franklin Pierce's cabinet. This larger group met immediately in Baltimore's Institute Hall, with Cushing again presiding. They adopted the pro-slavery platform rejected at Charleston, and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, and Senator Joseph Lane from Oregon for vice president.[8]
Yancey and some (less than half) of the bolters, almost entirely from the Lower South, met on June 28 in Richmond, along with the South Carolina and Florida delegations. This convention affirmed the nominations of Breckinridge and Lane.[9]
Besides the Democratic Parties in the Southern states, the Breckinridge/Lane ticket was also supported by the Buchanan administration. Buchanan's own continued prestige in his home state of Pennsylvania ensured that Breckinridge would be the principal Democratic candidate in that populous state. Breckinridge was the last sitting vice president nominated for president until Richard Nixon in 1960.
Constitutional Union Party nomination
editJohn Bell | Edward Everett |
---|---|
for President | for Vice President |
Former U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1847–1859) |
Former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1853–1854) |
The Constitutional Union Party was formed by remnants of both the defunct Know Nothing and Whig Parties who were unwilling to join either the Republicans or the Democrats. The new party's members hoped to stave off Southern secession by avoiding the slavery issue.[10] They met in the Eastside District Courthouse of Baltimore and nominated John Bell from Tennessee for president over Governor Sam Houston of Texas on the second ballot. Edward Everett was nominated for vice-president at the convention on May 9, 1860, one week before Lincoln.[11][12]
John Bell was a former Whig who had opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the Lecompton Constitution. Edward Everett had been president of Harvard University and Secretary of State in the Millard Fillmore administration. The party platform advocated compromise to save the Union with the slogan "The Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is."[13]
Liberty (Union) Party nomination
editBy 1860, very little remained of the Liberty Party, after most of its membership left to join the Free Soil Party in 1848 and nearly all of what remained of it joined the Republicans in 1854. The remaining party was also called the Radical Abolitionists.[14][15] A convention of one hundred delegates was held in Convention Hall, Syracuse, New York, on August 29, 1860. Delegates were in attendance from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Massachusetts. Several of the delegates were women.
Gerrit Smith, a prominent abolitionist and the 1848 presidential nominee of the original Liberty Party, had sent a letter in which he stated that his health had been so poor that he had not been able to be away from home since 1858. Nonetheless, he remained popular in the party because he had helped inspire some of John Brown's supporters at the Raid on Harpers Ferry. In his letter, Smith donated $50 to pay for the printing of ballots in the various states.
There was quite a spirited contest between the friends of Gerrit Smith and William Goodell in regard to the nomination for the presidency. In spite of his professed ill health, Gerrit Smith was nominated for president and Samuel McFarland from Pennsylvania was nominated for vice president.[15]
In Ohio, a slate of presidential electors pledged to Smith ran with the name of the Union Party.[16]
People's Party nomination
editThe People's Party was a loose association of the supporters of Governor Samuel Houston. On April 20, 1860, the party held what it termed a national convention to nominate Houston for president on the San Jacinto Battlefield in Texas. Houston's supporters at the gathering did not nominate a vice-presidential candidate, since they expected later gatherings to carry out that function. Later mass meetings were held in northern cities, such as New York City on May 30, 1860, but they too failed to nominate a vice-presidential candidate. Houston, never enthusiastic about running for the Presidency, soon became convinced that he had no chance of winning and that his candidacy would only make it easier for the Republican candidate to win. He withdrew from the race on August 16, and urged the formation of a Unified "Union" ticket in opposition to Lincoln.[17][18]
Political considerations
editIn their campaigning, Bell and Douglas both claimed that disunion would not necessarily follow a Lincoln election. Nonetheless, loyal army officers in Virginia, Kansas and South Carolina warned Lincoln of military preparations to the contrary. Secessionists threw their support behind Breckinridge in an attempt either to force the anti-Republican candidates to coordinate their electoral votes or throw the election into the House of Representatives, where the selection of the president would be made by the representatives elected in 1858, before the Republican majorities in both House and Senate achieved in 1860 were seated in the new 37th Congress. Mexican War hero Winfield Scott suggested to Lincoln that he assume the powers of a commander-in-chief before inauguration. However, historian Bruce Chadwick observes that Lincoln and his advisors ignored the widespread alarms and threats of secession as mere election trickery.[citation needed]
Indeed, voting in the South was not as monolithic as the Electoral College map would make it seem. Economically, culturally, and politically, the South was made up of three regions. In the states of the "Upper" South, later known as the "Border States" (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri along with the Kansas territories), unionist popular votes were scattered among Lincoln, Douglas, and Bell, to form a majority in all four. In the "Middle" South states, there was a unionist majority divided between Douglas and Bell in Virginia and Tennessee; in North Carolina and Arkansas, the unionist (Bell and Douglas) vote approached a majority. Texas was the only Middle South state that Breckinridge carried convincingly. In three of the six "Deep" South states, unionists (Bell and Douglas) won divided majorities in Georgia and Louisiana or neared it in Alabama. Breckinridge convincingly carried only three of the six states of the Deep South (South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi).[19] These three Deep South states were all among the four Southern states with the lowest white populations; together, they held only nine percent of Southern whites.[20]
Among the slave states, the three states with the highest voter turnouts voted the most one-sided. Texas, with five percent of the total wartime South's population, voted 75 percent Breckinridge. Kentucky and Missouri, with one-fourth the total population, voted 73 percent pro-union Bell, Douglas and Lincoln. In comparison, the six states of the Deep South making up one-fourth the Confederate voting population, split 57 percent Breckinridge versus 43 percent for the two pro-union candidates.[nb 1] The four states that were admitted to the Confederacy after Fort Sumter held almost half its population, and voted a narrow combined majority of 53 percent for the pro-union candidates.
In the eleven states that would later declare their secession from the Union and be controlled by Confederate armies, ballots for Lincoln were cast only in Virginia,[nb 2] where he received 1,929 votes (1.15 percent of the total).[23][24] Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the votes Lincoln received were cast in border counties of what would soon become West Virginia – the future state accounted for 1,832 of Lincoln's 1,929 votes.[25]
Lincoln received no votes at all in 121 of the state's then-145 counties (including 31 of the 50 that would form West Virginia), received a single vote in three counties and received ten or fewer votes in nine of the 24 counties where he polled votes. Lincoln's best results, by far, were in the four counties that comprised the state's northern panhandle, a region which had long felt alienated from Richmond, was economically and culturally linked to its neighbors Ohio and Pennsylvania and would become the key driver in the successful effort to form a separate state. Hancock County (Virginia's northernmost at the time) returned Lincoln's best result – he polled over 40% of the vote there and finished in second place (Lincoln polled only eight votes fewer than Breckinridge). Of the 97 votes cast for Lincoln in the state's post-1863 boundaries, 93 were polled in four counties along the Potomac River and four were tallied in the coastal city of Portsmouth.[23]
Some key differences between modern elections and the those of the mid-nineteenth century are that at the time, not only was there was no secret ballot anywhere in the United States, but the state did not print and distribute ballots. In theory, any document containing a valid or at least non-excessive number names of citizens of a particular state (provided they were eligible to vote in the electoral college within that state) might have been accepted as a valid presidential ballot, however what this meant in practice was that a candidate's campaign was responsible for printing and distributing their own ballots (this service was typically done by supportive newspaper publishers). Moreover, since voters did not choose the president directly, but rather presidential electors, the only way for a voter to meaningfully support a particular candidate for president was cast a ballot for citizens of his state who would have pledged to vote for the candidate in the Electoral College. In ten southern slave states, no citizen would publicly pledge to vote for Abraham Lincoln, so citizens there had no legal means to vote for the Republican nominee. In most of Virginia, no publisher would print ballots for Lincoln's pledged electors.[23] While a citizen without access to a ballot for Lincoln could theoretically have still voted for him by means of a write-in ballot provided his state had electors pledged to Lincoln and the voter knew their identities, casting a ballot in favor of the Republican candidate in a strongly pro-slavery county would have incurred (at minimum) social ostracization (of course, casting a vote for Breckinridge in a strongly abolitionist county ran a voter the same risk).
In the four slave states that did not secede (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware), Lincoln came in fourth in every state except Delaware (where he finished third). Within the fifteen slave states, Lincoln won only two counties out of 996, Missouri's St. Louis and Gasconade Counties.[23] In the 1856 election, the Republican candidate for president had received no votes at all in twelve of the fourteen slave states with a popular vote (these being the same states as in the 1860 election, plus Missouri and Virginia).
Results
editThe election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, and was noteworthy for exaggerated sectionalism and voter enthusiasm in a country that was soon to dissolve into civil war. Voter turnout was 81.2%, the highest in American history up to that time, and the second-highest overall (exceeded only in the election of 1876).[26][27] Since Andrew Jackson had won re-election in 1832, all six subsequent presidents had only won one-term, while the last four of those had won with a popular vote under 51 percent.[28]
Lincoln won the Electoral College with less than 40 percent of the popular vote nationwide by carrying states above the Mason–Dixon line and north of the Ohio River, plus the states of California and Oregon in the Far West. Unlike every preceding president-elect, Lincoln did not carry even one slave state.
Ballots were not distributed for Lincoln in ten of the Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Lincoln was the second President-elect to poll no votes in any state which had a popular vote (the first was John Quincy Adams, who polled no ballots in the popular votes of two states in the election of 1824, although that was a unique election in which there were four major candidates of whom none distributed ballots in every state). It should be further noted that, prior to introduction of the secret ballot in the 1880s, the concept of ballot access did not exist in the sense it does today in that there was no standardized state-issued ballot for a candidate to "appear" on. Instead, presidential ballots were printed and distributed by agents of the candidates and their parties, who organized slates of would-be electors publicly pledged to vote for a particular candidate. Besides the 1824 election, the 1860 presidential election was the only such occasion prior to the introduction of the secret ballot where a winning candidate was so unpopular in a particular region that it was impossible to organize and print ballots for a slate of eligible voters pledged to vote for that candidate in an entire state.
Since 1860, excepting unreconstructed Southern states prior to 1872 there have been two occasions where a Republican presidential candidate failed to poll votes in every state.[nb 3] National Democratic candidates have failed to appear on all state ballots in three elections since the introduction of the secret ballot, in all of which the Democratic candidate nonetheless won the presidency,[nb 4] but never in so many states as Lincoln in 1860.
Lincoln won the second-lowest share of the popular vote among all winning presidential candidates in U.S. history.[nb 5] Moreover, Lincoln's share of the popular vote would have been even less if there had been a popular vote in South Carolina. The Republican victory resulted from the concentration of votes in the free states, which together controlled a majority of the presidential electors.[29]
Lincoln's strategy was deliberately focused, in collaboration with Republican Party Chairman Thurlow Weed, on expanding on the states Frémont won four years earlier: New York was critical with 35 Electoral College votes, 11.5 percent of the total; with Pennsylvania (27) and Ohio (23), a candidate could collect more than half (85) of the votes needed. The Wide Awakes young Republican men's organization massively expanded registered voter lists, and although Lincoln was not even on the ballot in most Southern states, population increases in the free states had far exceeded those seen in the slave states for many years before the election of 1860, hence free states dominated in the Electoral College.[30]
The split in the Democratic party is sometimes held responsible for Lincoln's victory[31] despite the fact that Lincoln won the election with less than 40% of the popular vote, much of the anti-Republican vote was "wasted" in Southern states in which no ballots for Lincoln were circulated. At most, a single opponent nationwide would have deprived Lincoln of only California, Oregon, and four New Jersey electors,[32] whose combined total of eleven electoral votes would have made no difference to the result; every other state won by the Republicans was won by a clear majority of the vote.
In the four states of New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and New Jersey where anti-Lincoln votes did combine into fusion tickets, Lincoln still won three and split New Jersey.[33] If the opposition had formed fusion tickets in every state, Lincoln still would have received 169 electoral votes, 17 more than the 152 required to win the Electoral College; however, a shift of 50,000 votes to the fusion ticket in New York would have left Lincoln with 145 electoral votes, seven votes short of winning the Electoral College, and forced a contingent election in the House of Representatives. [34][35] Of the five states that Lincoln failed to carry despite polling votes, he received 20 percent of the vote in only one (Delaware) and 10 percent of the vote in only one more (Missouri).
Like Lincoln, Breckinridge and Bell won no electoral votes outside of their respective sections. While Bell retired to his family business, quietly supporting his state's secession, Breckinridge served as a Confederate general. He finished second in the Electoral College with 72 votes, carrying eleven of fifteen slave states (including South Carolina, whose electors were chosen by the state legislature, not popular vote). Breckinridge stood a distant third in national popular vote at eighteen percent, but accrued 50 to 75 percent in the first seven states that would form the Confederate States of America. He took nine of the eleven states that eventually joined, plus the border slave states of Delaware and Maryland, losing only Virginia and Tennessee. Breckinridge received very little support in the free states, showing some strength only in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
Bell carried three slave states (Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia) and lost Maryland by only 722 votes. Nevertheless, he finished a remarkable second in all slave states won by Breckinridge or Douglas. He won 45 to 47 percent in Maryland, Tennessee and North Carolina and canvassed respectably with 36 to 40 percent in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. Bell himself had hoped that he would take over the former support of the extinct Whig Party in free states, but the majority of this support went to Lincoln.[36] Thus, except for running mate Everett's home state of Massachusetts, and California, Bell received even less support in the free states than did Breckinridge, and consequently came in last in the national popular vote, at 12%.
Douglas was the only candidate who won electoral votes in both slave and free states (free New Jersey and slave Missouri). His support was the most widespread geographically; he finished second behind Lincoln in the popular vote with 29.5%, but last in the Electoral College. Douglas attained a 28 to 47% share in the states of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Trans-Mississippi West, but slipped to 19 to 39% in New England. Outside his regional section, Douglas took 15 to 17% of the popular vote total in the slave states of Kentucky, Alabama, and Louisiana, then 10 percent or less in the nine remaining slave states. Douglas, in his "Norfolk Doctrine", reiterated in North Carolina, promised to keep the Union together by coercion if states proceeded to secede: the popular vote for Lincoln and Douglas combined was 69.11% of the turnout.
The 1860 Republican ticket was the first successful national ticket that did not feature a Southerner, and the election marked the end of Southern political dominance in the United States. Between 1789 and 1860, Southerners had been president for two-thirds of the era, and had held the offices of Speaker of the House and President pro tem of the Senate during much of that time. Moreover, since 1791, Southerners had comprised a majority of the Supreme Court.[37]
Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote(a) | Electoral vote |
Running mate | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Count | Percentage | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Electoral vote | ||||
Abraham Lincoln | Republican | Illinois | 1,865,908 | 39.82% | 180 | Hannibal Hamlin | Maine | 180 |
John Cabell Breckinridge | Southern Democratic | Kentucky | 848,019 | 18.10% | 72 | Joseph Lane | Oregon | 72 |
John Bell | Constitutional Union/Whig | Tennessee | 590,901 | 12.61% | 39 | Edward Everett | Massachusetts | 39 |
Stephen Arnold Douglas | Northern Democratic | Illinois | 1,380,202 | 29.46% | 12 | Herschel Vespasian Johnson | Georgia | 12 |
Other | 531 | 0.01% | — | Other | — | |||
Total | 4,685,561 | 100% | 303 | 303 | ||||
Needed to win | 152 | 152 |
Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. "1860 Presidential Election Results". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved July 27, 2005. Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005.
(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
Geography of results
editCartographic gallery
edit-
Map of presidential election results by county
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Map of Republican presidential election results by county
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Map of Northern Democratic presidential election results by county
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Map of Southern Democratic presidential election results by county
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Map of Constitutional Union presidential election results by county
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Map of "Fusion" slate presidential election results by county
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Cartogram of presidential election results by county
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Cartogram of Republican presidential election results by county
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Cartogram of Northern Democratic presidential election results by county
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Cartogram of Southern Democratic presidential election results by county
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Cartogram of Constitutional Union presidential election results by county
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Cartogram of "Fusion" slate presidential election results by county
Results by state
editSource: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.
States/districts won by Douglas/Johnson |
States/districts won by Breckinridge/Lane |
States/districts won by Lincoln/Hamlin |
States/districts won by Bell/Everett |
Abraham Lincoln Republican |
Stephen Douglas (Northern) Democratic |
John Breckinridge (Southern) Democratic |
John Bell Constitutional Union |
Fusion (Non-Republican) (Democratic Fusion) |
Margin | State Total | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
State | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | # | |
Alabama | 9 | no ballots | 13,618 | 15.1 | - | 48,669 | 54.0 | 9 | 27,835 | 30.9 | - | no ballots | -20,834 | -23.1 | 90,122 | AL | ||||
Arkansas | 4 | no ballots | 5,357 | 9.9 | - | 28,732 | 53.1 | 4 | 20,063 | 37.0 | - | no ballots | -8,669 | -16.1 | 54,152 | AR | ||||
California | 4 | 38,733 | 32.3 | 4 | 37,999 | 31.7 | - | 33,969 | 28.4 | - | 9,111 | 7.6 | - | no ballots | 734 | 0.6 | 119,827 | CA | ||
Connecticut | 6 | 43,486 | 53.86 | 6 | 17,364 | 21.50 | - | 16,558 | 20.51 | - | 3,337 | 4.13 | - | no ballots | 28,057 | 37.5 | 80,745 | CT | ||
Delaware | 3 | 3,822 | 23.7 | - | 1,066 | 6.6 | - | 7,339 | 45.5 | 3 | 3,888 | 24.1 | - | no ballots | -3,451 | -21.4 | 16,115 | DE | ||
Florida | 3 | no ballots | 223 | 1.7 | - | 8,277 | 62.2 | 3 | 4,801 | 36.1 | - | no ballots | -3,476 | -26.1 | 13,301 | FL | ||||
Georgia | 10 | no ballots | 11,581 | 10.9 | - | 52,176 | 48.9 | 10 | 42,960 | 40.3 | - | no ballots | -9,216 | -8.6 | 106,717 | GA | ||||
Illinois | 11 | 172,171 | 50.7 | 11 | 160,215 | 47.2 | - | 2,331 | 0.7 | - | 4,914 | 1.4 | - | no ballots | 11,956 | 3.5 | 339,666 | IL | ||
Indiana | 13 | 139,033 | 51.1 | 13 | 115,509 | 42.4 | - | 12,295 | 4.5 | - | 5,306 | 1.9 | - | no ballots | 23,524 | 8.7 | 272,143 | IN | ||
Iowa | 4 | 70,302 | 54.6 | 4 | 55,639 | 43.2 | - | 1,035 | 0.8 | - | 1,763 | 1.4 | - | no ballots | 14,663 | 13.4 | 128,739 | IA | ||
Kentucky | 12 | 1,364 | 0.9 | - | 25,651 | 17.5 | - | 53,143 | 36.3 | - | 66,058 | 45.2 | 12 | no ballots | 12,915 | -8.9 | 146,216 | KY | ||
Louisiana | 6 | no ballots | 7,625 | 15.1 | - | 22,681 | 44.9 | 6 | 20,204 | 40.0 | - | no ballots | -2,477 | -4.9 | 50,510 | LA | ||||
Maine | 8 | 62,811 | 62.2 | 8 | 29,693 | 29.4 | - | 6,368 | 6.3 | - | 2,046 | 2.0 | - | no ballots | 33,118 | 32.8 | 100,918 | ME | ||
Maryland | 8 | 2,294 | 2.5 | - | 5,966 | 6.4 | - | 42,482 | 45.9 | 8 | 41,760 | 45.1 | - | no ballots | -722 | -0.8 | 92,502 | MD | ||
Massachusetts | 13 | 106,684 | 62.9 | 13 | 34,370 | 20.3 | - | 6,163 | 3.6 | - | 22,331 | 13.2 | - | no ballots | 72,314 | 42.6 | 169,876 | MA | ||
Michigan | 6 | 88,450 | 57.23 | 6 | 64,889 | 41.99 | - | 805 | 0.52 | - | 405 | 0.26 | - | no ballots | 23,561 | 15.25 | 154,549 | MI | ||
Minnesota | 4 | 22,069 | 63.4 | 4 | 11,920 | 34.3 | - | 748 | 2.2 | - | 50 | 0.1 | - | no ballots | 10,149 | 29.1 | 34,787 | MN | ||
Mississippi | 7 | no ballots | 3,282 | 4.7 | - | 40,768 | 59.0 | 7 | 25,045 | 36.2 | - | no ballots | -15,723 | -22.8 | 69,095 | MS | ||||
Missouri | 9 | 17,028 | 10.3 | - | 58,801 | 35.5 | 9 | 31,362 | 18.9 | - | 58,372 | 35.3 | - | no ballots | -429 | -0.2 | 165,563 | MO | ||
New Hampshire | 5 | 37,519 | 56.9 | 5 | 25,887 | 39.3 | - | 2,125 | 3.2 | - | 412 | 0.6 | - | no ballots | 11,632 | 20.6 | 65,943 | NH | ||
New Jersey | 7 | 58,346 | 48.1 | 4[nb 6] | no ballots | 3[nb 7] | no ballots | - | no ballots | - | 62,869[nb 8] | 51.9 | -[nb 9] | -4,523 | -3.8 | 121,215 | NJ | |||
New York | 35 | 362,646 | 53.7 | 35 | no ballots | - | no ballots | - | no ballots | - | 312,510 | 46.3 | -[nb 10] | 50,136 | 7.4 | 675,156 | NY | |||
North Carolina | 10 | no ballots | 2,737 | 2.8 | - | 48,846 | 50.5 | 10 | 45,129 | 46.7 | - | no ballots | -3,717 | -3.8 | 96,712 | NC | ||||
Ohio | 23 | 221,809 | 51.24 | 23 | 187,421 | 42.30 | - | 11,303 | 2.61 | - | 12,193 | 2.82 | - | no ballots | 34,388 | 7.94 | 432,862 | OH | ||
Oregon | 3 | 5,344 | 36.20 | 3 | 4,131 | 27.99 | - | 5,074 | 34.37 | - | 212 | 1.44 | - | no ballots | 270 | 1.83 | 14,761 | OR | ||
Pennsylvania | 27 | 268,030 | 56.3 | 27 | 16,765 | 3.5 | -[nb 11] | no ballots | 12,776 | 2.7 | - | 178,871[nb 12] | 37.5 | -[nb 13] | 89,159 | 18.8 | 476,442 | PA | ||
Rhode Island | 4 | 12,244 | 61.4 | 4 | 7,707[nb 14] | 38.6 | - | no ballots | no ballots | no ballots | 4,537 | 22.8 | 19,951 | RI | ||||||
South Carolina | 8 | no popular vote | no popular vote | no popular vote | 8 | no popular vote | no popular vote | - | - | - | SC | |||||||||
Tennessee | 12 | no ballots | 11,281 | 7.7 | - | 65,097 | 44.6 | - | 69,728 | 47.7 | 12 | no ballots | -4,631 | -3.1 | 146,106 | TN | ||||
Texas | 4 | no ballots | 18 | 0.03 | - | 47,454 | 75.47 | 4 | 15,383 | 24.50 | - | no ballots | -32,110 | -50.97 | 63,004 | TX | ||||
Vermont | 5 | 33,808 | 75.86 | 5 | 8,649 | 19.41 | - | 1,866 | 4.19 | - | 217 | 0.49 | - | no ballots | 25,159 | 56.45 | 44,566 | VT | ||
Virginia | 15 | 1,887 | 1.1 | - | 16,198 | 9.7 | - | 74,325 | 44.5 | - | 74,481 | 44.6 | 15 | no ballots | -156 | -0.1 | 166,891 | VA | ||
Wisconsin | 5 | 86,113 | 56.59 | 5 | 65,021 | 42.73 | - | 887 | 0.58 | - | 161 | 0.11 | - | no ballots | 21,092 | 13.86 | 152,179 | WI | ||
TOTALS: | 303 | 1,855,993 | 39.65 | 180 | 1,006,583 | 21.50 | 12 | 673,701 | 14.39 | 72 | 590,268 | 12.61 | 39 | 554,250 | 11.84 | 0 | 4,681,335 | US | ||
TO WIN: | 152 |
Close states
editStates where the margin of victory was under 5%:
- Virginia 0.1%
- Missouri 0.2%
- California 0.6%
- Maryland 0.8%
- Oregon 1.83%
- Tennessee 3.1%
- Illinois 3.5%
- North Carolina 3.8%
- New Jersey 3.8%
- Louisiana 4.9%
States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
- New York 7.4% (tipping point state for Lincoln victory)
- Ohio 7.94%
- Georgia 8.6%
- Indiana 8.7%
- Kentucky 8.9%
Trigger for the Civil War
editLincoln's victory and imminent inauguration as president was the immediate cause for declarations of secession by seven Southern states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) from 20 December 1860 to 1 February 1861. They then formed the Confederate States of America.
Several other states also considered declaring secession at the time:
- Missouri convened a secession convention, which voted against secession and adjourned permanently.
- Arkansas convened a secession convention, which voted against secession and adjourned temporarily.
- Virginia convened a secession convention, which voted against secession but remained in session.
- Tennessee held a referendum on having a secession convention, which failed.
- North Carolina held a referendum on having a secession convention, which failed.[41]
All of the secessionist activity was motivated by fear for the institution of slavery in the South. If the President (and, by extension, the appointed federal officials in the South, such as district attorneys, marshals, postmasters, and judges) opposed slavery, it might collapse. There were fears that abolitionist agents would infiltrate the South and foment slave insurrections. (The noted secessionist William Lowndes Yancey, speaking at New York's Cooper Institute in October 1860, asserted that with abolitionists in power, "Emissaries will percolate between master [and] slave as water between the crevices of rocks underground. They will be found everywhere, with strychnine to put in our wells."[42]) Less radical Southerners thought that with Northern antislavery dominance of the federal government, slavery would eventually be abolished, regardless of present constitutional limits.[43]
Bertram Wyatt-Brown argues that secessionists desired independence as necessary for their honor. They could no longer tolerate Northern state attitudes that regarded slave ownership as a great sin and Northern politicians who insisted on stopping the spread of slavery.[44][45][46]
Another bloc of Southerners resented Northern criticism of slavery and restrictions on slavery but opposed secession as dangerous and unnecessary. However, the "conditional Unionists" also hoped that when faced with secession, Northerners would stifle anti-slavery rhetoric and accept pro-slavery rules for the territories. It was that group that prevented immediate secession in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas when Lincoln took office on 4 March 1861. He took no action against the secessionists in the seven "Confederate" states but also declared that secession had no legal validity and refused to surrender federal property in those states. (He also reiterated his opposition to slavery anywhere in the territories.) The standoff continued until mid-April, when Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered Confederate troops to bombard and capture Fort Sumter.
Lincoln then called for troops to put down rebellion, which wiped out the possibility that the crisis could be resolved by compromise. Nearly all "conditional Unionists" joined the secessionists. The Virginia convention and the reconvened Arkansas convention both declared secession, as did the legislatures of Tennessee and North Carolina; all four states joined the Confederacy.
See also
edit- 1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections
- 1860 and 1861 United States Senate elections
- American election campaigns in the 19th century
- Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln
- First inauguration of Abraham Lincoln
- John Hanks
- History of the United States (1849–1865)
- History of the United States Democratic Party
- History of the United States Republican Party
- Third Party System
Notes
edit- ^ "Deep South" here in presidential popular votes refers to Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. It excludes South Carolina from the calculation, because in 1860 it chose presidential electors in the state legislature, without a popular vote.
- ^ Ballots were printed sheets, usually printed by the party, with the name of the candidate(s) and the names of presidential electors who were pledged to that presidential candidate. Voters brought the ballot to the polling station and dropped it publicly into the election box. In order to receive any votes, a candidate (or his party) had to have ballots printed and organize a group of electors pledged to that candidate. Except in some border areas, the Republican party did not attempt any organization in the South and did not print ballots there because almost no one was willing to acknowledge publicly they were voting for Lincoln for fear of violent retribution.[21][22]
- ^ In 1892, incumbent President Benjamin Harrison failed to poll votes in Florida because the state’s Republicans supported Populist nominee James B. Weaver. In 1912, William Howard Taft was not on the ballot in South Dakota or California because the South Dakotan and Californian branches of Republican Party nominated Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt as the official Republican candidate.
- ^ In 1892, Grover Cleveland was not on the ballot in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, or Wyoming, while neither Harry Truman in 1948 nor Lyndon Johnson in 1964 were on the ballot in Alabama.
- ^ John Quincy Adams, who won the 1824 presidential election in a vote of the House of Representatives, won 30.92% of the popular vote, less than the share received by Andrew Jackson. Lincoln's share of the popular vote in 1860 represents the lowest share received by any popular vote winner.
- ^ 4 of the electors pledged to Lincoln were elected since the Breckinridge and Bell electors finished behind all other candidates.[38]
- ^ The 3 Douglas electors were elected.[38]
- ^ The Fusion vote used here is the vote for the high elector on the slate, who was pledged to Douglas.[38]
- ^ The Fusion slate consisted of 3 electors pledged to Douglas, and 2 each to Breckinridge and Bell. Nonetheless, different electors appeared in some counties for Breckinridge and Bell, resulting in lower totals for them and a split electoral outcome. The 3 Douglas electors were elected and 4 of those pledged to Lincoln. The Breckinridge and Bell electors finished behind all other candidates.[38]
- ^ The slate of electors were pledged to 3 different candidates: 18 to Douglas, 10 to Bell, and 7 to Breckinridge.[38]
- ^ Not all of the Douglas supporters agreed to the Reading slate deal and established a separate Douglas only ticket. This slate comprised the 12 Douglas electoral candidates on the Reading ticket, and 15 additional Douglas supporters. This ticket was usually referred to as the Straight Douglas ticket. Thus 12 electoral candidates appeared on 2 tickets, Reading and Straight Douglas.[39]
- ^ This vote is listed under the Fusion column, not the Breckinridge column as many other sources do, because this ticket was pledged to either of two candidates based on the national result. Additionally, the slate was almost equally divided between the supporters of Breckinridge and Douglas.[39]
- ^ The Democratic Party chose its slate of electors before the National Convention in Charleston, SC. Since this was decided before the party split, both Douglas supporters and Breckinridge supporters claimed the right for their man to be considered the party candidate and the support of the electoral slate. Eventually, the state party worked out an agreement: if either candidate could win the national election with Pennsylvania's electoral vote, then all her electoral votes would go to that candidate. Of the 27 electoral candidates, 15 were Breckinridge supporters; the remaining 12 were for Douglas. This was often referred to as the Reading electoral slate, because it was in that city that the state party chose it.[39]
- ^ The Douglas ticket in Rhode Island was supported by Breckinridge and Bell supporters.[39]
References
edit- ^ Woods 2012, p. 416.
- ^ Brooks, Corey. "What Can the Collapse of the Whig Party Tell Us About Today's Politics?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
- ^ Foner. The Fiery Trial. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-393-34066-2.
- ^ "Republican National Platform, 1860". Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum. CPRR.org. 2003-04-13. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
- ^ Rhodes (1920) 2:420
- ^ Rhodes (1920) 2:429
- ^ Baum, Dale (1984). The Civil War Party System: The Case of Massachusetts, 1848–1876. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-8078-1588-8.
- ^ Heidler, p. 157. Baltimore's Institute Hall, not be confused with Charleston's Institute Hall also used by the walk-out delegations.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
FreehlingWilliam
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Schulten, Susan (2010-11-10). "How (And Where) Lincoln Won". New York Times, November 10, 2010. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/how-and-where-lincoln-won/.
- ^ Lossing, Benson John (1866). Pictorial history of the civil war in the United States of America, Volume 1. Poughkeepsie, NY: G.W. Childs. p. 29. Retrieved January 26, 2012.. Bolters met at St. Andrew's Hall.
- ^ The building had been the First Presbyterian Meeting House (Two Towers Church) on Fayette Street, between Calvert and North Street, demolished before 1866 and occupied by the United States Courthouse.
- ^ Getting the Message Out! Stephen A. Douglas Archived January 20, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Proceedings of the Convention of Radical Political Abolitionists, held at Syracuse, N. Y., June 26th, 27th, and 28th, 1855, New York: Central Abolition Board, 1855
- ^ a b "RADICAL ABOLITION NATIONAL CONVENTION". Douglass' Monthly. October 1860. p. 352.
- ^ "US President - Liberty (Union) National Convention". Our Campaigns. November 24, 2008.
- ^ "POLITICAL MOVEMENTS.; THE HOUSTON MASS MEETING. Large Gathering of the People in Union-Square--Washington statue Illuminated. The Hero of San Jacinto Nominated for the Presidency. Speeches, Address, Resolutions, Music, Fireworks, Guns, and Fun". The New York Times. May 30, 1860.
- ^ "Letter from Sam Houston Withdrawing from the Canvass". The New York Times. September 3, 1860.
- ^ Hindley, Meredith (November–December 2010). "The Man Who Came in Second". Humanities. 31 (6). Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Freehling, William W., The Road to Disunion: Volume II. Secessionists Triumphant, 1854–1861, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 447.
- ^ "Republican ballot 1860". Retrieved 2011-04-28.
- ^ "Election of 1860 – 'Read Your Ballot'". Retrieved 2011-04-28.
- ^ a b c d "HarpWeek 1860 Election Overview". Retrieved 2011-03-20.
- ^ "1860 Election Returns in Virginia, by County" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-04-28.
- ^ Results by county in Virginia
- ^ The 1876 election had a turnout of 81.8%, slightly higher than 1860. Between 1828 and 1928: "Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections: 1828–2008". The American Presidency Project. UC Santa Barbara. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
- ^ Data between 1932 and 2008: "Table 397. Participation in Elections for President and U.S. Representatives: 1932 to 2010" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 24, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
- ^ http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ Only Franklin Pierce had achieved a statistical majority in the popular vote (50.83 percent).
- ^ Chadwick, Bruce. "Lincoln for President: an unlikely candidate, an audacious strategy, and the victory no one saw coming" (2009) Ch. 10 The Eleventh Hour. p. 289 ISBN 978-1-4022-2504-8
- ^ Ziegler-McPherson, Christina A.; Selling America : Immigration Promotion and the Settlement of the American Continent, 1607-1914, pp. 34-36 ISBN 1440842094
- ^ e.g., the 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia, vol, 15, p. 171
- ^ "New Jersey's Vote in 1860". NY Times. December 26, 1892.
- ^ Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln: Prologue to Civil War (1950), p. 312
- ^ Potter, The impending crisis, 1848–1861 (1976) p. 437
- ^ Luthin, The First Lincoln Campaign p. 227
- ^ Davies, Gareth and Zelizer, Julian E.; America at the Ballot Box: Elections and Political History, pp. 65-66 ISBN 0812291360
- ^ Murrin, John M.; Johnson, Paul E.; McPherson, James M.; Fahs, Alice; Gerstle, Gary; Rosenberg, Emily S.; Rosenberg, Norman L. (January 2011). Liberty Equality Power: A History of the American People, Volume I: To 1877 (6th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. p. 403. ISBN 978-0-495-91587-4.
- ^ a b c d e Dubin, Michael J., United States Presidential Elections, 1788–1860: The Official Results by County and State, McFarland & Company, 2002, p. 187
- ^ a b c d Dubin, Michael J., United States Presidential Elections, 1788–1860: The Official Results by County and State, McFarland & Company, 2002, p. 188
- ^ Secession Convention Encyclopedia of Arkansas
- ^ Secession Vote and Realigned Allegiance North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
- ^ Walther, Eric H. (2006). William Lowndes Yancey: The Coming of the Civil War. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-7394-8030-4.
- ^ Avery Craven, The Growth of Southern Nationalism, 1848–1861, 1953. ISBN 978-0-8071-0006-6, p. 391, 394, 396.
- ^ Decredico, Mary A. (2004). "Sectionalism and the Secession Crisis". In Boles, John B. (ed.). A Companion to the American South. p. 243.
- ^ Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Yankee Saints and Southern Sinners (1990)
- ^ Decredico, Mary A. (2004). "Sectionalism and the Secession Crisis". In Boles, John B. (ed.). A Companion to the American South. p. 240.
Bibliography
edit- Carwardine, Richard (2003). Lincoln. Pearson Education Ltd. ISBN 978-0-582-03279-8.
- Chadwick, Bruce (2010). Lincoln for President: An Unlikely Candidate, An Audacious Strategy, and the Victory No One Saw Coming. Sourcebooks, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4022-2858-2.
- Decredico, Mary A. "Sectionalism and the Secession Crisis," in John B. Boles, ed., A Companion to the American South (2004) pp. 231-248, on the historiography of Southend motivations
- Donald, David Herbert (1996) [1995]. Lincoln. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-82535-9.
- Egerton, Douglas (2010). Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election That Brought on the Civil War. Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1-59691-619-7.
- Foner, Eric (1995) [1970]. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-509497-8.
- Fuller, A. James, ed. The Election of 1860 Reconsidered (Kent State Univ Press, 2013); 288pp; essays by scholars; online
- Goodwin, Doris Kearns (2002). Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-82490-6.
- Green, Michael S. (2011). Lincoln and the Election of 1860. SIU Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-8636-9.
- Grinspan, Jon, "'Young Men for War': The Wide Awakes and Lincoln's 1860 Presidential Campaign," Journal of American History 96.2 (2009): online.
- Harris, William C. (2007). Lincoln's Rise to the Presidency. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1520-9.
- Holt, Michael F. (1978). The Political Crisis of the 1850s.
- Holt, Michael F. The Election of 1860: "A Campaign Fraught with Consequences (2017)
- Holzer, Harold (2004). Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-9964-0.
- Johannsen, Robert W. Stephen A. Douglas (1973), standard biography
- Luebke, Frederick C. (1971). Ethnic Voters and the Election of Lincoln. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press.
- Luthin, Reinhard H. (1944). The First Lincoln Campaign. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-8446-1292-8.along with Nevins, the most detailed narrative of the election
- Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union (10 volumes, Macmillan, 1979–2018), detailed scholarly coverage of every election, 1848 to 1864.
- Nichols, Roy Franklin. The Disruption of American Democracy (1948), pp. 348–506, focused on the Democratic party
- Parks, Joseph Howard. John Bell of Tennessee (1950), standard biography
- Potter, David M. (1976). The impending crisis, 1848–1861. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-131929-7.
- Rhodes, James Ford (1920). History of the United States from the Compromise of 1859 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. vol. 2, ch. 11. highly detailed narrative covering 1856–60
Primary sources
edit- Chester, Edward W A guide to political platforms (1977) pp 72–79 online
- Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. National party platforms, 1840-1964 (1965) online 1840-1956
External links
edit- United States presidential election of 1860 at the Encyclopædia Britannica
- 1860 election: State-by-state Popular vote results
- 1860 popular vote by counties
- United States Presidential Election of 1860 in Encyclopedia Virginia
- Election of 1860
- Electoral Map from 1860
- Abraham Lincoln: Original Letters and Manuscripts, 1860 Shapell Manuscript Foundation
- Lincoln's election – details
- Report on 1860 Republican convention
- Overview of Constitutional Union National Convention
- "How close was the 1860 election?". Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2010. — Michael Sheppard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
- Presidential Election of 1860: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
- Bill Bigelow, "The Election of 1860 Role Play", 12-page lesson plan for high school students, Zinn Education Project/Rethinking Schools
- Election of 1860 in Counting the Votes