Election+of+1860

=Election of 1860=
 * Mitchell McLean, Gurtaj Khatra**

What happened?
The election of 1860 had four nominees: Abraham Lincoln (Republican), John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democratic), John Bell (Constitutional Union), and Stephen A. Douglas (Democratic). Abraham Lincoln, the leader of the Republican Party, won the election, becoming the sixteenth president of the United States. Note that Lincoln got virtually no support from the Southern states; the below map shows the division of the electoral college vote, and nearly all of Lincoln’s votes came from the North.



Lincoln and the Republicans strongly opposed slavery, so his victory outraged the South; they feared that he was going to prevent the spread of slavery and eventually outlaw it. Even before Lincoln officially began his term as president, the Southern states refused to recognize him as their leader, leading to the formation of the Confederacy. Seven states disbanded from the Union to form the Confederacy, and that number increased. The below map shows the Confederate states in 1861.



Lincoln deemed the actions of the Southern states illegal and rebellious; he refused to recognize the Confederacy as a separate nation. Tensions continued to rise between the Union and the Confederacy, and after a Union fort in Confederate territory was attacked, the two factions were at war.

Why did this cause the war?
The Civil War broke out mainly because of the country's differing opinions on slavery; the North strongly opposed it, while the South strongly supported it. When Lincoln, a slave-opposing Republican, won the election of 1860, the Southern states were furious. They refused to be led by a man who opposed slavery and wanted to condemn its usage. Lincoln's victory encouraged the Southern states to leave the Union and create the Confederacy. At that point, war was unavoidable.

**Links**

 * [|Lincoln refuses to issue a public statement to assure slaves for the South]**
 * This document shows Lincoln's refusal to give in to the South's demands.
 * The South is definitely irritated by Lincoln's stubbornness.


 * [|Declaration of Republican principles for the Republican National Convention in 1860]**
 * Slavery is discussed in points 7-9.
 * The Republican Party clearly opposes slavery, even referencing the Constitution.


 * [|Political cartoon depicting the dislike of Abraham Lincoln by the South]**
 * Southerners made their fortune off of farming and plantations; the farmer in the cartoon represents the typical Southerner.
 * The frustration of the farmer is very clear in the cartoon. Look at his face.