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Four candidates
Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln
Northern and Southern Democrats disagreed
on candidate and party platform
◦ Northern Democrats nominate Stephen A. Douglas
◦ Southern Democrats nominate John Breckinridge
(VP)
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Constitutional Union Party nominate John Bell
Abraham Lincoln
Republican
John Bell
Constitutional Unionist
Stephen Douglas
Northern Democrat
John Breckinridge
Southern Democrat
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Southern Democrats – defend slavery
Northern Democrats – support popular
sovereignty to decide free or slave state
Constitutional Union – preserve the Union
Republicans – opposed expansion of slavery,
leave slavery alone in the South
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Turned into two different races for the
presidency
◦ Lincoln and Douglas competed for Northern Votes
◦ Breckinridge and Bell competed for Southern Votes
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Views of Slavery
◦ Lincoln – opposed the expansion of slavery into the
territories
◦ Breckinridge – wanted the federal government to
protect slavery in any territory
◦ Douglas & Bell – neither wanted the federal
government to pass new laws on slavery
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Demonstrated that the nation was tired of
compromise
Lincoln won simply because the North had
more people
Even though Lincoln promised not to abolish
slavery in the South, white Southerners did
not trust him
◦ Saw Lincoln and the Republican party as a threat to
the Southern way of life
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Secede = withdraw from the Union
Supporters of secession argued on the idea of
states’ rights
◦ States had voluntarily joined the Union, and have
the rights to leave the Union
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South Carolina is the first to leave
◦ Followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas
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Seceded states formed the Confederate States
of America
◦ Jefferson Davis was named president of the
Confederacy
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Seceded states form their own constitution
◦ Modeled after the U.S. Constitution
◦ Supported states’ rights
◦ Supported slavery
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Considered secession unconstitutional
◦ If secession would be allowed, the Union would
become weak like a “rope of sand”
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The issue of majority rule was debated
◦ South claimed the North was using their majority to
force an end to slavery
◦ Northerners claimed that Southerners did not want
to live by the rules of democracy
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Senator John J. Crittenden develops a
compromise to preserve the Union
◦ Known as the Crittenden Plan
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The plan was presented to Congress, but did
not pass
People then turned to Lincoln’s inauguration
as their next plan
◦ Assured the South that he had no intention of
abolishing slavery
◦ Spoke forcefully against secession
◦ Ended with an appeal for friendship
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“We are not enemies, but friends. We must
not be enemies. Though passion may have
strained, it must not break our bonds of
affection. The mystic chords of memory,
stretching from every battle-field and patriot
grave, to every living heart and hearthstone,
all over this broad land, will yet swell the
chorus of the Union, when again touched, as
surely they will be, by the better angels of our
nature”