Election of 1860: The Candidates
Democrats
● Stephen Douglas
nomination split the
party
● Southern Democrats
nominated their own
candidates
Republicans
● Abraham Lincoln
nominated
Linc
oln
win
s!
The Election of 1860
The Deep South Secedes
● Secession:The act of
leaving the Union
● Lincoln’s win was the
last straw - South
claimed “the right of
revolution” to justify
secession.
The Charleston Mercury
announces South Carolina’s
secession from the Union
Confederate States of America
● Constitution
guaranteed slavery
● President Jefferson
Davis
te
Co
nf
St e
at de
e s ra
e
Th
The Border States
● Slave states that stayed
○ Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri,
West Virginia
● Would’ve added 50% to the South
population
Fort Sumter
● Fort Sumter crisis
○ Charleston, South
Carolina
● Lincoln’s dilemma
○ resupply the fort
or abandon it
Lincoln chose
to resupply attack began
on April 12,
1861…
The war had
begun!