1860 United States presidential election: Difference between revisions
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The '''U.S. presidential election of 1860''' is widely considered to be a [[realigning election]]. |
The '''U.S. presidential election of 1860''' is widely considered to be a [[realigning election]]. |
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The [[United States of America|United States]] had been divided through most of the [[1850s]] on the issue of [[slavery]], with Northerners and Southerners |
The [[United States of America|United States]] had been divided through most of the [[1850s]] on the issue of [[slavery]], with Northerners and Southerners disagreeing over whether or not it should be expanded to the territories, and fighting for each new state admitted to the Union (see:[[Bleeding Kansas]]). |
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⚫ | The election of |
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== Nominations == |
== Nominations == |
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They convened again in Baltimore on June 18. This time 110 southern Democrats (led by "[[fire-eaters]]") walked out when the convention would not adopt a resolution supporting slavery in the territories. After many ballots, the remaining Democrats nominated the ticket of [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of Illinois and [[Herschel Vespasian Johnson]] of Georgia. |
They convened again in Baltimore on June 18. This time 110 southern Democrats (led by "[[fire-eaters]]") walked out when the convention would not adopt a resolution supporting slavery in the territories. After many ballots, the remaining Democrats nominated the ticket of [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of Illinois and [[Herschel Vespasian Johnson]] of Georgia. |
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The Southern Democrats reconvened in [[Richmond, Virginia]] and on June 28 nominated incumbent |
The Southern Democrats reconvened in [[Richmond, Virginia]] and on June 28 nominated incumbent Vice President [[John C. Breckinridge|John Cabell Breckinridge]] of Kentucky for President, and [[Joseph Lane]] of Oregon for Vice President. |
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This divide was, of course, caused by the issue of slavery. Those in the South nominated a solidly pro-slavery candidate, while those in the North nominated a candidate who maintained a middle field when discussing slavery. |
This divide was, of course, caused by the issue of slavery. Those in the South nominated a solidly pro-slavery candidate, while those in the North nominated a candidate who maintained a middle field when discussing slavery. |
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The voter turnout rate in 1860 was the second-highest on record (81.2 %, second only to 1876, with 81.8 %). The Fusion ticket of non-Republicans drew 595,846 votes[http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/outlines/election.html]. |
The voter turnout rate in 1860 was the second-highest on record (81.2 %, second only to 1876, with 81.8 %). The Fusion ticket of non-Republicans drew 595,846 votes[http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/outlines/election.html]. |
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⚫ | The election of Lincoln made [[South Carolina]]'s secession from the United States a foregone conclusion. The state was long waiting for an excuse to secede and unite the southern states against the anti-slavery forces. Upon confirming that the results were final, South Carolina declared "that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the 'United States of America' is hereby dissolved", precipitating the [[American Civil War]]. |
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{{start U.S. presidential ticket box|pv_footnote=<sup>(a)</sup>|ev_footnote=}} |
{{start U.S. presidential ticket box|pv_footnote=<sup>(a)</sup>|ev_footnote=}} |
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<sup>(a)</sup> ''The popular vote figures exclude [[South Carolina]] where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.'' |
<sup>(a)</sup> ''The popular vote figures exclude [[South Carolina]] where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.'' |
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==References== |
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⚫ | |||
* [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=90104191 Foner, Eric. ''Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War'' (1995)] |
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* Holt, Michael F. ''The Political Crisis of the 1850s.'' (1978) |
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* Luebke, Frederick C. ''Ethnic Voters and the Election of Lincoln'' (1971) |
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* Nevins, Allan ''The Emergence of Lincoln'', 2 vols. (1950) covers 1857-61 |
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* [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=72303423 Rhodes, James Ford, ''History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896'' Volume: 2. (1920)] highly detailed narrative 1856-60; chapter 11 |
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* Stampp, Kenneth M. ''And the War Came: The North and the Secession Crisis, 1860-1861'' (1950). |
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⚫ | |||
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== See also == |
== See also == |
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* [[History of the United States (1849-1865)]] |
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* [[Origins of the American Civil War]] |
* [[Origins of the American Civil War]] |
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* [[President of the United States]] |
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* [[U.S. House election, 1860]] |
* [[U.S. House election, 1860]] |
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Revision as of 18:15, 31 December 2005
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/ElectoralCollege1860-Large.png/450px-ElectoralCollege1860-Large.png)
The U.S. presidential election of 1860 is widely considered to be a realigning election.
The United States had been divided through most of the 1850s on the issue of slavery, with Northerners and Southerners disagreeing over whether or not it should be expanded to the territories, and fighting for each new state admitted to the Union (see:Bleeding Kansas).
Nominations
Republican Party nomination
The Republican Party (United States): Republicans were confident of success in 1860 (because they controlled the electoral college), but they needed a candidate. Going into the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, William H. Seward of New York was considered the leader, followed by Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio and Pennsylvania's Simon Cameron. It was essential to carry the West, so Lincoln received the party's nomination on the third ballot. He did not give speeches or campaign. The party platform clearly stated that slavery would not be allowed to spread any farther, and also promised that tariffs protecting industry would be imposed. A law granting free homesteads in the west to settlers was also part of the platform.
Constitutional Union Party nomination
Diehard former Whigs and Know-Nothings who felt they could not support the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party formed the Constitutional Union Party, nominating John C. Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett for vice president in Baltimore on May 9, 1860 (one week before Lincoln was nominated).
John Bell was a former Whig and large slaveholder who had opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Lecompton constitution. Edward Everett had been president of Harvard University and a former secretary of state and Cotton Whig in the Fillmore administration. The party platform advocated compromise to save the Union, with a slogan of "the Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is."
Democratic Party nominations
The Democratic Party was similarly divided. At the convention in Charleston in April 1860, 50 southern Democrats walked out over a platform dispute.
Six candidates were nominated: Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Joseph Lane of Oregon, James Guthrie of Kentucky, and Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter of Virginia. Douglas was ahead on the first ballot, needing 57 more votes. On the 57th ballot, Douglas was still ahead, but was still 50 votes short of the nomination. In desperation, on May 3 the delegates agreed to stop voting and adjourn the convention.
They convened again in Baltimore on June 18. This time 110 southern Democrats (led by "fire-eaters") walked out when the convention would not adopt a resolution supporting slavery in the territories. After many ballots, the remaining Democrats nominated the ticket of Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Herschel Vespasian Johnson of Georgia.
The Southern Democrats reconvened in Richmond, Virginia and on June 28 nominated incumbent Vice President John Cabell Breckinridge of Kentucky for President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice President.
This divide was, of course, caused by the issue of slavery. Those in the South nominated a solidly pro-slavery candidate, while those in the North nominated a candidate who maintained a middle field when discussing slavery.
General election
Campaign
The contest in the North was between Lincoln and Douglas, but only the latter took to the stump and gave speeches and interviews. In the South John Breckinridge and John Bell were the main rivals, but Douglas had an important presence in southern cities, especially among Irish Americans. Fusion tickets of the non-Republicans developed in New York and Rhode Island, and partially in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (the northern state in which Breckinridge made the best showing).
Stephen Douglas became the first presidential candidate in history to undertake a nationwide speaking tour. He traveled to the South where he did not expect to win many electoral votes, but he spoke for the maintenance of the Union.
The 1860 campaign was less frenzied than 1846, when the Republicans had crusaded zealously, and their opponents counter-crusaded with warnings of civil war. In 1860 every observer calculated the Republicans had an almost unbeatable advantage in the electoral college, since they dominated almost every northern state.
Results
The election was noteworthy for the exaggerated sectionalism of the vote, with Lincoln not even on the ballot in nine Southern states - and winning only 2 of 996 counties in the entire South[1].
This election is a textbook example of how to win an electoral majority without a popular majority. While Lincoln captured less than 40% of the popular vote, the sectional divisions of the nation allowed him to capture 17 states plus 4 electoral votes in New Jersey for a total of 180 electoral votes. Although the three-way split of the non-Republican vote confuses the issue, the vote split was irrelevant to Lincoln's victory, because he would have won an outright majority in the electoral vote, 169-134, even had the 60% of voters who supported other candidates united behind a single candidate. Except for California, Oregon, and New Jersey, Lincoln won a popular majority in every state that cast its electoral votes for him.[2] Only in California, Oregon, and Illinois had Lincoln's victory margin been less than 7%.
Meanwhile, Douglas finished second in the popular vote, but due to the north-south split garnered only Missouri's 9 electoral votes and three of seven electoral votes in New Jersey, good for fourth place. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia's electors, while Breckinridge won every other slave state except Missouri.
The voter turnout rate in 1860 was the second-highest on record (81.2 %, second only to 1876, with 81.8 %). The Fusion ticket of non-Republicans drew 595,846 votes[3].
The election of Lincoln made South Carolina's secession from the United States a foregone conclusion. The state was long waiting for an excuse to secede and unite the southern states against the anti-slavery forces. Upon confirming that the results were final, South Carolina declared "that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states under the name of the 'United States of America' is hereby dissolved", precipitating the American Civil War.
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 | 39.8% | 180 | Hannibal Hamlin | Maine | 180 |
John Cabell Breckinridge | Southern Democratic | Kentucky | 848,019 | 18.1% | 72 | Joseph Lane | Oregon | 72 |
John Bell | Constitutional Union | Tennessee | 590,901 | 12.6% | 39 | Edward Everett | Massachusetts | 39 |
Stephen Arnold Douglas | (Northern) Democratic | Illinois | 1,380,202 | 29.5% | 12 | Herschel Vespasian Johnson | Georgia | 12 |
Other | 531 | 0.0% | — | 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. {{cite web}}
: Check date values in: |access-date=
(help)
Source (Electoral Vote): "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 31, 2005. {{cite web}}
: Check date values in: |access-date=
(help)
(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
References
- Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War (1995)
- Holt, Michael F. The Political Crisis of the 1850s. (1978)
- Luebke, Frederick C. Ethnic Voters and the Election of Lincoln (1971)
- Nevins, Allan The Emergence of Lincoln, 2 vols. (1950) covers 1857-61
- Rhodes, James Ford, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896 Volume: 2. (1920) highly detailed narrative 1856-60; chapter 11
- Stampp, Kenneth M. And the War Came: The North and the Secession Crisis, 1860-1861 (1950).
Results by state
Abraham Lincoln Republican |
Stephen Douglas (Northern) Democrat |
John Breckinridge Southern Democrat |
John Bell Constitutional Union |
State Total | ||||||||||||
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State | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | ||
Alabama | 9 | not on ballot | 13,618 | 15.1 | - | 48,669 | 54.0 | 9 | 27,835 | 30.9 | - | 90,122 | AL | |||
Arkansas | 4 | not on ballot | 5,357 | 9.9 | - | 28,732 | 53.1 | 4 | 20,063 | 37.0 | - | 54,152 | AR | |||
California | 4 | 38,733 | 32.3 | 4 | 37,999 | 31.7 | - | 33,969 | 28.4 | - | 9,111 | 7.6 | - | 119,812 | CA | |
Connecticut | 6 | 43,488 | 58.1 | 6 | 15,431 | 20.6 | - | 14,372 | 19.2 | - | 1,528 | 2.0 | - | 74,819 | CT | |
Delaware | 3 | 3,822 | 23.7 | - | 1,066 | 6.6 | - | 7,339 | 45.5 | 3 | 3,888 | 24.1 | - | 16,115 | DE | |
Florida | 3 | not on ballot | 223 | 1.7 | - | 8,277 | 62.2 | 3 | 4,801 | 36.1 | - | 13,301 | FL | |||
Georgia | 10 | not on ballot | 11,581 | 10.9 | - | 52,176 | 48.9 | 10 | 42,960 | 40.3 | - | 106,717 | GA | |||
Illinois | 11 | 172,171 | 50.7 | 11 | 160,215 | 47.2 | - | 2,331 | 0.7 | - | 4,914 | 1.4 | - | 339,631 | IL | |
Indiana | 13 | 139,033 | 51.1 | 13 | 115,509 | 42.4 | - | 12,295 | 4.5 | - | 5,306 | 1.9 | - | 272,143 | IN | |
Iowa | 4 | 70,302 | 54.6 | 4 | 55,639 | 43.2 | - | 1,035 | 0.8 | - | 1,763 | 1.4 | - | 128,739 | IA | |
Kentucky | 12 | 1,364 | 0.9 | - | 25,651 | 17.5 | - | 53,143 | 36.3 | - | 66,058 | 45.2 | 12 | 146,216 | KY | |
Louisiana | 6 | not on ballot | 7,625 | 15.1 | - | 22,681 | 44.9 | 6 | 20,204 | 40.0 | - | 50,510 | LA | |||
Maine | 8 | 62,811 | 62.2 | 8 | 29,693 | 29.4 | - | 6,368 | 6.3 | - | 2,046 | 2.0 | - | 100,918 | ME | |
Maryland | 8 | 2,294 | 2.5 | - | 5,966 | 6.4 | - | 42,482 | 45.9 | 8 | 41,760 | 45.1 | - | 92,502 | MD | |
Massachusetts | 13 | 106,684 | 62.9 | 13 | 34,370 | 20.3 | - | 6,163 | 3.6 | - | 22,331 | 13.2 | - | 169,548 | MA | |
Michigan | 6 | 88,481 | 57.2 | 6 | 65,057 | 42.0 | - | 805 | 0.5 | - | 415 | 0.3 | - | 154,758 | MI | |
Minnesota | 4 | 22,069 | 63.4 | 4 | 11,920 | 34.3 | - | 748 | 2.2 | - | 50 | 0.1 | - | 34,787 | MN | |
Mississippi | 7 | not on ballot | 3,282 | 4.7 | - | 40,768 | 59.0 | 7 | 25,045 | 36.2 | - | 69,095 | MS | |||
Missouri | 9 | 17,028 | 10.3 | - | 58,801 | 35.5 | 9 | 31,362 | 18.9 | - | 58,372 | 35.3 | - | 165,563 | MO | |
New Hampshire | 5 | 37,519 | 56.9 | 5 | 25,887 | 39.3 | - | 2,125 | 3.2 | - | 412 | 0.6 | - | 65,943 | NH | |
New Jersey | 7 | 58,346 | 48.1 | 4 | 62,869 | 51.9 | 3 | partial fusion ticket with Douglas | 121,215 | NJ | ||||||
New York | 35 | 362,646 | 53.7 | 35 | 312,510 | 46.3 | - | fusion ticket with Douglas | 675,156 | NY | ||||||
North Carolina | 10 | not on ballot | 2,737 | 2.8 | - | 48,846 | 50.5 | 10 | 45,129 | 46.7 | - | 96,712 | NC | |||
Ohio | 23 | 231,709 | 52.3 | 23 | 187,421 | 42.3 | - | 11,406 | 2.6 | - | 12,194 | 2.8 | - | 442,730 | OH | |
Oregon | 3 | 5,329 | 36.1 | 3 | 4,136 | 28.0 | - | 5,075 | 34.4 | - | 218 | 1.5 | - | 14,758 | OR | |
Pennsylvania | 27 | 268,030 | 56.3 | 27 | 16,765 | 3.5 | - | 178,871 | 37.5 | - | 12,776 | 2.7 | - | 476,442 | PA | |
Rhode Island | 4 | 12,244 | 61.4 | 4 | 7,707 | 38.6 | - | fusion ticket with Douglas | 19,951 | RI | ||||||
South Carolina | 8 | - | - | 8 | - | - | SC | |||||||||
Tennessee | 12 | not on ballot | 11,281 | 7.7 | - | 65,097 | 44.6 | - | 69,728 | 47.7 | 12 | 146,106 | TN | |||
Texas | 4 | not on ballot | 18 | 0.0 | - | 47,454 | 75.5 | 4 | 15,383 | 24.5 | - | 62,855 | TX | |||
Vermont | 5 | 33,808 | 75.7 | 5 | 8,649 | 19.4 | - | 218 | 0.5 | - | 1,969 | 4.4 | - | 44,644 | VT | |
Virginia | 15 | 1,887 | 1.1 | - | 16,198 | 9.7 | - | 74,325 | 44.5 | - | 74,481 | 44.6 | 15 | 166,891 | VA | |
Wisconsin | 5 | 86,110 | 56.6 | 5 | 65,021 | 42.7 | - | 887 | 0.6 | - | 161 | 0.1 | - | 152,179 | WI | |
TOTALS: | 303 | 1,865,908 | 39.8 | 180 | 1,380,202 | 29.5 | 12 | 848,019 | 18.1 | 72 | 590,901 | 12.6 | 39 | 4,685,030 | ||
TO WIN: | 152 |