Lesson 15.4: The Election of 1860

Today’s Essential Question: What were the political parties, platforms, candidates, issues,

and outcome in the election of 1860?

Vocabulary

• political party – political group organized to gain political power by getting its members elected to office

• platform – a political party’s statement of beliefs• candidate – person chosen by a political party as

its contestant for a political office • issue – something people discuss or argue about• outcome – result; how an event or a contest

turns out

What are the two major political parties today?

What is a platform?

A platform is a political party’s

statement of beliefs.

What is an issue people discuss or argue about today?

What We Already Learned

The Republican Party was formed in 1854,

and was dedicated to stopping the spread of slavery into the

territories.

What We Already Learned

His debates with Stephen Douglas

in 1858 made Abraham Lincoln

a popular figure in the Republican

Party.

What We Already Learned

After John Brown attacked a federal arsenal to get weapons to start a slave rebellion . . .

Southerners were horrified

when some Northerners

seemed to make him out to be a

hero.

The Democratic Party Splinters

• At the Democratic party’s convention, Northern and Southern Democrats disagreed over the party’s platform.

• The Southerners wanted a defense of slavery, but Northerners supported popular sovereignty.

The Democratic Party Splinters

• When the Northerners won the platform vote, 50 Southern delegates walked out of the convention.

• Stephen A. Douglas was the leading contender for the party’s nomination as presidential candidate, but the remaining Southerners rejected him because he was so closely associated with popular sovereignty.

The Republican Convention

• New York’s William Seward was favored to win the nomination.

The Republican Convention

• New York’s William Seward was favored to win the nomination.

• Abraham Lincoln, a lesser-known candidate from Illinois, won a surprise victory.

Democrats Still Divided • Northern Democrats

nominated Douglas.

Democrats Still Divided • Northern Democrats

nominated Douglas.• Southern Democrats

chose Buchanan’s vice-president, John Breckinridge of Kentucky.

Democrats Still Divided • Northern Democrats

nominated Douglas.• Southern Democrats

chose Buchanan’s vice-president, John Breckinridge of Kentucky.

• The Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell of Tennessee.

The candidates in the 1860 presidential election differed in their policies.

• Lincoln opposed slavery’s expansion into the territories.

• Breckinridge wanted the federal government to protect slavery in every territory.

• Douglas wanted the slavery question settled through popular sovereignty.

• Bell simply wanted to preserve the Union.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

Why did the Democrats have two presidential candidates in 1860?

A. It was too difficult for one candidate to do all the traveling necessary to win votes.

B. Southern Democrats wanted a defense of slavery, but Northern Democrats supported popular sovereignty.

C. They hoped that one of the two candidates would appeal to enough voters to win.

D. Most Northern Democrats were abolitionists and couldn’t get along with the Southerners.

Lincoln defeated Douglas in the

North; Breckinridge carried most of the South. The North had more electoral

votes than the South, so Lincoln won the election.

A Republican Victory

• Lincoln had promised that he would do nothing to abolish slavery in the South.

• Southerners were sure that he would ban slavery, and saw the Republican victory as a threat to the Southern way of life.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

What four parties had presidential candidates in the 1860 election?

A. Northern DemocratsB. Southern DemocratsC. Know-Nothing PartyD. RepublicansE. Constitutional Union PartyF. Free Soil Party

Choose FOUR parties!

22. Who were the four presidential candidates in the 1860 election?

A. Stephen DouglasB. John CrittendenC. Abraham LincolnD. John BellE. John C. FremontF. John Breckinridge

Choose FOUR names!

Match the candidates in the 1860 presidential election with their policies.

1. Lincoln

2. Breckinridge

3. Douglas

4. Bell

A. Wanted to preserve the Union, regardless of slavery

B. Opposed slavery’s expansion into the territories

C. Wanted the federal government to protect slavery in every territory

D. Wanted to settle the slavery question through popular sovereignty

Why did the South secede?

• There were many factors beyond slavery that led to the secession of the South.

• Differences in culture• Differences in Economy• Differences in Political Philosophy• Diminished Influence• Overestimation of the South’s Importance• Lincoln’s Election

Differences in Culture

Aristocratic and stratified in the South vs. democratic and fluid in the North

Differences in Economy

Slave labor in the South vs. free labor in the North

Differences in Economy

Agrarian South vs. industrial North

Differences in Political Philosophy

Compact theory vs. permanent union

Diminished Political and Economic Influence

The growing population & wealth of the North made the South feel less

important than it once had.

Overestimation of the South's Economic Importance

Belief that the North’s economy could not survive without Southern cotton.

Lincoln's election

Viewed by Southerners as

a threat to slavery

Southern States Secede• Secessionists argued

that since the states had voluntarily joined the Union, they had the right to leave it.

• This was the compact theory of government that had been supported by Southerners for generations.

Southern States Secede

• On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede.

• Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida followed within six weeks.

The Confederate States of America Formed

• February 1861 – Jefferson Davis elected president

• The Confederate Constitution supported states’ rights and protected slavery in the Confederacy.

• How would the Union government respond?

Jefferson Davis Abraham Lincoln

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

B ask A: Who was Jefferson Davis?

Jefferson Davis was the first

President of the Confederate States

of America.

23. How did white Southerners view Lincoln’s election as president?

23. How did white Southerners view Lincoln’s election as president?

A. They viewed it with laughter, since they had just seceded.

B. They saw it as a as a threat to slavery and to their way of life.

C. To them, it was an example of popular sovereignty.

D. They saw it as a crooked election, with thousands of phony votes cast.

24. How did the Southern states react to the election of President

Lincoln?

A. They beginning impeachment proceedings immediately.

B. They threatened to withhold their tariff duties until he resigned.

C. They seceded from the Union.D. They refused to send their

representatives to Congress that year.

24. How did the Southern states react to the election of President

Lincoln?

25. How did Southerners justify secession?

A. They had not voted for Lincoln, so they did not recognize him as president.

B. Since the states had voluntarily joined the Union, they also had the right to leave the Union.

C. Lincoln's election had been illegal, so they didn't have to accept the result.

D. Lincoln had announced his plans to abolish slavery, so they had a right to secede in defense of their culture.

E. The Crittenden Compromise had included a secession clause, which they now were fulfilling.

25. How did Southerners justify secession?

The Union Responds to Secession

• Buchanan argued against secession: the federal government was sovereign, secession threatened majority rule.

• Southerners complained that Northerners were antislavery bullies.

• Northerners accused Southerners of ignoring the rules of democracy.

The Crittenden Plan:• re-establish Missouri

Compromise line• permit slavery in the territories

until statehood • other protections of slavery and

the slave trade

Efforts to Compromise Fail

John J. Crittenden

Efforts to Compromise Fail

Political leaders in both the North and the South worked on the Crittenden plan in the hope that it would keep the Union together,

but it failed to pass in Congress.

Lincoln’s Inauguration

Lincoln assured the South that he

had no intention of abolishing slavery,

but spoke forcefully against

secession.

“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.”

As President, Lincoln

wanted no invasion, but

would not abandon

government forts in the

South.

These forts, including Fort Sumter in South Carolina, would soon need to be resupplied.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

26. What message did President Lincoln try to give to the Southern states in in his inaugural address?

26. What message did President Lincoln try to give to the Southern states in in his inaugural address?

A. Argument that the compact theory did not support secession

B. Assurances to the South that he would not abolish slavery

C. Strongly statement against secessionD. Threats to use military force against

the South if it did not return to the Union at once

E. A promise never to keep slavery out of the territories