"POSITIONED NATION ON BRINK OF FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE"

LINCOLN ELECTED WITH POPULAR VOTE MINORITY

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th President of the United States becoming the first member of his Republican Party to win the presidency.

The final electoral vote was...

Abraham Lincoln (R) 180, John C. Breckinridge (SD) 72, John Bell (CU) 39, Stephen A. Douglas (ND) 12.

Mr. Lincoln, who opposed the spread of slavery into the western territories, won 40 per cent of the popular vote. He carried every Northern state but one.

 The Democrats split over the slavery issue into northern and southern factions.  A third party, the Constitutional Unionists, sought to avoid disunion over the slavery issue.

According to Miller Center, the Election of 1860 "positioned the nation on the brink of fundamental change."  Southern dominance in all three branches of the federal government ended.  

Southerners could not abide a "Black Republican*" in the White House and so eleven states, beginning with South Carolina in December 1860, seceeded from the Union.  The War Between the States would soon follow.

*Black Republican in 1860 referred to a member of the Republican Party who was sympathetic to the abolition movement.  The term was included in the title of a speech delivered by professor James P. Holcombe of the University of Virginia in January 1860.

SOURCES

"The Campaign and Election of 1860," UVA, Miller Center, www.millercenter.org/

"The Election of a Black Republican President, An Overt Act of Aggression on the Right of Property In Slaves," by James P. Holcombe, Professor of Law University of Virginia, January 2, 1860, "The Shelf," Harvard Library, www.blogs.harvard.edu/

 

 

Abraham Lincoln in Color

by IceKoldKube

2021

www.wikimedia.org/

"FIRST REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE TO WIN THE WHITE HOUSE"

ABRAHAM LINCOLN ELECTED 16TH PRESIDENT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On November 6, 1860, with the nation sharply divided over the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was elected the 16th President of the United States.

Mr. Lincoln, the first candidate of the Republican Party to win the presidency, pledged to end the spread of slavery into the western territories. The party, which had been organized in 1854, promised not to interfere with slavery in the states.

The Republicans also pledged to enact a protective tariff, provide federal aid for internal improvements as well as a transcontinental railroad and free homesteads.

President-elect Lincoln carried the North and the West, but did not win a single state in the South.  Lincoln's name did not appear on the ballot south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The final electoral count was...

Abraham Lincoln (R) 180
John C. Breckinridge (SD) 72
John Bell (CU) 39
Stephen A. Douglas (ND) 12

Lincoln received 39.82% of the popular vote followed by Douglas with 29.46%, Breckinridge 18.10% and Bell 12.61%.

The Democrats, divided over the slavery question, had split into two factions.
Northern Democrats, led by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, supported popular sovereignty or the right of the people of each territory make their own choice on slavery by popular vote.  Southern Democrats, led by John C. Breckinridge of South Carolina, demanded enforcement of the Dred Scott Decision by which the Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens of the United States.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled also that slaves were property and therefore "Congress may not deprive any person of the right to take property into federal territories."  A 3rd party, the Constitutional Union Party, attempted to avoid disunion over the slavery issue and ran John Bell of Tennessee.

Lincoln, who was considered a moderate within his party, was opposed by the abolitionist wing of the Republican Party but his election was the "last straw" for many Southerners and in December 1860 the state of South Carolina seceded from the Union followed by 6 other deep southern states. 


SOURCE

"American History," by Irving L. Gordon, Second Edition, Amsco School Publications, Inc., New York, 1996

Abraham Lincoln Impersonator 

Knoxville, Tennessee

Photo by John White (2010)

LINCOLN ELECTED PRESIDENT

JFK+50:  Volume 5, No. 1766

LINCOLN ELECTED 155 YEARS AGO

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred fifty-five years ago today, November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was elected 16th President of the United States.  For the first time, the Republican Party which Lincoln represented won control of the White House.

Mr. Lincoln had pledged to end the spread of slavery into the western territories. The Republican Party's first candidate, John C. Fremont, lost to Democrat James Buchanan in the Election of 1956.

In the first debate between Kennedy and Nixon, JFK's opening statement referred to Lincoln's first election.  He said...

"In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln said the question was whether this nation could exist half-slave or half free.  In the election of 1960...the question is whether the world will exist half-slave or half-free..."

The Republican Party, founded in 1854, opposed the territorial spread of "the peculiar institution" but promised not to interfere with slavery in the states.
The party also promised to enact a protective tariff, provide federal aid for internal improvements as well as a transcontinental railroad and free homesteads.

The final electoral count was...

Abraham Lincoln (R) 180
John C. Breckinridge (SD) 72
John Bell (CU) 39
Stephen A. Douglas (ND) 12

The Democrats, divided over the slavery question, had split into two factions.

The northern Democrats, led by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, supported popular sovereignty or the right of the people of each territory make their own choice on slavery by popular vote.

The southern Democrats, led by John C. Breckinridge of South Carolina, demanded enforcement of the Dred Scott Decision by which the Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens of the United States.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled also that slaves were property and therefore "Congress may not deprive any person of the right to take property into federal territories."

A 3rd party, the Constitutional Union Party, attempted to avoid disunion over the slavery issue and ran John Bell of Tennessee.

Lincoln's election was the "last straw" for many Southerners and in December 1860 the state of South Carolina seceded from the Union followed by 6 other southern states. 

SOURCE

"American History," by Irving L. Gordon, Second Edition, Amsco School Publications, Inc., New York, 1996.

Abraham Lincoln Impersonator 

Knoxville, Tennessee

Photo by John White (2010)

SOUTH VIETNAM HAS NEW LEADER

November 6, 2013

SOUTH VIETNAM HAS NEW LEADER

Saigon, South Vietnam (JFK+50) 50 years ago today, November 6, 1963, just days after a coup resulted in the overthrow and death of President Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of the Revolutionary Military Committee, General Duong Van Minh*, took leadership of South Vietnam.

Nguen Ngoc, a Buddhist, became premier, but the Revolutionary committee, led by Minh, held the real power for 3 months.

Duong Van "Big" Minh (1916-2001) was born in French Indochina to a wealthy landlord.  He served in the French army in WWII and led in the overthrow of South Vietnamese president Diem in 1963. 

Big Minh remained in power only 3 months.  His nickname came from the fact that at 6 feet, 198 pounds, Big Minh was larger than the average Vietnamese.

Duong Van Minh 

April 28, 1975

LINCOLN ELECTED PRESIDENT 153 YEARS AGO

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) With the nation sharply divided over the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was elected the 16th President of the United States 153 years ago today, November 6, 1860.

Mr. Lincoln, the 1st Republican to win the presidency, pledged to end the spread of slavery into the western territories. The party, which had been organized in 1854, promised, however, not to interfere with slavery in the states.

The Republicans also promised to enact a protective tariff, provide federal aid for internal improvements as well as a transcontinental railroad and free homesteads.

President-elect Lincoln carried the North and the West, but did not win a single state in the South.  Lincoln's name did not even appear on the ballot south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Abraham Lincoln Impersonator 

Knoxville, Tennessee

Photo by John White (2010)

The final electoral count was:

Abraham Lincoln (R) 180
John C. Breckinridge (SD) 72
John Bell (CU) 39
Stephen A. Douglas (ND) 12

The Democrats, divided over the slavery question, had split into two factions.

The northern Democrats, led by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, supported popular sovereignty or the right of the people of each territory make their own choice on slavery by popular vote.

The southern Democrats, led by John C. Breckinridge of South Carolina, demanded enforcement of the Dred Scott Decision by which the Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens of the United States.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled also that slaves were property and therefore "Congress may not deprive any person of the right to take property into federal territories."

A 3rd party, the Constitutional Union Party, attempted to avoid disunion over the slavery issue and ran John Bell of Tennessee.

Lincoln's election was the "last straw" for many Southerners and in December 1860 the state of South Carolina seceded from the Union followed by 6 other southern states. 

By the spring of 1861, civil war was on the horizon.

SOURCE

"American History," by Irving L. Gordon, Second Edition, Amsco School Publications, Inc., New York, 1996.