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
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)
