Election of 1860: Lincoln, Four Candidates, Results and Secession
Why a divided four-candidate election reshaped sectional politics and preceded the secession crisis.
Abraham Lincoln won the U.S. presidential election of November 6, 1860, with 180 electoral votes, although he received roughly 40% of the popular vote. The Democratic Party split between Stephen Douglas and John C. Breckinridge, while John Bell ran for the Constitutional Union Party. Lincoln’s opposition to extending slavery into Western territories intensified Southern slaveholders’ fears and helped trigger secession.
Read the differences between the candidates, electoral results, Southern response and the constitutional crisis between November 1860 and April 1861.
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What happened in the 1860 presidential election?
On November 6, 1860, Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won the presidency of the United States in an election that exposed a severe national division over slavery and its expansion. He received around 40 percent of the popular vote but won a majority of electoral votes because the opposition was divided between several candidates.
The outcome did not automatically make war inevitable, but it convinced many Southern slaveholding leaders that their political position was endangered. South Carolina seceded in December and six more states followed before Lincoln’s inauguration in March 1861. For the wider conflict see the American Civil War overview.
Who were the four main candidates?
Lincoln represented the Republican Party, which opposed the extension of slavery into western territories. Stephen A. Douglas ran as a Northern Democratic candidate and defended popular sovereignty as a way to determine slavery’s status in territories. John C. Breckinridge represented Southern Democrats who wanted stronger federal protection for slavery. John Bell ran for the Constitutional Union Party, emphasizing preservation of the Union while seeking to avoid explicit positions that might divide his supporters.
The election was therefore not a simple two-party contest with one national debate. Each candidate represented a different attempt to address or postpone the slavery crisis. Their regional bases determined the Electoral College outcome.
Why did the Democratic Party split?
The Democratic Party divided at its 1860 conventions largely because Northern and Southern factions could not agree about federal policy toward slavery in the territories. Douglas supported allowing local settlers to decide under the popular-sovereignty concept, while many Southern Democrats demanded stronger legal protections that would permit slaveholding across federal territories.
Earlier compromises had already frayed. The Kansas–Nebraska Act and Dred Scott ruling altered the constitutional landscape, intensifying disagreement over whether slavery could be restricted. The split prevented the Democrats from presenting one candidate with broad regional appeal and exposed the limitations of the country’s old national party structures.
What was the Republican Party’s position on slavery?
The Republicans’ platform opposed the expansion of slavery into the federal territories, but it did not promise immediate abolition in states where slavery already existed. Lincoln argued that preserving the institution’s expansion would place it on a path toward ultimate disappearance, yet his statements before the war also reflected political and constitutional limits.
This distinction matters because Republicans included people with varied racial views and beliefs about emancipation. Some were strongly antislavery on moral grounds; others primarily supported free labor and Western settlement. Southern secessionists nevertheless viewed restrictions on expansion as a fundamental threat to slaveholding interests and political influence.
What did Stephen Douglas support?
Douglas defended popular sovereignty, under which settlers of a territory would supposedly determine whether slavery was permitted. He had helped create the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 and debated Lincoln in Illinois in 1858. Those debates exposed competing interpretations of freedom, constitutional authority and slavery’s future.
The Dred Scott ruling made the popular-sovereignty concept harder to implement because it denied Congress power to prohibit slavery in federal territories, raising difficult questions about territorial regulation. Douglas still drew support from some Americans who hoped a flexible compromise might preserve the Union, but his national coalition proved insufficient in 1860.
Who were Breckinridge and John Bell?
John C. Breckinridge was the sitting vice president and the nominee of Southern Democrats who supported federal protection of slaveholders’ rights in territories. John Bell, a Tennessee politician, headed the Constitutional Union ticket, which emphasized the Constitution, the Union and the enforcement of laws without taking a clear national stance on the territorial slavery dispute.
Both candidates attracted important Southern support, but neither could secure enough electoral votes to win. Their presence is essential for understanding why Lincoln prevailed in an election with a relatively low share of the nationwide popular vote.
How did the Electoral College determine the result?
Lincoln won 180 electoral votes, comfortably exceeding the majority required at the time. Breckinridge received 72, Bell 39 and Douglas 12. Douglas placed second in the national popular vote but carried only Missouri and part of New Jersey’s divided electoral allocation.
The National Archives Electoral College results records the state-by-state allocations. The pattern reveals how a strong regional majority in Northern states could produce an Electoral College win without ballots from much of the South. That was constitutionally valid under the system, though many Southern political leaders rejected its implications for their power.
What were the popular-vote totals?
Lincoln won roughly 1.87 million votes; Douglas received about 1.38 million; Breckinridge about 849,000; and Bell about 590,000. Different references may give slightly different totals depending on how state returns and fusion electoral tickets are classified. The reliable broad result is that Lincoln won a plurality, not an absolute national popular-vote majority.
The contrast between popular and electoral votes is an important lesson in American political institutions. It does not mean the outcome was illegal or that one opponent would necessarily have won had opposition voters supported a single candidate. Their policies and supporters were not interchangeable.
Did Lincoln appear on every Southern ballot?
No. In many slaveholding states Lincoln did not have an organized electoral slate or a realistic ability to win support, while in other states votes for the Republican ticket were negligible. Political intimidation and entrenched party networks also affected the ability of Republicans to campaign in the Deep South.
It is imprecise to claim Lincoln received exactly zero votes in every Southern state. Border-state circumstances varied. The larger point is that Republican electoral support was regionally concentrated and that the election exposed the collapse of the previous balance between national political parties across slave and free states.
Why did South Carolina respond by seceding?
South Carolina’s political leadership viewed Lincoln’s victory as proof that the federal government might increasingly oppose slavery’s expansion and perhaps ultimately undermine slaveholding itself. On December 20, 1860, a state convention adopted an ordinance of secession. Its accompanying declaration of causes emphasized slavery, the obligations of free states regarding fugitives and the perceived threat from antislavery politics.
The state’s action was not a straightforward referendum of every resident. Enslaved people had no voice, and supporters of Union preservation also existed. Our secession guide examines the documents and sequence without treating secession as a neutral abstract debate over state power.
Which states seceded before inauguration?
Seven states declared secession between December 1860 and early February 1861: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Delegates from the seceding states organized the Confederate States of America and selected Jefferson Davis as provisional president.
Lincoln did not take office until March 4, 1861. Thus the first wave of secession occurred while James Buchanan remained president. Confusing the election date with the inauguration can obscure who held federal authority during the crisis over forts, arsenals and other national property.
How did President Buchanan react?
James Buchanan rejected the constitutional right of a state to secede unilaterally but also argued that the federal government had limited power to coerce a state back into the Union. His administration struggled to control the escalating crisis as Southern states seized federal installations and political leaders debated compromise plans.
The uncertainty left incoming President Lincoln facing a fractured country and a small federal garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Buchanan’s decisions were important but not the only cause of the crisis; state conventions had already chosen separation to protect their slaveholding interests.
What compromise plans were proposed?
During the secession winter, congressional leaders considered efforts to prevent disunion, including the Crittenden Compromise, which proposed constitutional protections for slavery in specified areas. Supporters believed that concessions might restore trust, while opponents feared they would reverse the election’s central promise to restrict slavery’s expansion.
Lincoln refused to accept a settlement that would permit slavery to extend into territory from which his party sought to exclude it. No compromise gained sufficient support from both sides. The failure reflected the depth of disagreement about slavery, not merely a shortage of diplomatic goodwill.
What did Lincoln say at his inauguration?
In his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861, Lincoln maintained that the Union was perpetual and that secession was legally invalid. He said he did not intend to interfere with slavery where it already existed under state law and appealed to citizens to avoid war. He also insisted that federal property and laws would be maintained.
Those positions show the difference between Lincoln’s initial presidential program and the later Emancipation Proclamation. They also set the terms of the immediate confrontation at Fort Sumter: the government considered the fort federal property even though South Carolina claimed sovereignty over the harbor.
Did the election directly start the war?
The election triggered a wave of secession, but the shooting began months later. Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, after debates over federal installations, relief supplies and the recognition of secession. Lincoln then called for troops, and four additional slaveholding states joined the Confederacy.
Distinguishing political triggers from the outbreak of fighting helps explain causation. Slavery created the long-term sectional conflict; Lincoln’s election sharpened that conflict; secession established competing claims of government; and the Fort Sumter confrontation produced military war.
How did the result shape the United States?
The election showed that a president could win without the support of much of the slaveholding South, changing assumptions about the sectional balance of political power. It also helped destroy the remaining national coalition within the Democratic Party and made the Republican Party the leading Northern party for years to come.
The resulting secession crisis transformed a presidential transition into a test of constitutional authority and the future of slavery. The Union government’s victory in the ensuing war and the adoption of emancipation policy altered American politics far beyond the original campaign’s proposed measures.
Election of 1860 timeline
These events connect campaign results to the secession winter and the beginning of war, while distinguishing who served as president at each stage.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Spring–summer 1860 | Party conventions and Democratic split. |
| Nov 6, 1860 | Lincoln wins presidential election. |
| Dec 20, 1860 | South Carolina adopts secession ordinance. |
| Jan–Feb 1861 | Six more states secede. |
| Feb 1861 | Confederate government organized. |
| Mar 4, 1861 | Lincoln inaugurated. |
| Apr 12, 1861 | Fort Sumter bombardment begins. |
Frequently asked questions about the 1860 election
Who won? Abraham Lincoln.
What was the election date? November 6, 1860.
How many electoral votes did Lincoln get? 180.
Did Lincoln receive most of the popular vote? No, he won a plurality.
Why were there four candidates? The Democrats split and a Constitutional Union candidate also ran.
What happened afterward? South Carolina and other slaveholding states adopted secession ordinances.
Which primary sources matter most?
The National Archives Electoral College data provides the definitive electoral-vote counts. The Library of Congress Lincoln exhibition places the election in contemporary political history, while the National Park Service interpretation explains how secession followed. Study newspaper editorials and party platforms to compare what supporters feared or promised at the time.
The documents should be read with their audience in mind. Election speeches are attempts at persuasion, not complete descriptions of each candidate’s private expectations. A state secession declaration is evidence of an official public justification and must be taken seriously when explaining why that government chose to withdraw.
