AICE U.S History Why did the Republicans win the 1860 presidential election?
The 1860 Presidential election campaign
Douglas toured the country, North and South, in an effort to maximize support for his candidature. Lincoln stayed at home in Illinois, coordinating the Republican campaign. In three states - New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania - there was a fusion ticket. In attempt to stop Lincoln's apparently 'inevitable' victory, the three anti-Republican candidates agreed to combine their popular vote. It did not make any significant difference to the final vote in each state, but it shows how anxious pro-slavery candidates were to stop a Republican victory. A new political movement emerged to influence the outcome of the election. This was dubbed the Wide-Awake movement. The New York Wide-Awakes were just following a model which had been developed in Connecticut earlier in the year and was soon copied in many other Northern cities. In particular the Wide- Awakes attracted men in their 20s and 30s. Seward was enthusiastic and in touch with the movement and addressed its rallies. Lincoln handled the movement cautiously, which helped him seem to Republican members as the more moderate of the two candidates and thus more able to bring in a wider range of voters. When Lincoln secured the nomination, the Wide-Awakes' energy and enthusiasm turned to helping his campaign and probably increased turnout in Northern states. Some 100 000 men are thought to have taken part in Wide-Awake marches. When the election came, the excitement and strongly held views meant that there was a high turnout of over 81%. Lincoln's support nationally was only 40% and depended entirely on Northern states - no slave state voted for him.
The 1860 Democratic National Convention
The 1860 Democratic National Convention Stephen Douglas was a well-respected Illinois Democrat senator and negotiator, an architect of the 1850 Compromise and the passing of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, and a veteran of the 1858 debates with Lincoln. Became the candidate of the Northern Democrats. John Breckinridge, a Kentucky senator, who was Lincoln's wife's cousin and was personally on good terms with the Republican candidate, he served as Buchanan's vice president from 1857 to 1861. Became the candidate of the Southern Democrats. Both Douglas, Breckinridge argued that when a territory became a state, its voters should decide whether or not to allow slavery. Breckinridge publicly committed to a federal slave code. Several states had drawn up slave codes, which put into law the status of a slave and the rights of their owner. They guaranteed the owner's power and the slave's powerlessness. The codes tended to ban slaves from learning to read or write, owning a weapon of any kind, engaging in any kind of trading with other slaves, or travelling without permission. The Constitutional Union Party, composed mainly of old Whigs with former American Party members, hoped to gain support by avoiding the divisive issue of slavery contested the election. The party's candidate, Senator John Bell from Tennessee He argued that the status of slavery should remain guaranteed by the US Constitution, but that it should not spread beyond the existing slave states in order to avoid the risk of war. The intention was both to save the Union and to minimise the role of emancipation in the election.
Divisions in the Democratic Party
The Democratic convention split along sectional lines and in two different gatherings chose two different candidates: Northern Democrats elected Douglas; Southern Democrats chose Breckinridge. A party so deeply divided that it put up two candidates is unlikely to succeed in a contest as it divided its own support among voters into two. Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis, put forward a proposal for not just Douglas and Breckinridge, but also John Bell, to all stand down to allow a compromise candidate to be chosen. This would allow a unified approach to the election to avoid the fear that Northern votes would send Republican Lincoln to the White House. Breckinridge and Bell agreed, but Douglas and his supporters refused and all three men went into the election as presidential candidates.
Emerging notion of 'slave power', e.g. Dred Scott (1857)
The Dred Scott v. Sanford case brought into play concepts of freedom, citizenship, ownership, states' rights and ethnicity. Dred Scott was born a slave in slave-state Virginia, but was sold and moved to free-state Illinois his master died, Scott was moved to slave-state Missouri with the man's widow (Eliza Sanford). Scott, who had earlier tried to buy his freedom, made a legal case that residence in Illinois had freed him and having been free, he could not be returned to slavery.The case went to the US Supreme Court. Seven of the nine judges had been appointed by Democratic presidents and five of them were from the South. The Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court was Roger Taney, from slave-state Maryland. The court's answer was: An African American could not be an American citizen. Dred Scott had no right to bring his case to court. Slave-owners could take their slaves anywhere governed by US federal law. The judgements which angered the North. Many Republicans believed that the way that the judgements were reached was itself unjust. This was seen by them as evidence of growing 'slave power', especially as five of the judges were from slave states. The Supreme Court's denial of Scott's plea immediately became a violently divisive issue in national politics. It provoked outrage in the antislavery North. At the same time the ruling was celebrated in the South. The Dred Scott decision thus increased tensions and pushed the country closer toward the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861-65).
1856 Presidential Election
The new Republican party did well in the 1856 presidential election, but the Democrat James Buchanon won. In his inaugural address, he asserted that the territorial issue had been settled by means of popular sovereignty. that the Republican Party was a political force to be contended withJust two days after Buchanan's inauguration, the US Supreme Court issued its ruling on a case brought by a freed slave, Dred Scott. The president had hoped that the Supreme Court would settle the issue of slavery in the territories.T
Increasing confrontation within and between the North and the South
The North believed in the threat of the slave power, the South in Black Republicanism. In the South, the Fire-eaters, believed the only way to protect slavery against the supposed black Republican threat was by breaking away from the USA. The Fire-eaters warned that, because the population of the North grew more rapidly than that of the South, the political balance in Congress would inevitably tip towards the North and the abolitionists. They push for the international slave trade which was banned to Americans since 1808, to be reopened. They also proposed a federal slave code - sets of special laws concerning slaves - to protect slave-owners rights in non-slave states and territories. In the North, most people wanted the end of slavery to come about by political, constitutional means. No one wanted the South to break away. As the balance of economic wealth and political power did shift towards the North, the North could gradually introduce measures to contain and eventually remove slavery. There was no way forward that would carry enough of the country to solve the problem without splitting the North from the South. This threat began to seem increasingly realistic. As these issues were discussed, another presidential election approached. All elections tend to bring one or more critical issues to a head, as the candidates and the parties have to decide what they stand for and against, and the electorate for what and whom to vote.
Dred Scott and politicians
The Supreme Court's ruling had great consequences for political leaders, who struggled to adapt their policies to the new judgement. Three politicians in particular responded in ways which affected the national debate about the slavery question. Democrat president James Buchanan supported the Dred Scott ruling. He decided to apply the judgement to the continuing, complicated problem of Kansas. By 1857, conflicts in Kansas were as much political as violent. Democrat senator Stephen Douglas opposed the Supreme Court judgement because it had overturned his solution to slavery in US territories: popular sovereignty. Republican politician Abraham Lincoln was opposed to the judgement that the constitution enabled slave-owners to take their slaves anywhere in the USA. The Dred Scott judgements deepened anxieties across the USA regarding the issue of slavery.
Growing strength of abolitionism, e.g. John Brown 2
The growth in abolitionist feeling in the Northern states was clearly important to the political situation of the late 1850s. Many had been radicalised by the horrors of Bleeding Kansas earlier in the decade and supported extreme abolitionist positions. After John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry there were those in the North that celebrated him as a martyr although many also condemned his actions. However, this did not mean that abolitionists flocked to Lincoln as a candidate. Lincoln was clearly against slavery, but he was not in favour of its rapid and total abolition. Many abolitionists questioned whether Lincoln was really a man they could vote for or whether they should wait for a candidate that was a pure abolitionist. The Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society [AASS] considered Lincoln 'a good enough Republican for the party's purposes, but far from being the man for the country's need.' Other areas for discussion: Splits within the Democrat party - the Democrats met in Charleston in April 1860 to choose their candidate for the election in tumultuous mood. Northern Democrats wanted to nominate Stephen Douglas because they felt he had the best chance of beating Republicans in the North. Douglas though was an enemy of many Southern Democrats because of his championing of popular sovereignty in new territories. Southern Democrats left the convention and later nominated the then Vice-President John C. Breckenridge. This split would prove fatal to Democratic electoral hopes. Republican electoral tactics - Republicans met in Chicago in May and understood that any candidate they chose had to be able to carry the North and win the Electoral College. New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Indiana were particularly important states to win. Lincoln emerged as the man who would symbolise the hard-working self-made man of the frontier in these states. His choice was an astute political tactic by Republicans who realised the impact that the Democratic split would have. Smaller parties - Another group of politicians wanted slavery to not be the central issue of the election and so formed the Constitutional Unionist Party and nominated John Bell as their candidates. This further split the vote in some areas and helped hand victory to Lincoln. With four presidential candidates in the field, Lincoln received only 40% of the popular vote and 180 electoral votes - enough to narrowly win the crowded election. This meant that 60% of the voters selected someone other than Lincoln.
Growing strength of abolitionism, e.g. John Brown
The willingness of some on both sides of the debate over slavery to pursue armed violence had been shown during Bleeding Kansas and Harpers Ferry. Later in the 1850s, feelings hardened. Harpers Ferry in the state of Virginia housed a federal arsenal and armoury, making and storing US army weapons. It has been estimated that 100 000 rifles and muskets were stored there. Abolitionist John Brown who had taken part in the Kansas violence began to lay plans to start a slave uprising. John Brown formed a plan to take control of the armoury, lead a slave revolt, arm the slaves and overthrow slave power. With a force of 21 men, Brown seized the armoury, but no slave rebellion followed. Within two days, local militia and federal troops regained control of town. Ten of Brown's men died along with seven civilians. Brown himself was injured. He was put on trial, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death where he was hanged along with six of his fellow conspirators. The growth in abolitionist feeling in the Northern states was clearly important to the political situation of the late 1850s. Many had been radicalized by the horrors of Bleeding Kansas and supported extreme abolitionist positions. After John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry there were those in the North that celebrated him as a martyr although many also condemned his actions
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858
There was a Run for Illinois Senator. Abraham Lincoln, was a one-term Congressman and runner-up to be the Republican Party's vice-presidential candidate in 1856. He was nomination as Republican candidate as senator for Illinois. Stephen Douglas, already a two term US senator and leader of the Northern Democrats . The national debate over the future of slavery in the USA and the very future of the USA itself. there were seven open-air debates between the two men across the state. Each debate lasted for several hours and the most popular debate attracted about 15 000 people. I
Abraham Lincoln Win Election of 1860
This success owed something to the split in the Democratic vote between Douglas and Breckenridge. Breckinridge too won purely in the section that had nominated him, and he would go on to serve as a Confederate general. John Bell of the Constitutional Party, who won only the support of his home-state of Tennessee in the election, would vote for its secession in a close-run referendum in June 1861. Unlike the other candidates, Douglas won votes in both slave and free states, but his support was spread too thinly and despite coming second in the popular vote, his result in the electoral college was poor.
