The American Presidential Election of 1860

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The 19th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1860, it's arguably the most important presidential election in American history, with a four way race that literally tears the country apart.

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In 1860, tensions were obviously high, not only between Democrats and Republicans, but within the Democratic Party. At the Democratic National Conventions, extreme pro-slavery “Fire-eaters,” walked out in protest. They were nicknamed Fire-eaters because they refused to compromise on slavery to a point where they wanted to secede and start their own country. They ended up being known as the Southern Democratic Party, as most of them were Southerners, and nominated their own candidates. Those Democrats who remained nominated Stephen Douglas, who by this time was very well known across the country as a moderate on the slavery issue who favored "popular sovereignty.” Benjamin Fitzpatrick was nominated for Vice President, but he refused the nomination, so they nominated Herschel Johnson, the former governor of Georgia, instead. So they were the nominees for what became known as the Northern Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, the Southern Democratic Party got together again and nominated current Vice President John C. Breckinridge for President and Joseph Lane, a Senator from Oregon, as his running mate. Wait, Oregon? Oregon’s a state now? Heck yeah. Both Oregon and Minnesota were now states, and got to participate in this election for the first time.

Oh yeah, James Buchanan, the current President, remember he was a Democrat, wasn’t even brought up as a nominee for re-election. That shows you just how unpopular he was.

The Republican Party, now stronger than they were in 1856, had four top contenders for their nomination. William Seward, a Senator from New York, Salmon P. Chase, a former governor and Senator of Ohio, Edward Bates, a former Representative from Missouri, and rising star Abraham Lincoln, a former Representative from Illinois. Lincoln had become famous after a series of highly publicized debates with Stephen Douglas when the two both ran for Senator in Illinois in 1858. Lincoln had lost that election, but now had a chance to face his old rival again for this time a much higher office.

You might already know this, but Lincoln won the nomination, mostly because he was the most moderate of the four I mentioned. The Republicans chose Hannibal Hamlin, a Senator from Maine, as his running mate.

To further complicate this election, there were other nominees. Former Whigs who wanted to avoid the country splitting up over the slavery issue created a new political party called the Constitutional Union Party. Their slogan was, "The Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is."So yeah, I guess the name fit. They nominated John Bell, a former Senator from Tennessee, with Edward Everett, a really good speaker and former Governor and Senator of Massachusetts, as his running mate.

There were other candidates, but in a crowded field already, the other candidates barely had any support so I will not mention them here. It seemed to be another classic four-way race.