November 6, 1860: Lincoln Elected

One hundred and sixty-three years ago Abraham Lincoln was elected President.  Even though he got only 39.8% of the popular vote, his election came as no surprise.  With the Democrats split, Lincoln was a shoo-in to win the North which dominated the electoral college.  In ten slave states Lincoln’s name did not appear on the ballot.  Lincoln won a grand total of two counties in the fourteen slave states.  Secession fever was in the air in the South and many shrewd observers at the time thought that the United States of America, as then constituted, had elected its last president.  For four decades there had been wrangling between the North and the South over slavery, and now an avowed opponent of slavery had finally been elected president, entirely by Northern votes.  Although Lincoln was pledged not to interfere with slavery in the States, the election of 1860 was a demonstration of the growing political power of the North and the waning of the political strength of the South.  Losing the political battle, the South now looked for other avenues to protect its Peculiar Institution.