1860 Election Effect On The South

The 1860 republican ticket was the first successful national ticket that did not feature a southerner and the election marked the end of southern political dominance in the united states.

1860 election effect on the south. The electoral split between northern and southern democrats was emblematic of the severe sectional split particularly over slavery and in the months following lincoln s election and before his inauguration in march 1861 seven southern states led by south carolina on december 20 1860 seceded setting the stage for the american civil war 1861 65. However it was not the main cause. The election of 1860 the election of 1860 triggered the collapse of american democracy when the elevation of abraham lincoln to the presidency inspired secessionists in the south to withdraw their states from the union.

Lincoln s election owed much to the disarray in the democratic party. The south are the states who chose to rebel and formed. The democratic party split in the 1860 election between stephen douglas and john breckenridge.

In the north the pro slavery candidate john breckinridge took only 5 of the vote whilst in the south the anti slavery candidate abraham lincoln took only 4 and in some states was not even on the ballot. Library of congress washington d c. It exploded the hard won rules under which the expansion of the united states had been undertaken over the previous four or so decades and presented the bleakest possible future for.

Soon after the 1860 election several southern states seceded from the united states. Soon thereafter the civil war began. It was the economy of slavery and the control of the system of slavery that was a major controversy in this dispute.

Firstly the 1860 election revealed a nation deeply politically polarised. Due to the exclusion of the southern states from the system they opted for secession a decision that led to war. The election of abraham lincoln in 1860 was a reflection that the southern states have lost their influence and power.

The election of 1860 was one of the major causes of the civil war. The dred scott decision of 1857 put a match to the tinderbox of sectional conflict over the future of slavery the most important issue in the mid 19th century united states.