“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Emergence of Abraham Lincoln
Republican Party – (new party) political party formed united under the belief that “no man can own another man...that slavery must be prohibited in the territories…that all new states must be free states…that the rights of our colored citizens…must be protected.”
Lincoln- Douglas Debates: 1858
Lincoln – the challenger decries “Southern plot” to extend slavery promises to work for slavery’s extinction casts slavery as a moral problem, not just political
Douglas – the incumbent (already a senator) accuses Lincoln of favoring equality
Lincoln loses election, gains national reputation
“THE FIGHT MUST GO ON.”
Election of 1860:Main Candidates
Abraham Lincoln
(Republican)
Stephen Douglas
(Northern Democrat)
John Breckinridge
(Southern Democrat)
John Bell(Constitutional
Union)
* Lincoln won the election.
Election Results
Lincoln wins with just 40% of the votes 10 southern states did not put his name
on the ballot The South realizes that they have no
power left in the government and that ending slavery would be a goal of the new president. Possibility of secession.
A Senate committee was formed to work out a compromise and save the Union
Lincoln’s View on Slavery
December 20, 1860 Interview with Lincoln Promised not to interfere with slavery in
the South. He would support the enforcement of the
Fugitive Slave Law. Under no circumstance would he allow
slavery to spread into the new territories.
Secession In response to Lincoln’s victory, the southern states seceded from the Union,
(the same day as his interview) eventually forming the Confederate States of America (or the Confederacy).
States in order of their secession:
South Carolina – Dec. 20, 1860
Mississippi – Jan. 9, 1861
Florida – Jan. 10, 1861
Alabama – Jan. 1, 1861
Georgia – Jan. 19, 1861
Louisiana – Jan. 26, 1861
Texas – Feb. 1, 1861
Virginia – Apr. 17, 1861
Arkansas – May 6, 1861
North Carolina – May 20, 1861
Tennessee – June 8, 1861
“Henceforth, the watchword of every uncompromising abolitionist, of every friend of God and liberty, must be, both in a religious and political sense — 'NO UNION
WITH SLAVEHOLDERS‘”
Lincoln’s Inaugural Address
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in
mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government
will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being
yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in
heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the
most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it.“
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must
not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must
not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords ofmemory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot
graveto every living heart and hearthstone all over this
broad land,will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again
touched,as surely they will be, by the better angels of our
nature.
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