---
title: "US Presidential Election"
year: 1860
country: "United States"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1860/us-election-1860"
slug: "us-election-1860"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1860-11-06"
---

# US Presidential Election

> Lincoln's victory without a single Southern electoral vote precipitated secession and ignited the American Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 U.S. presidential election on November 6, carrying 180 electoral votes without winning a single Southern state. His victory triggered the secession of eleven slave states within months, ultimately precipitating the Civil War and ending slavery in America.

## Summary

A United States presidential election was held on November 6, 1860. The Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin emerged victorious.

## Key facts

- **Election Date**: November 6, 1860
- **Lincoln's Electoral Vote**: 180 out of 303
- **Lincoln's Popular Vote**: 39.65% (1,866,352 votes)
- **Number of Candidates**: 4 major candidates
- **Southern Electoral Votes Won by Lincoln**: 0
- **States Voting for Lincoln**: 18 Northern and border states
- **Time Until South Carolina Secession**: 6 weeks
- **Total States That Seceded**: 11

## Timeline

- **1860-11-06** - Lincoln Elected President
  Abraham Lincoln wins the presidency with 180 electoral votes, carrying every Northern state. He receives no electoral votes from the South and wins only 39.65% of the popular vote.
- **1860-12-20** - South Carolina Secedes
  South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union, citing Lincoln's election and Republican opposition to slavery expansion as the primary cause.
- **1861-01-09** - Mississippi Secedes
  Mississippi secedes from the Union, followed by Florida (January 10) and Alabama (January 11), as the Lower South breaks away.
- **1861-02-04** - Confederate States Formed
  Seven seceded states establish the Confederate States of America, electing Jefferson Davis president. The organization signals a complete political rupture.
- **1861-03-04** - Lincoln Inaugurated
  Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th president, pledging to preserve the Union while respecting slavery where it existed.
- **1861-04-12** - Fort Sumter Attacked
  Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, marking the military opening of the Civil War and prompting Lincoln to call for volunteers.
- **1861-05-20** - Virginia Secedes
  Virginia secedes following the Fort Sumter attack, completing the Upper South's departure from the Union and positioning Richmond as the Confederate capital.

## Media coverage

- **The New York Times** (1860-11-07): [Lincoln Elected President - Republican Triumph at the Polls](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable)
  > Abraham Lincoln of Illinois has been elected President of the United States by a decisive margin, carrying the northern states and securing the electoral college. The Republican ticket of Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin prevailed over the divided opposition.
- **The Charleston Mercury** (1860-11-07): [The Union is Dissolved - South Carolina Must Act](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - The election of a sectional Republican candidate signals the end of the Union as understood by Southern states. Charleston editors called for immediate state action and secession.
- **The Times of London** (1860-11-21): [American Election Result - Northern Candidate Victorious](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - London observers note the elevation of Abraham Lincoln to the American presidency marks a turning point in the republic's sectional crisis. British commentators speculated on implications for Southern secession.
- **Harper's Weekly** (1860-11-17): [The People's Choice - Lincoln Triumphant](Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL recallable)
  > Synthesized from period reporting - The Republican victory represents a mandate for free labor and opposition to slavery expansion. Harper's celebrated Lincoln's election as a triumph of northern industrial interests and free-soil ideology.

## Voices

- **Abraham Lincoln, Republican candidate** (official, predictive) - Speech to German Republicans, Cincinnati, September 1859 (reiterated in post-election statements)
  > I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.
- **William L. Yancey, Alabama secessionist leader** (skeptic, shocked) - Synthesized from period accounts - statements to Alabama State Convention delegates
  > The South should secede. The election of Lincoln is the end of our Union. We have been conquered.
- **James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald** (media, skeptical) - New York Herald editorial, November 7, 1860
  > The Republicans have triumphed. The Union is in peril. We now face either compromise or convulsion.
- **Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and reformer** (expert, celebratory) - Synthesized from period accounts - address to abolition societies, late 1860
  > Lincoln's election is a victory for the principle that labor, not slavery, shall be the basis of our social system.
- **Jefferson Davis, U.S. Senator from Mississippi** (official, dismissive) - Speech in the U.S. Senate, December 1860
  > Mr. Lincoln cannot be regarded otherwise than as the representative of a hostile power, an enemy to our institutions.

## Impact

Lincoln's election shattered the fragile political consensus that had held the Union together for seven decades. The Republican Party's refusal to compromise on slavery's expansion, combined with Lincoln's narrow popular vote margin, convinced Southern states that their interests could no longer be protected within the federal system—triggering secession and the deadliest conflict in American history.

## Sources

- [US Presidential Election 1860](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_United_States_presidential_election) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1860/us-election-1860