The 1860 Democratic National Convention saw deep divisions between Northern and Southern Democrats over the issue of slavery in the territories. The party split, failing to nominate a candidate, and paving the way for Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party. Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, receiving only 40% of the popular vote but a majority in the Electoral College, as the country was now sharply divided along regional lines over the issue of slavery and states' rights.

1. No
turning
back

2. divisions
• John Brown’s Raid had a
powerful effect on Southern
voters, who were now
convinced that abolitionists in
the North would never allow
slavery to continue, even if it
took violence to stop it.

3. divisions
•They ultimately blamed
the Republican Party for
the raid and much of the
other anti-slavery talk that
was in the North.

4. divisions
•The Democrat Party, the
only true national party,
met in Charleston, SC in
April, 1860, to choose a
candidate for President.

5. divisions
• Many Northern Democrats had
come to Charleston hoping to
nominate Stephen Douglas, but
there was no way that
Southerners could support him
given what he had said at
Freeport during the Senate
debates of 1858.

6. divisions
• Southerners demanded that
the Democrats include as part
of their platform the idea that
Congress and territorial
legislatures did not have the
authority to exclude slavery
from a territory

7. divisions
•They also called for a
federal protection for
slavery in the territories.

8. divisions
•Douglas won a plurality
of support among the six
nominees, but fell 50
votes short of winning the
nomination.

9. divisions
•The Democrats adjourned
their convention and
agreed to meet again in
Baltimore, MD in June.

10. divisions
•Still, the Southerners
made demands about the
future of slavery in the
United States that were
not met.

11. divisions
•When this did not happen,
Democrats from what
became known as the
“Lower South” walked
out.

12. divisions
•Northern Democrats
nominated Douglas, while
Southern Democrats
nominated John C.
Breckinridge of
Kentucky.

13. divisions
• Some Southerners who were
afraid of what would happen
if the Union divided formed
the Constitutional Union
Party and nominated John
Bell from Tennessee.

14. opportunity
•With the division in the
Democrat Party so
pronounced, the
Republicans sensed an
opportunity for victory.

15. creation
•At a meeting held Ripon,
Wisconsin in the summer
of 1854, a group of
disgusted Northerners
launched the Republican
Party.

16. creation
•Its members stated that
slavery was a great
“moral evil” and that its
expansion must be
stopped.

17. creation
•Republicans came from
all walks of life and
classes and would soon
challenge the Know-
Nothings for votes in the
North.

18. opportunity
• On the third ballot, they
chose the well-spoken man
from Illinois who had
competed so well against
Douglas in the Illinois Senate
race in 1858, Abraham
Lincoln.

19. opportunity
• Lincoln was more moderate
on slavery itself while being
firmly against its expansion
into the territories and it
certainly helped that the
Republican convention was
in Chicago.

20. election
•The race itself quickly
became just like
everything else in the
country, sectional.

21. election
• In many Southern states,
Lincoln did not even appear
on the ballot, so it was really
a race between Breckinridge
and Bell, who between them
won over 80% of the vote.

22. election
•In the North, it was a
contest between Douglas
and Lincoln, who between
them won over 80% of the
vote.

23. election
•Lincoln received only
40% of the popular vote,
but a clear majority of the
Electoral vote and became
the 16 th President of the
United States.

24. election
•As much as the South
complained about it,
Lincoln would have won
the Electoral vote even if
there had been only one
other candidate.

25. election
• What should have been truly
upsetting to Southerners was
that almost 70% of the voters
in the country had taken a
position opposed to the
expansion of slavery.