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No doubt, the most important election in American history was the contest of 1860, directly preceding the Civil war. The issues of the election had been reduced to abolition and a federal slave code. This divided the national politics into four main parties, the Northern Democrats, Southern Democrats, Republicans, and the Constitutional Union Party. These parties debated over some common issues, but at the same time each party had defining opinions and different candidates to represent those opinions. The candidate for the Northern Democrats was Steven Douglas, a senator from Illinois.
Douglas dealt with the anti-slavery issue by supporting popular sovereignty, or each territory's right to deal the issue itself. He and the party both opposed a federal slave code in the territories, which would secure slavery in those areas. Popular sovereignty would place this decision in the territories, not the federal government. The decisions of the Supreme Court in dealing with territorial rights were to be upheld by all branches of the government, according to this party. The Northern Democrats felt that most territories would choose not to allow slavery and it would eventually extinguish itself in the entire country.
The execution of the Federal Slave Law was a must in the eyes of the Northern Democrats, as it was hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in effect. The Southern Democrats had their own candidate, Kentucky senator and vice president of James Buchanan, John C. Breckinridge. Breckinridge was commonly tagged as the secession candidate because he was from the Deep South, which supported a constitutional to secession. This party supported a federal slave code in the territories and the right to own slaves, upon which the Souths economy depended. Southern Democrats wanted to have the Supreme Court have the final say in the slavery matter, perhaps based upon the slavery-favored decision of the Dred-Scott case four years before.
They stated that it was the duty of the federal government to uphold and protect the citizens right to settle in the Territories with their property, that is to say, their slaves. These democrats were so paranoid about the outlawing of all slavery that they supported passing a law to preserve slavery in the South and endorse it in the territories. They also wished to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law that the North had undermined, saying that hostile attitudes towards this law were hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect. Southern Democrats were determined to preserve their peculiar institution.
Next came the Constitutional Union Party. This party gave John Bell of Tennessee as their candidate for the presidency. Bell had been one of the outraged members of Polk's cabinet in 1841 and a two time senator. As indicated in the partys title, members supported the union. They hoped to maintain the union through peace and compromise. Their opinions on issues were vague and moderate on all but that of slavery.
The former Whigs and Know-Nothings that composed the Constitutional Union Party were in favor of abolition. The last party was the Republican Party, whose road to victory was long, because the Upper-South Americans held the balance of power. They denied the authority of Congress and territorial legislature to give legal existence to slavery in the territories. Popular sovereignty could have given slavery the possibility of continuing, and that was not a risk the antislavery Republicans wanted to take, although they did declare that they would encourage popular slavery if the territories chose to ban slavery. To help end slavery, the Republican Party pushed for the admittance of Kansas as a free state. Internal improvements, especially those to do with the Pacific Railroad and the improvements to harbors and rivers were also part of the partys platform.
The Republican candidate changed several times. The most publicly known candidate was William Seward, who had been in politics for many years. He had been a member of the now-dissolved Whigs party and advocated internal improvements and antislavery. He expressed his negative opinion of slavery strongly, referring to a law higher than the Constitution that denounced slavery. Speeches like these earned him a reputation as a radical, which ultimately made the Republican Party choose another candidate. His replacement was the former Whig and future president, Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln was chosen for two main reasons. The first was that he was from the Northwest, so he would carry those states votes. The second was that he was not a platformed political figure, so the public did not know his views on the current issues, giving the party the opportunity to mold him into a figure that both sides could support. Lincolns party knew that they needed to get all the free states votes in order to succeed in winning the presidency. If there were a motto for the Republican Party during this election, it would have been everything in moderation for the Unions preservation. They did not allow Lincoln to clearly support an opinion on the slavery issues, but chose instead to downplay their antislavery and anti-expansion feelings.
Their decision to downplay these issues allowed them to emphasize others. Internal improvements such as the Pacific Railroad were stressed, as were ways to strengthen the national economy. These ideas were important to states like Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Indiana, where slavery wasnt the main issue. Lincoln won the election in November of 1860 with a clear majority of the electoral votes, but only a plurality of the popular vote.
Because of Lincolns anti-slavery stance, Southern leaders threatened with succession and then, lead by South Carolina, the Deep South states carried through with their threats. By February twelfth, 1861, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, and the rest of the Deep South states had parted from the Union, all as a result of the Election of 1860. The dissolution of the Union clearly shows how important this election was to the United in the United States of America. From the point when Lincoln won, the Union was trembling in anticipation as the North and South prepared for war. The Presidential election of 1860 was contested by four main candidates, and its outcome swung the course of the history of the United States; it led directly to the Civil War, and if Lincoln hadn't won we would probably not be one nation today. Understanding this campaign is important to understanding a part of our history and one of the bloodiest wars our nation ever fought.
This election was important in our history because it was one of the factors that sparked the Civil War. Especially now, Presidential elections weigh heavily on the United States. Many new issues are now up for debate that were not even thought of during the original campaigns of Adams and Jefferson. All the same, the office of President has not diminished in importance since it was originally conceived of.
If anything, its importance has increased over the years. At the same time, it has changed in its role as issues have changed. Nevertheless, it remains a contested seat by many no matter what is at stake. Bibliography 1. Boller, Paul E. Jr.
Presidential Campaigns (1984); Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Presidential Elections since 1789, 4 th ed. (1987) 2. Lunch, F. I. Candidates, Consultants, and Campaigns. New York (1988) 3.
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Research essay sample on Election Of 1860 Southern Democrats
