The election of 1860?

Question

The election of 1860 led to secession by the South and then war. Explain the course of events in 1860-61 and the thinking and decisions by leaders of the North and South. Did both or either intend to go to war?

Answer 1

There have been many, many lengthy tomes written on this subject. Briefly, Southern states started to secede shortly after Lincoln was elected. Before he was even inaugurated, seven states had seceded. The major reason for secession was the perception that the election of a Republican president endangered the institution of slavery. You can read the Declaration of Causes of Secession of some of the first states that seceded at the link below. The second site below contains links to other Civil War resources.

Compromise proposals such as the Crittenden Compromise failed because Lincoln refused to renege on his campaign promise of no slavery in the territories and the southern politicians were insistent on slavery in at least part of the territories. I don’t think either side actually intended to go to war but the possibility of civil war over the issue of slavery and secession was referred to at least a decade before, as for example, in Seward’s “Higher Law” Senate speech in 1850. President Buchanan blamed the escalating tensions on the “fanaticism” of the Republican Party. Consult primary sources, analyze what the participants were arguing about and draw your own conclusions.

Answer 2

The election of the official Democratic candidate, Douglas, would have at least postponed secession. The compromise candidate, Bell, was unelectable. A win by the breakaway southern candidate, Breckenridge, would have maintained southern dominance in the Government, but this was as unlikely as Strom Thurmond's winning the country in 1948.

Neither side desired a war. If the South had been forced back into the Union through nonviolent means, or the North had resigned itself to southern sovereignty, there would have been no war, at least immediately. Unfortunately, these solutions were in direct conflict with strong emotions in one region or the other.

Answer 3

No matter who had won the election of 1860, the South would have felt disenfranchised. There was no one who supported the Southern views on states' rights which included slavery, tariffs and other concerns.

Some of the states, South Carolina in particular, felt that war was coming no matter what.