♥ President Abraham Lincoln: Any experts that can tell me whether there were 4 candidates in the 1860?

Question

I need some information regarding President Lincoln:

I looked up the the Presidential Election of 1860 and found that there were 4 nominees for that election. So does that mean that 4 candidates were chosen to run for that presidential race? Was it common back in those times to have more than 2 candidates?

In addition, I searched and searched endlessly, but what was Lincoln's Foreign Policy, and Congress's attitude towards him?

Answer 1

Was...

Abraham Lincoln- Hannibal Hamlin- Republican
John Breckenridge- Joseph Lane- S. Democrat
John Bell- Edward Everett- Const. Union
Stephen Douglas- Herschel Johnson- Democrat

American Foreign Policy...

http://books.google.com/books?id=1ovHPK0kuAsC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=lincoln's+foreign+policy+and+congress's+attitude+towards+him&source=web&ots=bpv3WkwRW-&sig=NaX9IC0BH3L0hapTJfmnGPl0-Vc

Best

Answer 2

There were 4 Presidential candidates in the 1860 election. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln on the 4th ballot despite Seward of NY being the favoritr but his abolitionist viewpoint made him too radical of a candidate and decide on the more moderate approach of Lincoln which was against slavery but for the approach of eventually strangulating of slavery by not allowing it in the terriroies as said in the Compromise of 1850. Yes, it was common for usually only 2 candidates but at times there were 3 candidates and 4 candidates running for the Presidency. The more important years were in 1824, 1836, 1856 and 1860. Due to the division of the Democratic Party , over the ideas of states rights and popular sovereignity , they had run a Northern Democrat and disgrunted Whigs supporting Stephen Douglas, the Southern Democrats and disgruntled Whigs supporting then Vice President John C. Breckinridge and then the Constitutional Party for upholding the Constitution and protection of slavery under the Constitution. As you can see Lincoln even though only carrying around 40% of the popular vote was able to talke all Northern States except New Jersey while the South supported Breckinridge and the border states in the Civil War supporting Bell.