8/14/2019 The Election of Abe Lincoln

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The election of Abraham Lincoln was, in the view of many Southerners,unconscionable. Many, like Jefferson Davis, would rather see the "Old Union"broken up than be ruled by a "Black Republican." Typical of Southern secessionistfeelings is this rant from one Atlanta paper of the period:

"Let the consequences be what they may, whether the Potomac is crimsoned in humangore, and Pennsylvania Avenue is paved ten fathoms deep with mangled bodies, theconstitutional South will never submit to such humiliation and degradation as the

inauguration of Abraham Lincoln."

Secessionist rants like the above completely baffled Lincoln. Lincoln's amazementis depicted in his own words in Stephen B. Oates' "The Approaching Fury, Voices ofthe Storm (1820-1861)" (Harper Perennial: 1998):

"A thousand Republicans had said that (they were pledged to leave slavery alonewhere it already exists) ten thousand times, but our disclaimers fell on deaf earsown in Dixie. It amazed me that Republicans and southerners spoke the samelanguage, yet when we promised (that), southerners heard abolitionist rantingsabout invasion and destruction of their "institutions." Lincoln could not believethe hysteria that his candidacy caused down south. His name did not even appear onthe ballot in ten states, and his effigy "burned in windows and public squares."

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Commanding a largely unified bloc of northern and western (California and Oregon)votes, Lincoln's task was made easier by the disunity of a fractious andsectionalized Democratic Party, led (at least partially) by his old adversaryStephen Douglas. Douglas controlled the party apparatus, whose superior northernnumbers called the shots when it came to seating delegations at the convention inBaltimore. He could not control his party's southern secessionist wing, whichbroke away and nominated the southerner John C. Breckenridge.

In one of the true pre-Civil War ironies, it was Jefferson Davis (the futureConfederate President) who tried to keep the Democrats together by offering acompromise candidate from Virginia. Davis feared the Civil War that would result

in secession, and he still had an abiding respect for "the Old Union." Douglaswould have none of this, having won the nomination fair and square. He did notwant to see his party falling into the hands of traitorous secessionists, andswore he would lose the election before he'd allow such a thing. Add to that, heand Davis hated each other.

Departing from tradition, then, Douglas actively campaigned on his own behalf. Hetraveled extensively throughout the North, frequently to be shouted down byastonishingly large Republican crowds. He also displayed political courage in histravels through the South. Once, while speaking in Norfolk, Virginia, he washanded a set of questions from a local newspaper:

Q. Did he think that the South would be justified in seceding from the Union if

Abraham Lincoln were elected?

A. "Never on earth!"

Q. Would he advise the federal government to use force if the South seceded beforeLincoln committed an overt act?A. "I myself would do all in my power to aid the government in maintaining thesupremacy of the laws against all resistance to them. . . I think the President,whoever he may be, should treat all attempts to break up the Union as Old Hickorytreated the nullifiers in 1832 (by sending federal troops)." (330-331)

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The foregoing responses did not ingratiate Douglas to southern Democrats, who"ranted and raved" accusing him of "preaching violence and coercion" and acting as"a Black Republican Ally." On election day, Douglas was in Mobile, Alabama (whichwould become the first capital of the Confederacy). As he awaited the electionreturns by telegraph, it became clear that he would come in second behind Lincolnin popular votes with Breckenridge in third. In fact, Lincoln, who stayed at home,would have won the election even if the Democrats had not split.

The secession of the first seven Southern states in the months following theelection South Carolina would go first on December 20, 1860, followed byMississippi (Davis' home state), Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas(all by February 1, 1861) all occurred prior to Lincoln's being sworn in tooffice. The last four Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee secededafter the Confederate attack on fort Sumter in April of 1861.

In the end, it was the South's refusal to accept the will of the majority both asformer Democrats and later in a national presidential election that prompted themto opt out of the Union they felt their forefathers had voluntarily joined (andcould voluntarily leave). Abraham Lincoln, backed by the superior manpower andindustry of the North would deem otherwise. No government, Lincoln contended,

could countenance its own illegal dissolution.

In his first inaugural address, Lincoln again assured the South that he was notinterested in their slaves. Again the South did not believe him. His speech,however, stressed a keen interest in preserving the United States, which he saw asthe last best hope for representative government left on earth. Anything else, hethought, would be a violation of his oath to preserve and defend the Constitution.