2. The Election of 1860
The Democrats
– Southerners wanted the party to support slavery
– Northerners did not want to support slavery
– Party splits in two
Northern Democrats
– Chose Stephen Douglas as their candidate
Southern Democrats
– Chose John Breckinridge of Kentucky
3. The Election of 1860 cont’d
The Republicans
– Chose Abraham Lincoln
for President
A new party on the
horizon: The
Constitutional Union
– Tried to heal the split
between the North and
the South
– Chose John Bell of
Tennessee
4. Americans go to the Polls
Americans made their
opinions clear
Lincoln carried the
North and effectively
won the election
Bell only got a few
southern states, and
Douglas got most of the
South
5. The South Reacts
Many southerners believed that Lincoln’s
election showed that the South no longer had
a voice in government.
Senator John Crittenden (KY) made one last
attempt to save the Union
– Extend the Missouri Compromise line to the
Pacific
– Proposed that states south of the Compromise
line could hold slaves.
6. The South Reacts cont’d
– This bill received little support
Many southerners believed that the North
had put an abolitionist in the White House
They felt that secession was their only choice
The first state to secede was South Carolina
(12/20/1860) Alabama, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas soon
followed
7. The Confederacy
Many southerners believed
that the Declaration of
Independence supported
them
– “it is the right of the people
to alter or abolish” a
government that denies the
rights of its citizens
They felt that Lincoln had
denied them the right to hold
slaves
8. The Civil War Begins
In his inaugural address,
Lincoln warned that “no
state…can lawfully get out of
the Union.”
Jefferson Davis began to
order forces to begin seizing
federal forts in the South
Fort Sumter (SC) was one of
the only forts not taken over
by the Confederacy
Fort Sumter, 1861
9. The Civil War Begins cont’d
President Lincoln learned that supplies at
Fort Sumter were running low
Lincoln notified the S. Carolina government
that he was going to only send food, not
troops or weapons
On April 11, 1861, the Confederates
demanded that Fort Sumter surrender
10. This Means War!
Major Robert Anderson,
the Union commander,
refused to give in
Confederate guns
opened fire
Union troops quickly
ran out of ammunition
On April 13, Anderson
surrendered the fort.