Lincoln: Uniting the Republican Party to Win the Election of 1860

During the middle of the 19th century, the United States was experiencing a dramatic and pivotal period of conflict in which ideological divisions between the northern states and southern states had culminated to threaten the stability of the nation. However, great leaders are often required to help a culture overcome the immense and difficult challenge of intense national division. The US was fortunate to have had a great leader during this tumultuous era, as President Abraham Lincoln possessed the advanced political skills and the superior leadership capabilities required to help solve the crisis of the national division and to quickly end the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 to become the 16th United States president because Lincoln was able to maximize the solidarity and unity among the Republican Party in the north while the democrats were significantly impaired by contentious and hostile political divisions in the south.

Although the tension between the north and the south had been developing and accumulating throughout much of the early 19th century, by the 1850s the disagreements had intensified to dramatic levels. One issue that was consistently being disputed was the debate over land. The US had acquired new territories that were being established as official states due to the war with Mexico, the Compromise of 1850 and the American expansion motivated by the manifest destiny. New states and territories that were being added to the Union around this period include New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Texas Utah, and Washington D.C. However, the inclusion of new states and territories resulted in heated debates regarding whether the new territories should be slave-states, free-states, or whether the inhabitants of the territories should be allowed to decide the issue for themselves. Although the Compromise of 1850 served to temporarily solve this problem, the emergence of Kansas as a state exasperated the division between the north and south.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was implemented in 1854, and the act established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska as states. However, both the north and the south were fervently anxious to claim Kansas, with the south desperate to make it a slave-state and the north eager to ensure it was a free-state. Although the fight for Kansas was motivated by slavery, a significant reason why both the north and south wanted to claim Kansas was because of the votes that would accompany the state. Like all states, Kansas was inevitably going to be granted two Senate votes and several House of Representative votes. Because the congressional and senate votes between the north and south were relatively close and even, whichever side could gain possession of Kansas would have a significant advantage regarding political votes and regarding the ability to influence national law through federal legislation. Thus, the desire to obtain the additional votes that Kansas entailed generated a ferocious dispute in which both the north and south desperately desired to claim the state.

As the animosity between the two sides was amplifying, John Brown and his raid intensified the hostility and brought the issue of slavery to a climax. In 1859 John Brown and his armed followers attacked and seized a US arsenal in Virginia to attempt a violent revolt against the institution of slavery. Although abolitionists such as Brown were a relatively small and extreme branch of the northern republicans, the spectacle and attention that the raid received instilled many southerners with fear that the north was trying to overthrow slavery altogether, rather than just trying to limit the expansion of slavery. This fear heightened the suspicious and distrustful attitude that the south had towards the north. Thus, as the events reached a climax and as Abraham Lincoln ran for president in the election of 1860, the national division, the issue of slavery, and the inevitability of civil war were issues that Lincoln would necessarily be required to manage.

An appealing aspect of Abraham Lincoln was his humble background, as Lincoln was born in a rural area of Kentucky and was raised by a farmer with limited financial means. The family moved to Illinois when Abraham was in his early 20s, at which point Lincoln began passionately educating himself regarding various important subjects to strengthen his mind with knowledge and to prepare for a successful political career. The comprehensive studying and intensive training enabled Lincoln to become an esteemed lawyer and a successful Illinois congressman. However, Lincoln acquired national attention and public notoriety after running for the Illinois senate in an 1858 race against Senator Stephen Douglas, which spawned the famous Lincoln-Douglas Debates that focused on the contentious issue of slavery expansion .

Although he lost the senate race, Lincoln’s formidable political skills, ideal values, and compelling character inspired the Republican Party to nominate Lincoln as the 1960 presidential nominee. In addition to his intellectual qualities, Lincoln was also selected for political reasons. In the year of the 1960 presidential election, the tension between the north and south had intensified to such a dramatic extent that many southern states were threatening to secede from the Union if the Republicans obtained the presidency. Selecting an extreme or abolitionist candidate would have further magnified the anger and political determination of the south, and thus the Republicans decided to select a relatively new and moderate Republican to minimize the anger of the south and to increase the ability of the north to win the election. Lincoln was an ideal candidate because he firmly opposed slavery expansion into new territories but was not extreme enough to assert that slavery should be entirely abolished, because while he understood how immorally reprehensible the institution of slavery was, he also was aware that the abolitionist attitude would exasperate tensions between the north and south and would decrease his chances of achieving political success. Because of his relatively moderate attitude, superior political skills and captivating character, in 1860 Lincoln was established as the Republican presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, in April the Democratic Party – which was largely supported by the south –held a convention in Charleston to nominate a presidential candidate for the 1860 election. However, the Democrats were suffering from intense disagreements regarding the definitions of popular sovereignty and the concept of a federal slave code for territories. The disagreements regarding these issues instigating a fierce division within the Democratic Party prevented the party from being able to nominate a presidential candidate, and motivated many Democrats from the deep south to demonstratively march out of the convention. In addition to making it difficult for the Democratic Party to unify for the election, the intense division caused the party to nominate two different nominees as presidential candidates and to hold two separate conventions. The northern democrats nominated Stephen Douglas, who was opposed to a federal slave code, while the deep south democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge, who was the vice president at the time and who supported a federal code guaranteeing the rights of slave-holders to expand into new territories.

The Democratic Party became even more damaged by the development of the Constitutional Union. Established on the foundations of being opposed to major political parties and sectional division, the Constitutional Union was a new party that introduced a fourth presidential candidate into the race, as the party nominated former Whig John Bell. Because the Constitutional Union party generally appealed to border states and provided opposition to the Breckinridge campaign, the party divisions and the development of the new Constitutional Union party significantly impaired the ability of the Democrats to solidify support and to maximize their votes.

Although Lincoln won the election, the numerous candidates prevented him from achieving a mandate. Lincoln received the majority of Electoral College votes, but was unable to receive the majority of all of the popular votes, as the three opponents combined to obtain approximately one million more votes than Lincoln. After Lincoln won the election and was inaugurated into the presidency, the south began to perpetuate consistent warnings of secession. While the Democratic presidential candidates and many people in the northern portion of the south did not advocate secession, the inability of Lincoln to win a single southern state encouraged many states in the deep south to support the concept of secession.

Eventually, seven states seceded from the nation, developed a separate Confederate Union and established Jefferson Davis as the president of the new Union. The secession of many southern states resulted in the Civil War, during which point Lincoln used his excellent judgment to determine that slavery had to be officially and unequivocally prohibited for the nation to create one united and cohesive body. Thus, in 1863 President Lincoln announced the emancipation proclamation, which legally freed slaves from the ownership of their masters. After demonstrating exceptional political skills and exceptional leadership capabilities to win the war and to unite the nation, in 1865 President Lincoln was murdered by John Wilkes Booths. However, before being murdered Lincoln achieved one of the most difficult and ambitious challenges that any President has accomplished, for during his presidency he was able to solve the devastating crisis of a civil war, develop solutions to initiate the reconciliation process, and officially end slavery in the US.

The election of 1860 was a crucial presidential election because an intelligent and passionate leader was required to overcome the tumultuous and dangerous problems of the era. The primary reason Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860 was his advanced ability to unite and excite the Republican Party while the Democratic Party was suffering from bitter and hostile political divisions. One of the reasons Lincoln was able to unite the party was that his humble and admirable background was able to attract many different types of people. His self-made, toilsome and challenging upbringing enabled him to identify with many different types of people from diverse backgrounds and various occupations, including laborers, farmers, and businessmen. Additionally, his background and character allowed Lincoln to also appeal to Protestants, Germans, urban populations, rural populations, middle-class families, the youth, new voters, old voters and former Whigs (Burlingame). Thus, the ability of Lincoln to attract many people towards the Republican party expanded the size of the Republican Party and unified the diverse people in the party.

Lincoln’s character also unified the Republicans by enhancing the enthusiasm within the party. His poor childhood and hard work ethic enabled him to identify with the middle class and the working poor, while his impressive achievements were able to adorn his persona with an abundance of credibility. Furthermore, Lincoln’s advanced communication skills enabled him to deliver exceptionally rousing speeches that demonstrated a sincere passion for the issues and that evoked powerful reactions from the crowds. Thus, his superior speeches and skillful communication abilities allowed him to unite political rivals within the party, alleviate disruptive disagreements and excite the supporters of the party with enthusiasm. Instilling the party with enthusiasm was crucial for winning the election, as you can only maximize voter turnout and receive the most number of votes possible if the supporters of the party are passionate about the issues and enthusiastic about their party’s candidate.

While Lincoln did an excellent job of uniting and exciting the Republican Party during the election season, the Democratic Party was simultaneously suffering from the contentious disagreements that were dividing the party. The disputes regarding a federal slave code, slavery expansion laws, and popular sovereignty prevented the Democrats from being able to display a passion for the party or to demonstrate their support for a single candidate. The division within the Democratic Party and the nomination of two different party candidates caused the votes of southerners to get inevitably split and distributed among the two candidates, which impaired the ability of either candidate to receive enough votes to defeat Lincoln and the united Republicans.

Civil War is the most dangerous and potentially devastating conflict a nation can engage in, for Civil War can make a nation vulnerable to foreign attacks, can cause the country to waste valuable resources, and can impair the ability of the country to cooperate and solve complicated problems. Although the US Civil War was among the most fatal US wars, Lincoln demonstrated exceptional leadership skills by guiding the country through the crisis and the Reconstruction in a relatively short amount of time. Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 because Lincoln was able to unite the Republican Party, generate enthusiasm for the party’s ideals and maximize the number of votes he received, while the strength of the Democratic Party was dramatically diminished by internal strife and contentious divisions within the party.

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