1860 United States House of Representatives election in Florida, Campaign
By 1860, the secession of the South from the Union was nearly inevitable. Both Hilton and Allen were secessionists; the only question that remained was what ideology would an independent Florida prefer: the conservatism of the Democratic Party or the Whiggism of the Opposition Party. Due to Hilton's close ties with Vice President John C. Breckinridge, the Democratic nominee for president, it was all but guaranteed that he would ride on Breckinridge's coattails.


1860 United States House of Representatives election in Florida, Campaign
Hilton soundly defeated Allen in the general election, receiving 60% of the vote to Allen's 40%.


1860 United States House of Representatives election in Florida, Aftermath
Florida seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861, meaning Hilton was not able to take his seat in Congress. However, Hilton won election to the Confederate States House of Representatives later in 1861, representing Florida's 2nd congressional district.


1860 United States census
The United States census of 1860 was the eighth census conducted in the United States starting June 1, 1860, and lasting five months. It determined the population of the United States to be 31,443,322 in 33 states and 10 organized territories. This was an increase of 35.4 percent over the 23,069,876 persons enumerated during the 1850 census. The total population included 3,953,762 slaves.


1860 United States census
By the time the 1860 census returns were ready for tabulation, the nation was sinking into the American Civil War. As a result, Census Superintendent Joseph C. G. Kennedy and his staff produced only an abbreviated set of public reports, without graphic or cartographic representations. The statistics did allow the census staff to produce a cartographic display, including preparing maps of Southern states, for Union field commanders. These maps displayed militarily vital topics, including the white population, slave population, predominant agricultural products (by county), and rail and post road transportation routes.


1860 United States census
This census saw Philadelphia regain its position as a second-most populous American city, which it had lost to Baltimore in 1820, due to the Act of Consolidation, 1854 merging many smaller surrounding townships, such as Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, and Kensington, into the main city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia would in turn permanently lose the position to Chicago in 1890.


1860 United States census, Census questions
The 1860 census Schedule 1 (Free Inhabitants) was one of two schedules that counted the population of the United States; the other was Schedule 2 (Slave Inhabitants). Schedule 1 collected the following information:


1860 United States census, Data availability
Full documentation for the 1860 population census, including microdata, census forms and enumerator instructions, is available from  the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). Aggregate data for small areas, together with compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System.


1860 United States census, Common occupations
National data reveals that farmers (owners and tenants) made up nearly 10% of utilized occupations. Farm laborers (wage workers) represent the next highest percent with 3.2%, followed by general laborers at 3.0%.


1860 United States census, Common occupations
More localized data shows that other occupations were common. In the town of Essex, Massachusetts, a large section of the women in the labor force were devoted to shoe-binding, while for men the common occupations were farming and shoe-making. This heavy demand of shoe-related labor reinforces the high demand for rigorous physical laborers in the economy, as supported by the data of very large amounts of farm related work as compared to most other labor options.


1860 United States census, Common occupations
IPUMS' data also notes that the share of the population that had been enrolled in school or marked as "Student" stood at 0.2%. This demonstrates a small rate of growth, if any, in the proficiency of the human capital of the time—the skill set a worker has to apply to the labor force, which can increase total output through increased efficiency.


1860 United States census, Common occupations
The census of 1860 was the last in which much of Southern wealth was held as slaves—still legally considered property. Analogous to today where wealth can fluctuate with value changes in stocks, factories, and other forms of property, the South suffered a huge loss of total wealth and assets when the American Civil War ended and slaves were no longer counted as physical property.


1860 United States elections
The 1860 United States elections elected the members of the 37th United States Congress. The election took place during the Third Party System, shortly before the start of the Civil War. The Republican Party won control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress, making it the fifth party (following the Federalist Party, Democratic-Republican Party, Democratic Party, and Whig Party) to accomplish such a feat. The election is widely considered to be a realigning election.


1860 United States elections
In the Presidential election, Republican former Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois defeated Democratic Vice President John C. Breckinridge (who became the first incumbent Vice President to lose a presidential election) and Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, as well as the Constitutional Union candidate, former Senator John Bell of Tennessee. Lincoln swept the Northern states while Breckinridge carried much of the South, foreshadowing the political alignment of the country throughout the Third Party System. At the 1860 Republican National Convention, Lincoln won on the third ballot, defeating Senator William H. Seward of New York and several other candidates.


1860 United States elections
The Democratic Party split its votes after three chaotic conventions. Douglas was nominated at the second Democratic convention, while the Southern Democrats nominated Breckinridge as their own candidate in a third convention. Bell ran on a platform of preserving the union regardless of the status of slavery. Lincoln's victory made him the first Republican President. Lincoln took just under 40 percent of the popular vote, a lower share of the popular vote than any other winning presidential candidate aside from John Quincy Adams's 1824 campaign.


1860 United States elections
In the House, Republicans retained control of the chamber and won a majority for the first time after several states seceded. Democrats remained the largest minority, but several Congressmen also identified as unionists.


1860 United States elections
In the Senate, Republicans made moderate gains, but Democrats initially retained a majority. They lost that majority shortly after the election when several Southern senators resigned. The Democrats would have the second-most members in the Senate, although many senators identified as unionists rather than Democrats or Republicans.


1860 United States presidential election
The 1860 United States presidential election  was the 19th quadrennial presidential election, held on November 6, 1860. In a four-way contest, the Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin, absent from the ballot in ten slave states, won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states already had abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes. Lincoln's election thus served as the main catalyst of the American Civil War.


1860 United States presidential election
The United States had become increasingly sectionally divided during the 1850s, primarily over extending slavery into the Western territories. The incumbent president, James Buchanan, like his predecessor, Franklin Pierce, was a Northern Democrat with Southern sympathies. From the mid-1850s, the anti-slavery Republican Party became a major political force, driven by Northern voter opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford. From the election of 1856, the Republican Party had replaced the defunct Whig Party as the major opposition to the Democrats. A group of former Whigs and Know Nothings formed the Constitutional Union Party, which sought to avoid disunion by resolving divisions over slavery with some new compromise.


1860 United States presidential election
The 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago nominated Lincoln, a moderate former one-term Whig Representative from Illinois. Its platform promised not to interfere with slavery in the South but opposed extension of slavery into the territories. The 1860 Democratic National Convention adjourned in Charleston, South Carolina, without agreeing on a nominee, but a second convention in Baltimore, Maryland, nominated Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas.


1860 United States presidential election
Douglas's support for the concept of popular sovereignty, which called for each territory's settlers to decide locally on the status of slavery, alienated many radical pro-slavery Southern Democrats, who wanted the territories, and perhaps other lands, open to slavery. With President Buchanan's support, Southern Democrats held their own convention, nominating Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. The 1860 Constitutional Union Convention nominated a ticket led by former Tennessee Senator John Bell.


1860 United States presidential election
Lincoln's main opponent in the North was Douglas, who won the popular vote in two states, Missouri and New Jersey. In the South, Bell won three states and Breckinridge swept the remaining 11. Lincoln's election motivated seven Southern states, all voting for Breckinridge, to secede before the inauguration and the secession of four more, including two that voted for Bell, after Lincoln mobilized Federal troops to protect Federal property and coerce the seven initially seceding states. The election was the first of six consecutive Republican victories.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations
The 1860 presidential election conventions were unusually tumultuous, due in particular to a split in the Democratic Party that led to rival conventions.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
The Republican National Convention met in mid-May 1860, after the Democrats had been forced to adjourn their convention in Charleston. With the Democrats in disarray and a sweep of the Northern states possible, the Republicans felt confident going into their convention in Chicago. William H. Seward from New York was considered the front-runner, followed by Salmon P. Chase from Ohio, and Missouri's Edward Bates. Abraham Lincoln from Illinois, was lesser known, and was not considered to have a good chance against Seward. Seward had been governor and senator of New York, was from firm Whig backgrounds, and was a very able politician. Also running were John C. Frémont, William L. Dayton, Cassius M. Clay, and Benjamin Wade, who might be able to win if the convention deadlocked.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
As the convention developed, however, it was revealed that frontrunners Seward, Chase, and Bates had each alienated factions of the Republican Party. Seward had (undeservingly) been painted as a radical, and his speeches on slavery predicted inevitable conflict, which spooked moderate delegates. He also was firmly opposed to nativism, which further weakened his position. He had also been abandoned by his longtime friend and political ally Horace Greeley, publisher of the influential New-York Tribune.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of the former Whigs by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s. He had also opposed tariffs demanded by Pennsylvania, and even had opposition from his own delegation from Ohio. However, Chase's firm antislavery stance made him popular with the radical Republicans. But what he had in policy he lacked in charisma and political acumen.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
The conservative Bates was an unlikely candidate, but found support from Horace Greeley, who sought any chance to defeat Seward, whom he now had a bitter feud with. Bates outlined his positions on the extension of slavery into the territories and equal constitutional rights for all citizens, positions that alienated his supporters in the border states and Southern conservatives, while German Americans in the party opposed Bates because of his past association with the Know Nothings.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
Into this mix came Lincoln. Lincoln was not unknown; he had gained prominence in the Lincoln–Douglas debates, and had served as a house representative from Illinois. He had been quietly eyeing a run since the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, ensuring that the debates were widely published, and that a biography of himself was published. He gained great notability with his February 1860 Cooper Union speech, which may have ensured him the nomination. He had not yet announced his intentions to run, but it was superb speech.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
Delivered in Seward's home state, and attended by Greeley, Lincoln used the speech to show that the Republican party was a party of moderates, not crazed fanatics as the South and Democrats claimed. Afterwards, Lincoln was in much demand for speaking engagements. As the convention approached, Lincoln did not campaign very actively, as the "office was expected to seek the man". So it did at the Illinois state convention, a week before the national convention.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
Young politician Richard Oglesby had secretly found several fence rails from the Hanks-Lincoln farm that Lincoln may have split as a youngster, and paraded them into the convention with a banner that proclaimed Lincoln to be "The Rail Candidate" for president. Lincoln received a thunderous ovation, surpassing the expectations of him and his political allies.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
Even with such support from his home state, Lincoln faced a difficult task if he was to win the nomination. He set about ensuring that he was the second choice of most delegates, realizing that the first round of voting at the convention was unlikely to produce a clear winner. He engineered that the convention would happen in Chicago, which would be inherently friendly to the Illinois-based Lincoln. He also made sure that the Illinois delegation would vote as a bloc for him. Lincoln did not attend the convention in person, and left the task of delegate wrangling to several close friends.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
The first round of voting predictably produced a lead for Seward, but not a majority, with Lincoln in second place. The second round eliminated most of the minor contenders, with votes switching to Seward or mostly to Lincoln. The convention remained deadlocked however, and skillful political maneuvering by Lincoln's delegate wranglers convinced the delegates to abandon Seward in favor of Lincoln. Lincoln's combination of a moderate stance on slavery, long support for economic issues, his western origins, and strong oratory proved to be exactly what the delegates wanted in a president. On the third ballot on May 18, Lincoln secured the nomination overwhelmingly. Senator Hannibal Hamlin from Maine was nominated for vice-president, defeating Cassius M. Clay. Hamlin was surprised by his nomination, saying he was "astonished" and that he "neither expected nor desired it."


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party nomination, Republican Party candidates gallery
The party platform promised not to interfere with slavery in the states, but opposed slavery in the territories. The platform promised tariffs protecting industry and workers, a Homestead Act granting free farmland in the West to settlers, and the funding of a transcontinental railroad. There was no mention of Mormonism (which had been condemned in the Party's 1856 platform), the Fugitive Slave Act, personal liberty laws, or the Dred Scott decision. While the Seward forces were disappointed at the nomination of a little-known western upstart, they rallied behind Lincoln, while abolitionists were angry at the selection of a moderate and had little faith in Lincoln.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination, Democratic Party candidates gallery
At the Democratic National Convention held in Institute Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1860, 50 Southern Democrats walked out over a platform dispute, led by the extreme pro-slavery "Fire-Eater" William Lowndes Yancey and the Alabama delegation: following them were the entire delegations of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, three of the four delegates from Arkansas, and one of the three delegates from Delaware.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination, Democratic Party candidates gallery
Six candidates were nominated: Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois, James Guthrie from Kentucky, Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter from Virginia, Joseph Lane from Oregon, Daniel S. Dickinson from New York, and Andrew Johnson from Tennessee, while three other candidates, Isaac Toucey from Connecticut, James Pearce from Maryland, and Jefferson Davis from Mississippi (the future president of the Confederate States) also received votes.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination, Democratic Party candidates gallery
Douglas, a moderate on the slavery issue who favored "popular sovereignty", was ahead on the first ballot, but was 56½ votes short of the secure the nomination. On the 57th ballot, with Douglas was still ahead, but 51½ votes short of the nomination, the exhausted and desperate delegates agreed on May 3 to cease voting and adjourn the convention.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination, Democratic Party candidates gallery
While the Democrats convened again at the Front Street Theater in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 18, 110 Southern delegates (led by "Fire-Eaters") boycotted the convention or walked out after the convention informed them they would not adopt a resolution supporting extending slavery into territories whose voters did not want it.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination, Democratic Party candidates gallery
While some considered Horatio Seymour a compromise candidate for the National Democratic nomination at the reconvening convention in Baltimore, Seymour wrote a letter to the editor of his local newspaper declaring unreservedly that he was not a candidate for either spot on the ticket. After two ballots - the 59th ballot overall - the remaining Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois for president. The election would now pit Lincoln against his longtime political rival, whom Lincoln had lost to in the Illinois senate race just two years earlier. That two candidates were from Illinois showed the importance of the West in the election.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination, Democratic Party candidates gallery
While Benjamin Fitzpatrick from Alabama was nominated for vice president, he refused the nomination.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic (Northern Democratic) Party nomination, Democratic Party candidates gallery
After the convention concluded with no vice-presidential nominee, Douglas offered the nomination to Herschel Vespasian Johnson from Georgia, who accepted.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Southern Democratic Party nomination, Southern Democratic Party candidates gallery
The delegates who walked out of the convention at Charleston  reconvened in Richmond, Virginia on June 11. When the Democrats reconvened in Baltimore, they rejoined (except South Carolina and Florida, who had stayed in Richmond).


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Southern Democratic Party nomination, Southern Democratic Party candidates gallery
When the convention seated two replacement delegations on June 18, they walked out again or boycotted the convention, accompanied by nearly all other Southern delegates and erstwhile Convention chair Caleb Cushing, a New Englander and former member of Franklin Pierce's cabinet.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Southern Democratic Party nomination, Southern Democratic Party candidates gallery
This larger group met immediately in Baltimore's Institute Hall, with Cushing again presiding. They adopted the pro-slavery platform rejected at Charleston, and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge for president, and Senator Joseph Lane from Oregon for vice president.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Southern Democratic Party nomination, Southern Democratic Party candidates gallery
Yancey and some (less than half) of the bolters - almost entirely from the Lower South - met on June 28 in Richmond, along with the South Carolina and Florida delegations, at a convention that affirmed the nominations of Breckinridge and Lane.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Southern Democratic Party nomination, Southern Democratic Party candidates gallery
Besides the Democratic Parties in the Southern states, the Breckinridge/Lane ticket was also supported by the Buchanan administration. Buchanan's own continued prestige in his home state of Pennsylvania ensured that Breckinridge would be the principal Democratic candidate in that populous state. Breckinridge was the last sitting vice president nominated for president until Richard Nixon in 1960.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Constitutional Union Party nomination
The Constitutional Union Party was formed by remnants of both the defunct Know Nothing and Whig Parties who were unwilling to join either the Republicans or the Democrats. The new party's members hoped to stave off Southern secession by avoiding the slavery issue. They met in the Eastside District Courthouse of Baltimore and nominated John Bell from Tennessee for president over Governor Sam Houston of Texas on the second ballot. Edward Everett was nominated for vice-president at the convention on May 9, 1860, one week before Lincoln.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Constitutional Union Party nomination
John Bell was a former Whig who had opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the Lecompton Constitution. Edward Everett had been president of Harvard University and Secretary of State in the Millard Fillmore administration. The party platform advocated compromise to save the Union with the slogan "The Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is."


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Liberty (Union) Party nomination, Liberty Party (Radical Abolitionists, Union) candidates gallery
By 1860, very little remained of the Liberty Party, after most of its membership left to join the Free Soil Party in 1848 and nearly all of what remained of it joined the Republicans in 1854. The remaining party was also called the Radical Abolitionists. A convention of one hundred delegates was held in Convention Hall, Syracuse, New York, on August 29, 1860. Delegates were in attendance from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Massachusetts. Several of the delegates were women.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Liberty (Union) Party nomination, Liberty Party (Radical Abolitionists, Union) candidates gallery
Gerrit Smith, a prominent abolitionist and the 1848 presidential nominee of the original Liberty Party, had sent a letter in which he stated that his health had been so poor that he had not been able to be away from home since 1858. Nonetheless, he remained popular in the party because he had helped inspire some of John Brown's supporters at the Raid on Harpers Ferry. In his letter, Smith donated $50 to pay for the printing of ballots in the various states.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Liberty (Union) Party nomination, Liberty Party (Radical Abolitionists, Union) candidates gallery
There was quite a spirited contest between the friends of Gerrit Smith and William Goodell in regard to the nomination for the presidency. In spite of his professed ill health, Gerrit Smith was nominated for president and Samuel McFarland from Pennsylvania was nominated for vice president.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, Liberty (Union) Party nomination, Liberty Party (Radical Abolitionists, Union) candidates gallery
In Ohio and Illinois, slates of presidential electors pledged to Smith ran with the name of the Union Party.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, People's Party nomination
The People's Party was a loose association of the supporters of Governor Samuel Houston. On April 20, 1860, the party held what it termed a national convention to nominate Houston for president on the San Jacinto Battlefield in Texas. Houston's supporters at the gathering did not nominate a vice-presidential candidate, since they expected later gatherings to carry out that function. Later mass meetings were held in northern cities, such as New York City on May 30, 1860, but they too failed to nominate a vice-presidential candidate.


1860 United States presidential election, Nominations, People's Party nomination
Houston, never enthusiastic about running for the Presidency, soon became convinced that he had no chance of winning and that his candidacy would only make it easier for the Republican candidate to win. He withdrew from the race on August 16, and urged the formation of a Unified "Union" ticket in opposition to Lincoln.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
In their campaigning, Bell and Douglas both claimed that disunion would not necessarily follow a Lincoln election. Nonetheless, loyal army officers in Virginia, Kansas and South Carolina warned Lincoln of military preparations to the contrary. Secessionists threw their support behind Breckinridge in an attempt either to force the anti-Republican candidates to coordinate their electoral votes or throw the election into the House of Representatives, where the selection of the president would be made by the representatives elected in 1858, before the Republican majorities in both House and Senate achieved in 1860 were seated in the new 37th Congress. Mexican War hero Winfield Scott suggested to Lincoln that he assume the powers of a commander-in-chief before inauguration. However, historian Bruce Chadwick observes that Lincoln and his advisors ignored the widespread alarms and threats of secession as mere election trickery.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
Indeed, voting in the South was not as monolithic as the Electoral College map would make it seem. Economically, culturally, and politically, the South was made up of three regions. In the states of the "Upper" South, later known as the "Border States" (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri along with the Kansas territories), unionist popular votes were scattered among Lincoln, Douglas, and Bell, to form a majority in all four.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
In the "Middle" South states, there was a unionist majority divided between Douglas and Bell in Virginia and Tennessee; in North Carolina and Arkansas, the unionist (Bell and Douglas) vote approached a majority. Texas was the only Middle South state that Breckinridge carried convincingly. In three of the six "Deep" South states, unionists (Bell and Douglas) won divided majorities in Georgia and Louisiana or neared it in Alabama. Breckinridge convincingly carried only three of the six states of the Deep South (South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi). These three Deep South states were all among the four Southern states with the lowest white populations; together, they held only nine percent of Southern whites.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
Among the slave states, the three states with the highest voter turnouts voted the most one-sided. Texas, with five percent of the total wartime South's population, voted 75 percent Breckinridge. Kentucky and Missouri, with one-fourth the total population, voted 73 percent pro-union Bell, Douglas and Lincoln. In comparison, the six states of the Deep South making up one-fourth the Confederate voting population, split 57 percent Breckinridge versus 43 percent for the two pro-union candidates. The four states that were admitted to the Confederacy after Fort Sumter held almost half its population, and voted a narrow combined majority of 53 percent for the pro-union candidates.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
In the eleven states that would later declare their secession from the Union and be controlled by Confederate armies, ballots for Lincoln were cast only in Virginia,where he received 1,929 votes (1.15 percent of the total). Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the votes Lincoln received were cast in border counties of what would soon become West Virginia – the future state accounted for 1,832 of Lincoln's 1,929 votes.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
Lincoln received no votes at all in 121 of the state's then-145 counties (including 31 of the 50 that would form West Virginia), received a single vote in three counties and received ten or fewer votes in nine of the 24 counties where he polled votes. Lincoln's best results, by far, were in the four counties that comprised the state's northern panhandle, a region which had long felt alienated from Richmond, was economically and culturally linked to its neighbors Ohio and Pennsylvania and would become the key driver in the successful effort to form a separate state.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
Hancock County (Virginia's northernmost at the time) returned Lincoln's best result – he polled over 40% of the vote there and finished in second place (Lincoln polled only eight votes fewer than Breckinridge). Of the 97 votes cast for Lincoln in the state's post-1863 boundaries, 93 were polled in four counties along the Potomac River and four were tallied in the coastal city of Portsmouth.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
Some key differences between modern elections and the those of the mid-nineteenth century are that at the time, not only was there was no secret ballot anywhere in the United States, but the state did not print and distribute ballots.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
In theory, any document containing a valid or at least non-excessive number names of citizens of a particular state (provided they were eligible to vote in the electoral college within that state) might have been accepted as a valid presidential ballot, however what this meant in practice was that a candidate's campaign was responsible for printing and distributing their own ballots (this service was typically done by supportive newspaper publishers).


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
Moreover, since voters did not choose the president directly, but rather presidential electors, the only way for a voter to meaningfully support a particular candidate for president was cast a ballot for citizens of his state who would have pledged to vote for the candidate in the Electoral College. In ten southern slave states, no citizen would publicly pledge to vote for Abraham Lincoln, so citizens there had no legal means to vote for the Republican nominee. In most of Virginia, no publisher would print ballots for Lincoln's pledged electors.


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
While a citizen without access to a ballot for Lincoln could theoretically have still voted for him by means of a write-in ballot provided his state had electors pledged to Lincoln and the voter knew their identities, casting a ballot in favor of the Republican candidate in a strongly pro-slavery county would have incurred (at minimum) social ostracization (of course, casting a vote for Breckinridge in a strongly abolitionist county ran a voter the same risk).


1860 United States presidential election, Political considerations
In the four slave states that did not secede (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware), Lincoln came in fourth in every state except Delaware (where he finished third). Within the fifteen slave states, Lincoln won only two counties out of 996, Missouri's St. Louis and Gasconade Counties. In the 1856 election, the Republican candidate for president had received no votes at all in twelve of the fourteen slave states with a popular vote (these being the same states as in the 1860 election, plus Missouri and Virginia).


1860 United States presidential election, Results
The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, and was noteworthy for the exaggerated sectionalism and voter enthusiasm in a country that was soon to dissolve into civil war. Voter turnout was 81.2%, the highest in American history up to that time, and the second-highest overall (exceeded only in the election of 1876).


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Since Andrew Jackson had won re-election in 1832, all six subsequent presidents had only won one term, while the last four of those had won with a popular vote under 51 percent.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Lincoln won the Electoral College with less than 40 percent of the popular vote nationwide by carrying states above the Mason–Dixon line and north of the Ohio River, plus the states of California and Oregon in the Far West. Unlike every preceding president-elect, Lincoln did not carry even one slave state.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
There were no ballots distributed for Lincoln in ten of the Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Lincoln was therefore the second President-elect to poll no votes in some states which had a popular vote (the first was John Quincy Adams, who polled no ballots in the popular votes of two states in the election of 1824, the only other election in which there were four major candidates, none of whom distributed ballots in every state).


1860 United States presidential election, Results
It should be further noted that, prior to introduction of the secret ballot in the 1880s, the concept of ballot access did not exist in the sense it does today: there was no standardized state-issued ballot for a candidate to "appear" on. Instead, presidential ballots were printed and distributed by agents of the candidates and their parties, who organized slates of would-be electors publicly pledged to vote for a particular candidate.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
The 1824 and 1860 presidential elections were the only two prior to the introduction of the secret ballot where a winning candidate was so unpopular in a particular region that it was impossible to organize and print ballots for a slate of eligible voters pledged to vote for that candidate in an entire state.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Since 1860, and excluding unreconstructed Southern states in 1868 and 1872, there have been two occasions where a Republican presidential candidate failed to poll votes in every state, while national Democratic candidates have failed to appear on all state ballots in three elections since the introduction of the secret ballot, though in all three, the Democratic candidate nonetheless won the presidency , but none of them were off the ballot in as many states as Lincoln in 1860.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Lincoln won the second-lowest share of the popular vote among all winning presidential candidates in U.S. history. Lincoln's share of the popular vote would likely have been even lower if there had been a popular vote in South Carolina, though conversely it would likely have been higher had he been on the ballot in Southern states. The Republican victory resulted from the concentration of votes in the free states, which together controlled a majority of the presidential electors.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Lincoln's strategy was deliberately focused, in collaboration with Republican Party Chairman Thurlow Weed, on expanding on the states Frémont won four years earlier: New York was critical with 35 Electoral College votes, 11.5 percent of the total, and with Pennsylvania (27) and Ohio (23) as well, a candidate could collect 85 votes, whereas 152 were required to win.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
The Wide Awakes young Republican men's organization massively expanded registered voter lists, and although Lincoln was not even on the ballot in most Southern states, population increases in the free states had far exceeded those seen in the slave states for many years before the election of 1860, hence free states dominated in the Electoral College.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
The split in the Democratic party is sometimes held responsible for Lincoln's victory despite the fact that Lincoln won the election with less than 40% of the popular vote, as much of the anti-Republican vote was "wasted" in Southern states in which no ballots for Lincoln were circulated.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
At most, a single opponent nationwide would have deprived Lincoln of only California, Oregon, and four New Jersey electors, whose combined total of eleven electoral votes would have made no difference to the result since every other state won by the Republicans was won by a clear majority of the vote: in this scenario, Lincoln would have received 169 electoral votes, 17 more than the 152 required to win.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
In the four states of New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and New Jersey where anti-Lincoln votes were combined into fusion tickets, Lincoln still won three and split New Jersey; despite this, a shift of 25,000 votes to the fusion ticket in New York would have left Lincoln with 145 electoral votes - seven votes short of winning the Electoral College - and forced a contingent election in the House of Representatives. Of the five states that Lincoln failed to carry despite polling votes, he received 20 percent of the vote in only one (Delaware), and 10 percent of the vote in only one more (Missouri).


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Like Lincoln, Breckinridge and Bell won no electoral votes outside of their respective sections. While Bell retired to his family business, quietly supporting his state's secession, Breckinridge served as a Confederate general. He finished second in the Electoral College with 72 votes, carrying eleven of fifteen slave states (including South Carolina, whose electors were chosen by the state legislature, not popular vote). Breckinridge stood a distant third in national popular vote at eighteen percent, but accrued 50 to 75 percent in the first seven states that would form the Confederate States of America. He took nine of the eleven states that eventually joined, plus the border slave states of Delaware and Maryland, losing only Virginia and Tennessee. Breckinridge received very little support in the free states, showing some strength only in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Bell carried three slave states (Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia) and lost Maryland by only 722 votes. Nevertheless, he finished a remarkable second in all slave states won by Breckinridge or Douglas. He won 45 to 47 percent in Maryland, Tennessee and North Carolina and canvassed respectably with 36 to 40 percent in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. Bell himself had hoped that he would take over the former support of the extinct Whig Party in free states, but the majority of this support went to Lincoln. Thus, except for running mate Everett's home state of Massachusetts, and California, Bell received even less support in the free states than did Breckinridge, and consequently came in last in the national popular vote, at 12.62%.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Douglas was the only candidate who won electoral votes in both slave and free states (free New Jersey and slave Missouri). His support was the most widespread geographically; he finished second behind Lincoln in the popular vote with 29.52%, but last in the Electoral College. Douglas attained a 28 to 47% share in the states of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Trans-Mississippi West, but slipped to 19 to 39% in New England.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
Outside his regional section, Douglas took 15 to 17% of the popular vote total in the slave states of Kentucky, Alabama, and Louisiana, then 10 percent or less in the nine remaining slave states. Douglas, in his "Norfolk Doctrine", reiterated in North Carolina, promised to keep the Union together by coercion if states proceeded to secede: the popular vote for Lincoln and Douglas combined was 69.17% of the turnout.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
The 1860 Republican ticket was the first successful national ticket that did not feature a Southerner, and the election marked the end of Southern political dominance in the United States. Between 1789 and 1860, Southerners had been president for two-thirds of the era, and had held the offices of Speaker of the House and President pro tem of the Senate during much of that time. Moreover, since 1791, Southerners had comprised a majority of the Supreme Court.


1860 United States presidential election, Results
(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election, Results by state
Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, Presidential ballots, 1836–1892 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–57.


1860 United States presidential election, Trigger for the Civil War
Lincoln's victory and imminent inauguration as president was the immediate cause for declarations of secession by seven Southern states (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) from 20 December 1860 to 1 February 1861. They then formed the Confederate States of America.


1860 United States presidential election, Trigger for the Civil War
Several other states also considered declaring secession at the time:


1860 United States presidential election, Trigger for the Civil War
All of the secessionist activity was motivated by fear for the institution of slavery in the South. If the President (and, by extension, the appointed federal officials in the South, such as district attorneys, marshals, postmasters, and judges) opposed slavery, it might collapse. There were fears that abolitionist agents would infiltrate the South and foment slave insurrections. (The noted secessionist William Lowndes Yancey, speaking at New York's Cooper Institute in October 1860, asserted that with abolitionists in power, "Emissaries will percolate between master [and] slave as water between the crevices of rocks underground. They will be found everywhere, with strychnine to put in our wells.") Less radical Southerners thought that with Northern antislavery dominance of the federal government, slavery would eventually be abolished, regardless of present constitutional limits.


1860 United States presidential election, Trigger for the Civil War
Bertram Wyatt-Brown argues that secessionists desired independence as necessary for their honor. They could no longer tolerate Northern state attitudes that regarded slave ownership as a great sin and Northern politicians who insisted on stopping the spread of slavery.


1860 United States presidential election, Trigger for the Civil War
Another bloc of Southerners resented Northern criticism of slavery and restrictions on slavery but opposed secession as dangerous and unnecessary. However, the "conditional Unionists" also hoped that when faced with secession, Northerners would stifle anti-slavery rhetoric and accept pro-slavery rules for the territories. It was that group that prevented immediate secession in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas whenLincoln took office on 4 March 1861. He took no action against the secessionists in the seven "Confederate" states but also declared that secession had no legal validity and refused to surrender federal property in those states. (He also reiterated his opposition to slavery anywhere in the territories.) The standoff continued until mid-April, when Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered Confederate troops to bombard and capture Fort Sumter.


1860 United States presidential election, Trigger for the Civil War
Lincoln then called for troops to put down rebellion, which wiped out the possibility that the crisis could be resolved by compromise. Nearly all "conditional Unionists" joined the secessionists. The Virginia convention and the reconvened Arkansas convention both declared secession, as did the legislatures of Tennessee and North Carolina; all four states joined the Confederacy.


1860 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1860 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Alabama
Alabama was won by the 14th Vice President of the United States John Breckenridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 54.00% of the popular vote, against Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 30.89% of the popular vote and the 15th Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 15.11% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Alabama
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in the state.


1860 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1860 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Arkansas voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Arkansas was won by the 14th Vice President of the United States John C. Breckinridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 53.06% of the popular vote, against Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 37.05% of the popular vote and Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel Johnson, with 9.89% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Arkansas
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in the state.


1860 United States presidential election in California
The 1860 United States presidential election in California took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in California
California narrowly voted for the Republican nominee, former Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln, over the Democratic nominee, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas and the Southern Democratic nominee, Vice President John C. Breckinridge.


1860 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1860 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose six electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who won by a margin of 32.36%.


1860 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1860 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Delaware
Delaware was won by the 14th Vice President of the United States John C. Breckinridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 45.54% of the popular vote, against Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 24.13% of the popular vote, Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln (R–Kentucky), running with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 23.72% of the popular vote and the 15th Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Vermont), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 6.61% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Delaware, Results
*In this county where Lincoln ran ahead of Belll, margin given is Breckinridge vote minus Lincoln vote and percentage margin Breckinridge percentage minus Lincoln percentage.


1860 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1860 United States presidential election in Florida took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose three electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Florida
Florida was won by Southern Democratic candidate John C. Breckinridge, who won the state by a margin of 26.13%.


1860 United States presidential election in Florida
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in the state.


1860 United States presidential election in Florida
This was the last presidential election Florida was in until the 1868 election due to the American Civil War and the beginnings of the Reconstruction Era.


1860 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1860 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Georgia voters chose 10 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Georgia
Georgia was won by the 14th Vice President of the United States John Breckenridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 48.89% of the popular vote, against Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 40.26% of the popular vote and Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 10.85% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Georgia
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in the state. This was the last time until 1964 that Georgia did not vote for the national Democratic Party.


1860 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1860 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Illinois voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois was won by the former congressman Abraham Lincoln (Whig–Illinois), running as a Republican with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 50.69% of the popular vote, against Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 47.17% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Illinois
Liberty Party (under the name Union Party) candidate Gerrit Smith received 35 of his 171 popular votes in Illinois alone. The other 136 votes came from Ohio.


1860 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1860 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Indiana voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Indiana
Indiana was won by Representative Abraham Lincoln (R–Illinois), running with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 51.09% of the popular vote, against Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 42.44% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1860 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Iowa voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln (R–Illinois), running with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 54.61% of the popular vote, against Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Vermont), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 43.22% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Kentucky
The 1860 United States presidential election in Kentucky took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Kentucky voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Kentucky was won by the Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 45.18% of the popular vote, against 14th Vice President of the United States John Breckenridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 36.35% of the popular vote and the 15th Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 17.54% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Kentucky
Despite former representative Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) having been born and raised for the first five years of his life in Kentucky, he came in a distant fourth, failing to win 1% of the vote. Even worse, Lincoln failed to win LaRue County, the location of his birth. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Clay County voted for a Democratic candidate.


1860 United States presidential election in Louisiana
The 1860 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Louisiana voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Louisiana was won by Southern Democratic candidate, Vice President John C. Breckinridge and his running with Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon. The ticket defeated the Constitution Union ticket of Senator John Bell of Tennessee and his running mate Massachusetts Governor Edward Everett along with Northern Democrat Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and his running mate Georgia Governor Herschel V. Johnson.


1860 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Breckinridge won the state by a narrow margin of 4.90%.


1860 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in the state.


1860 United States presidential election in Maine
The 1860 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Maine
Maine was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who won by a margin of 32.82%.


1860 United States presidential election in Maine
With 62.24% of the popular vote, Maine would prove to be Lincoln's fourth strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage after Vermont, Minnesota and Massachusetts.


1860 United States presidential election in Maryland
The 1860 United States presidential election in Maryland took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Maryland voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Maryland
Maryland was won by the 14th Vice President of the United States John Breckenridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 45.93% of the popular vote, against Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the 15th Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 45.14% of the popular vote and Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Vermont), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 6.45% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Maryland
Despite coming in a distant fourth place with 2,294 votes Abraham Lincoln did receive over 2,000 more votes than John C. Frémont received in 1856 and would later win the state in 1864 with 55% of the vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 1860 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Massachusetts was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who won the state by 42.57%.


1860 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
With 62.80% of the popular vote, Massachusetts would prove to be Lincoln's third strongest state in the 1860 election in terms of popular vote percentage after neighboring Vermont and Minnesota.


1860 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 1860 United States presidential election in Michigan took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Michigan
Michigan was won by Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln (R–Kentucky), running with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 57.23% of the popular vote, against Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Vermont), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 43.97% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Minnesota
The 1860 United States presidential election in Minnesota took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Minnesota voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Minnesota
Minnesota voted in its first ever United States presidential election, having been admitted as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858. The state was won by Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln (Republican Party (United States)), running with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 63.53% of the popular vote, against Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 34.31% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Minnesota
With 63.53% of the popular vote, Lincoln's victory within the state would be his second strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote in the 1860 election after Vermont. Minnesota would never vote Democratic until Franklin D. Roosevelt won it in 1932, 72 years later.


1860 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The 1860 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Mississippi voters chose seven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Mississippi
Mississippi was won by the 14th Vice President of the United States John C. Breckinridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 59.00% of the popular vote, against Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the 15th Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 36.25% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Mississippi
The Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in the state.


1860 United States presidential election in Missouri
The 1860 United States presidential election in Missouri took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose nine representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Missouri
Missouri was won by Democratic candidate, Stephen A. Douglas. He won the state by a very narrow margin of 0.26%. The state was the only one to fully give its votes to Douglas, though he would win the popular vote and three of the seven electoral votes from New Jersey under a fusion ticket.


1860 United States presidential election in Missouri
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last occasion when Putnam County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate and the last occasion when Taney County did not vote for the Republican candidate.


1860 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
The 1860 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose five electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in New Hampshire
New Hampshire was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who won the state by 17.61%.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The 1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on 6 November 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters in New Jersey chose seven electors of the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President. New Jersey voters voted for each elector individually, and thus could split their votes. All seven electors were chosen in a single at-large election. That is, each voter voted for up to seven candidates, and the seven candidates with highest vote counts were elected.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The state's seven electoral votes were split, with Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln getting four, while Democrat Stephen A. Douglas won 3. That was because the Democratic electors were part of a fusion ticket between the regular Democrats, supporting Douglas, breakaway Democrats, supporting John C. Breckinridge, and the Constitutional Union Party, former Whigs supporting John Bell.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The fusion ticket was formed because none of the three factions thought that it could defeat the Republicans separately, but their combined votes could do so, and then, each group would get some electoral votes. Several different slates were proposed. The final fusion ticket consisted of three electors pledged to Douglas, two pledged to Breckinridge, and two pledged to Bell.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
However, many Douglas Democrats resented the concession to the Breckinridge and Bell factions and believed that the Breckinridge and Bell voters were much fewer and that Douglas could carry the state if all opponents of Lincoln supported him. That group formed a slate of seven Douglas Democrats, which included the three on the fusion ticket.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
At the time, election authorities did not issue pre-printed ballots with all candidates' names, to be marked by voters. Instead, each voter wrote his votes down on a piece of paper or used a pre-printed ballot distributed by a political party or faction that had only the names of that group's candidates. The voter could modify a pre-printed ballot by crossing off or writing over one or more of the printed names. The state Democrats issued a pre-printed ballot with the seven fusion candidates; the dissident Democrats issued a ballot with the all-Douglas slate.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
In the election, about 58,200 fusion ticket ballots were cast, about 4,600 straight-Democrat ballots, and about 58,300 Republican ballots. The exact numbers cannot be determined, as some voters altered their pre-printed ballots or cast hand-written ballots. It appears that the names of some of the Breckinridge or Bell electors were crossed off or replaced by from 400 to 2,000 fusion-ticket voters.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
The three Douglas candidates who were on both the fusion and straight-Democrat tickets got over 62,000 votes, the seven Republican candidates all got about 58,300 votes, and the four non-Douglas candidates on the fusion ticket got 58,200 or less.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
Thus, three Douglas candidates and four Lincoln candidates were elected.


1860 United States presidential election in New Jersey
New Jersey was one of four states in 1860 on which the Democrats formed a fusion ticket. The other three states were New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.


1860 United States presidential election in New York
The 1860 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose 35 electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in New York
New York was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who defeated the Democratic fusion ticket.


1860 United States presidential election in New York
New York in the election was one of the 4 states that had a fusion ticket for the Democratic Party. The other three states were New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.


1860 United States presidential election in North Carolina
The 1860 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 10 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in North Carolina
North Carolina was won by the 14th Vice President of the United States John C. Breckinridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 50.51% of the popular vote, against Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the 15th Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 46.66% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in North Carolina
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in the state.


1860 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1860 United States presidential election in Ohio took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Ohio voters chose 23 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Ohio
Ohio was won by Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln (R–Kentucky), running with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 51.24% of the popular vote, against Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Vermont), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 43.30% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Ohio
Liberty Party (under the name Union Party) candidate Gerrit Smith received 136 of his 171 popular votes in Ohio alone. The other 35 votes came from Illinois.


1860 United States presidential election in Ohio
The 1860 presidential election in Ohio began a streak in which no Republican candidate won the election without carrying the state.


1860 United States presidential election in Oregon
The 1860 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Oregon voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Oregon
Oregon voted in its first ever presidential election, having become the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. The state was won by Illinois Representative Abraham Lincoln (R–Kentucky), running with Senator Hannibal Hamlin, with 36.20% of the popular vote, against the 14th Vice President of the United States John C. Breckinridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 34.37% of the popular vote and Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 27.99% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Oregon
Oregon was the only state where the first and second place finishers matched the first and second place national finishers in the electoral college (Lincoln first, then Breckenridge in second).


1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
The 1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose 27 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
The Democratic Party chose its slate of electors before the National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. Since this was decided before the party split, both Douglas supporters and Breckinridge supporters claimed the right for their man to be considered the party candidate and the support of the electoral slate. Eventually, the state party worked out an agreement: if either candidate could win the national election with Pennsylvania's electoral vote, then all her electoral votes would go to that candidate. Of the 27 electoral candidates, 15 were Breckinridge supporters; the remaining 12 were for Douglas. This was often referred to as the Reading electoral slate, because it was in that city that the state party chose it.


1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Not all of the Douglas supporters agreed to the Reading slate deal and established a separate Douglas-only ticket. This slate comprised the 12 Douglas electoral candidates on the Reading ticket, and 15 additional Douglas supporters. This ticket was usually referred to as the Straight Douglas ticket. Thus 12 electoral candidates appeared on 2 tickets, Reading and Straight Douglas.


1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania voted for the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, over the fusion ticket. Lincoln won Pennsylvania by a margin of 18.72%.


1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania in the election was one of the four states that had a fusion ticket for the Democratic Party. The other three states were New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.


1860 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
The 1860 United States presidential election in Rhode Island took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose four electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Rhode Island was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who won by a margin of 22.74%.


1860 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
With 61.37% of the popular vote, Rhode Island would prove to be Lincoln's fifth strongest state in terms of popular vote percentage in the 1860 election after Vermont, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Maine.


1860 United States presidential election in Rhode Island
Like New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, Rhode Island was one of the four states that had a fusion ticket for the Democrats, which consisted of not just the Northern Democrats, but of supporters of Southern Democrats and Constitutional Unionists as well.


1860 United States presidential election in South Carolina
The 1860 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose 8 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. By 1860 only one state, South Carolina, used this procedure in a presidential election. This would be, as of 2020, the final time a state exercised its option to restrict its presidential franchise to state legislators.


1860 United States presidential election in South Carolina
South Carolina cast 8 electoral votes for the Southern Democratic candidate John C. Breckinridge. These electors were chosen by the South Carolina General Assembly, the state legislature, rather than by popular vote. However, Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln would win the election nationally and would cause a major upset in the Southern States. South Carolina would be the first state to secede from the Union, on December 20, 1860, and would join the newly formed Confederate States of America in the February of the following year. South Carolina would not vote in another presidential election until 1868.


1860 United States presidential election in Tennessee
The 1860 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Tennessee was won by the Senator John Bell (CU–Tennessee), running with the 15th Governor of Massachusetts Edward Everett, with 47.72% of the popular vote, against the 14th Vice President of the United States John Breckenridge (SD–Kentucky), running with Senator Joseph Lane, with 44.55% of the popular vote and Senator Stephen A. Douglas (D–Illinois), running with 41st Governor of Georgia Herschel V. Johnson, with 7.72% of the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Tennessee
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln (who was elected President) was not on the ballot in Tennessee, the only one of ten such states to be carried by a candidate other than Breckinridge.


1860 United States presidential election in Texas
The 1860 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 6, 1860. State voters chose four electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Texas
Texas voted for the Southern Democratic nominee John C. Breckinridge, who received 75% of the vote. Texas was Breckinridge's strongest state.


1860 United States presidential election in Texas
Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was not on the ballot in Texas; neither was "Northern Democrat" Stephen A. Douglas, although Douglas did gain 18 votes as a write-in candidate. Douglas supporters had agreed to transfer their allegiance to Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, but Bell carried only three counties in the state and it is sometimes thought that the German-American abolitionists in such counties as Gillespie refrained from visiting the polls.


1860 United States presidential election in Texas
Texas eventually seceded from the United States in March 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America. It would not participate in the following elections in 1864 and 1868. The state would not be readmitted into the Union until 1870 and would not participate in another presidential election until 1872.


1860 United States presidential election in Vermont
The 1860 United States presidential election in Vermont took place on November 2, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose five electors of the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Vermont
Vermont was won by Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who won the state by a 56.45% margin.


1860 United States presidential election in Vermont
With 75.86% of the popular vote, Vermont would be Lincoln's strongest victory in terms of percentage in the popular vote.


1860 United States presidential election in Vermont
Northern Democratic presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas was born in Brandon, Vermont.


1860 United States presidential election in Virginia
The 1860 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Virginia
Virginia was one of only three states to vote for the Constitutional Union candidate, former U.S. Senator John Bell, over the Southern Democratic candidate, Vice President John C. Breckinridge, and the Democratic candidate, U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Former U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln was also the Republican candidate in this election, but he received the lowest support for any Republican presidential candidate (as well as the lowest support of any candidate who won the presidency) in the history of Virginia.


1860 United States presidential election in Virginia
This was the first presidential election since the formation of political parties in which Virginia did not vote for the Democratic or Democratic-Republican candidate. It was also the closest presidential election result in Virginia history: Bell won by 156 votes, or a margin of 0.093474% – the thirteenth-closest statewide presidential result in United States history and the closest between 1836 and 1876. Virginia eventually seceded from the United States on April 17, 1861, and did not participate in the following elections in 1864 and 1868.


1860 United States presidential election in Virginia
However, unionist counties in the Ohio basin, plus a number of adjacent counties in the northwest, seceded to form the state of West Virginia and did participate in those two elections. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Morgan County, one of the counties that broke off to form West Virginia, did not vote for the Republican candidate.


1860 United States presidential election in Virginia
Virginia was the only one of the eleven states that would later declare their secession from the Union and be controlled by Confederate armies where any ballots for Lincoln were distributed, and the vast majority of the votes Lincoln received were cast in border counties of what would soon become West Virginia – the future state accounted for 1,832 of Lincoln's 1,929 votes.


1860 United States presidential election in Virginia
Lincoln received no votes at all in 121 of the state's then-145 counties (including 31 of the 50 that would form West Virginia), received a single vote in three counties and received ten or fewer votes in nine of the 24 counties where he polled votes. Lincoln's best results, by far, were in the four counties that comprised the state's northern panhandle, a region which had long felt alienated from Richmond and which was economically and culturally linked to its neighbors Ohio and Pennsylvania and which would become the key driver in the successful effort to form a separate state.


1860 United States presidential election in Virginia
Hancock County (Virginia's northernmost at the time) returned Lincoln's best result – he polled over 40% of the vote there and finished in second place (Lincoln polled only eight votes fewer than Breckinridge). Of the 97 votes cast for Lincoln in the state's post-1863 boundaries, 93 were polled in four counties along the Potomac River and four were cast in the coastal city of Portsmouth.


1860 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
The 1860 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 6, 1860 as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. State voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1860 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Wisconsin was won by the Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln with 57% of the popular vote, winning the states five electoral votes.


1860 Vermont elections
The Vermont Election in 1860 consisted of elections for federal, state, and local elections. All state offices were for two years. All terms expired in 1862. Elections included the gubernatorial, all state offices, including all state senators and representatives, the federal Congress and the presidential.


1860 Vermont elections
Seats were distributed two state senate seats per county; 1 state lower house seat per town or city.


1860 Vermont elections
Voters elected 29 Republicans to the state senate and 1 Democrat. They elected 211 Republicans to the lower house; 25 Democrats.


1860 Vermont gubernatorial election
The 1860 Vermont gubernatorial election for governor of Vermont was held on Tuesday, September 4. In keeping with the "Mountain Rule", incumbent Republican Hiland Hall was not a candidate for a third one-year term. The Republican nominee was former Governor Erastus Fairbanks. With the Democratic Party fracturing nationally over the slavery issue, John Godfrey Saxe, the Democratic nominee against Hall in 1859, appeared on the ballot as a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas for president. Robert Harvey appeared as a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate John C. Breckinridge.


1860 Vermont gubernatorial election
Vermont continued to strongly oppose the continuation of slavery and its backing of the Republican Party's abolitionist platform was unwavering. Fairbanks easily defeated both Democrats to win a one-year term. He took his oath of office on October 12.


1860 Wellington colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Wellington on 26 July 1860 because Nicolas Hyeronimus died.


1860 West Moreton colonial by-election
The West Moreton colonial by-election, 1860 was a by-election held on 9 July 1860 in the electoral district of West Moreton for the Queensland Legislative Assembly.


1860 West Moreton colonial by-election, History
On 22 June 1860, William Nelson, member for West Moreton, was unseated by petition. Joseph Fleming won the resulting by-election on 9 July 1860.


1860 Williams colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of The Williams on 16 February 1860 because Stephen Dark resigned.


1860 Windsor colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Windsor on 12 March 1860 because of the resignation of William Dalley.


1860 Wiyot massacre
The Wiyot massacre refers to the incidents on February 26, 1860, at Tuluwat (original name) on what is also known as Indian Island, near Eureka in Humboldt County, California. In coordinated attacks beginning at about 6 am, caucasian settlers murdered 80 to 250 Wiyot people with axes, knives, and guns. The February 26 attacks were followed by similar bloody attacks on other Wiyot villages later that week.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Background
Immigrants had settled in the area since the California Gold Rush, during the 10 years prior to the massacre. The Wiyot were at this time a peaceful tribe. They had never fought with white settlers and were not expecting an attack.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Background
The killings followed two years of hostility by a group of local whites against the residents of Indian Island, numerous editorials in the local newspapers, and the formation of volunteer militia groups. Hostility had developed between local Indians and the settlers, who let their cattle stray onto Indian lands. Indians used the cattle, but the cattle owners retaliated. On the night of 26 February 1860, a small group of settlers crossed Humboldt Bay, and to avoid drawing attention from nearby Eureka residents, many of whom may not have condoned the killings, performed the attack primarily with hatchets, clubs and knives. Contrary to a common opinion, guns were also used, with some Eureka residents reported hearing shots that night, but knowledge of the attack was not widespread at the time. News accounts report only adult men being shot, with handheld weapons used against women and children.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Deaths
Based upon Wiyot Tribe estimates, 80 to 250 Wiyot people were murdered. Another estimate states the number of American Indian people killed at 150. Because most of the adult able-bodied men were away gathering supplies as part of continuing preparation for the World Renewal Ceremony, nearly all the Wiyot men murdered are believed to have been older men, which is one reason why the Wiyot were largely defenseless. It is untrue to say the Wiyot were killed with ease because they were "exhausted from the annual celebration." The celebration usually lasted seven to ten days, and the men traditionally left at night for the supplies while the elders, women and children slept. That is why most victims were children, women and older men.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Deaths
Arcata's local newspaper, the Northern Californian, described the scene as follows:


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Deaths
Blood stood in pools on all sides; the walls of the huts were stained and the grass colored red. Lying around were dead bodies of both sexes and all ages from the old man to the infant at the breast. Some had their heads split in twain by axes, others beaten into jelly with clubs, others pierced or cut to pieces with bowie knives. Some struck down as they mired; others had almost reached the water when overtaken and butchered.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Survivors
There were few survivors. One woman, Jane Sam, survived by hiding in a trash pile. Two cousins, Matilda and Nancy Spear, hid with their three children on the west side of the island and later found seven other children still alive. A young boy, Jerry James, was found alive in his dead mother's arms. Polly Steve was wounded badly and left for dead, but recovered. One of the few Wiyot men on the island during the attack, Mad River Billy, jumped into the bay and swam to safety in Eureka.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Survivors
Another woman, Kaiquaish (also known as Josephine Beach) and her eleven-month-old son William survived by not being on the island in the first place. Kaiquaish had set out in a canoe with her son to participate with the ceremonies, but became lost in the fog and was forced to return home before the attacks began.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Coordinated attacks
The Tuluwat/Indian Island massacre was part of a coordinated simultaneous attack that targeted other nearby Wiyot sites, including an encampment on the Eel River. The same day the same party was reported to have killed 58 more people at South Beach, about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Eureka even though many of the women worked for the white families and many could speak "good English." On 28 February 1860, 40 more Wiyot were killed on the South Fork of the Eel River, and 35 more at Eagle Prairie a few days later. Though the attack was widely condemned in newspapers outside Humboldt County, no one was ever prosecuted for the murders.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Coordinated attacks
Bret Harte, wrote an editorial from Uniontown (now Arcata, California) against the massacre and would soon need to leave the area due to the threats against his life. In the editorial, Harte wrote:


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Coordinated attacks
[ A] more shocking and revolting spectacle was never exhibited to the eyes of a Christian and civilized people. Old women, wrinkled and decrepit, lay weltering in blood, their brains dashed out and dabbled with their long gray hair. Infants scarce a span long, with their faces cloven with hatchets and their bodies ghastly with wounds."


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Coordinated attacks
Several prominent local citizens also wrote letters to the San Francisco papers angrily condemning the attacks and naming suspected conspirators.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Investigation
The local sheriff, Barrant Van Ness, stated in a newspaper editorial published in the San Francisco Bulletin a few days after the massacre that the motive was revenge for cattle rustling. Ranchers in the inland valleys claimed as much as one-eighth of their cattle had been stolen or slaughtered by Indians over the previous year and one rancher, James C. Ellison, was killed while pursuing suspected rustlers in May 1859. However, the area where the ranches were located was occupied by the Nongatl tribe, not the Wiyot, so the victims of the massacre would not have been responsible for any rustling. Van Ness ended his written statement by saying he did not excuse the killers for their deeds.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Investigation
Major Gabriel J. Rains, Commanding Officer of Fort Humboldt at the time, reported to his commanding officer that a local group of vigilantes had resolved to "kill every peaceable Indian - man, woman, and child." The vigilantes, calling themselves the Humboldt Volunteers, Second Brigade, had been formed in early February 1860 in the inland town of Hydesville, one of the ranching communities in the Nongatl area. They spent most of February "in the field" attacking Indians along the Eel River. A petition had been sent to California Governor John G. Downey asking that the Humboldt Volunteers be mustered into service and given regular pay. Downey refused the petition, stating that the U.S. Army was sending an additional Company of Regulars to Fort Humboldt.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Investigation
A review of subsequent communications to Governor Downey revealed the true motive for the series of massacres that included Indian Island. The volunteer company commanded by Seman Wright wanted to become officially recognized as state militia, thereby becoming eligible for state funding.


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Investigation
Hydesville rancher E. L. Daivs, who had presided at the meeting where the company was formed, wrote Downey just after the massacre, stating that "This company is needed for the protection of lives & property & if we do not get it we will never ask the state again & I for one shall oppose paying any more state Taxes & [we will] fight our own battles in our own way-- exterminate the Indians from the face of the earth as far as this county is concerned. In fact, the little mess at Indian Island is only a beginning if we can't get our just protection from [the] state or [federal] government that the citizens are entitled to."


1860 Wiyot massacre, History, Consequences
The Wiyot Tribe said their people were not allowed to return to the island or their other land and they often found their land stolen or destroyed. Soldiers from Fort Humboldt took many of the surviving Wiyot into protective custody at the fort, later transporting them to the Klamath River Reservation. However, the Indians did not leave their former home without any resistance. In fact, many Wiyots returned home soon after arriving at the Fort and attacks on caucasian settlements were stronger in areas with sparse settlement of caucasians. Recently the Wiyot have been repurchasing the land in order to perform their annual World Renewal Ceremony.


1860 Wollombi colonial by-election
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Wollombi on 2 May 1860 because William Cape resigned to take his children to England to complete their education.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections
Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 37th Congress were held at various dates in different states from August 1860 to October 1861.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections
In November 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln won the Presidency. Though Republicans lost seats, the party won a House majority anyway as seven slave states reacted to Lincoln's election by seceding before Presidential inauguration. These seceding states formed the Confederacy in February 1861 while withdrawing many Representatives and Senators from Congress, almost all Democrats. As both sides in the impending American Civil War initially mobilized troops, another four slave states seceded by May 1861 in response to Lincoln's policy of using Federal force to defend Federal property and to coerce the seven initially seceding states. The four remaining slave states did not secede, electing and returning Representatives normally.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections
Unionist regions of three seceding states returned ten Representatives: five from western Virginia, three from eastern Tennessee, and two from southern Louisiana. Except for a tiny minority of outspoken Democrats, all Representatives supported the Union. Representatives opposing Democrats but unwilling to identify as Republican, particularly from slave states and including some remaining nativist American Party members, coalesced as the Unionist Party. In coalition with the Unionists, Republicans commanded over a two-thirds House supermajority.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, Election summaries
California was apportioned one additional seat for the 37th Congress, increasing the total seats to 239.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, Election summaries
Representatives from seceding states overwhelmingly were Democrats. Withdrawal of these Representatives boosted Republican House control. Some seceding states held Federal elections, but seceded before the elected Representatives served. Other seceding states held no Federal elections.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, Special elections
There were special elections in 1860 and 1861 during the 36th United States Congress and 37th United States Congress.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, Impact of the secessionist movement
In the wake of the declared secession of South Carolina from the Union on December 20, 1860, many Southern House members, mostly Democrats, refused to take their seats, rejecting the election of Lincoln as illegitimate. Before 1872, different states held elections at various times; the first elections for the 37th Congress were held on August 6, 1860 in Arkansas and Missouri, while the last election took place in California on September 4, 1861, a year later. Three Southern states – Arkansas, Florida, and South Carolina – chose Representatives before the presidential election, electing seven Democrats and two independents. These were the only House elections from the seceding states to the 37th Congress. After South Carolina resolved disunion and the Confederate States of America was formed, other Southern states declared as well and elected Representatives to the new Congress of the Confederate States instead of the United States Congress.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, Impact of the secessionist movement
Since the states not holding elections had many strong Democratic districts – in the previous 36th Congress their Representatives included a total of 46 Democrats, 14 Oppositionists, five independents, and one member of the American Party – when Congress was called into session on July 4, 1861 (five months earlier than usual at the time) the size of the Democratic House caucus had been drastically reduced, resulting in a huge Republican majority.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, Impact of the secessionist movement
Of the 183 seats, 102 were held by Republicans, 45 by Democrats, 23 by Unionists, and five others by one party each. There were several vacancies, and California had not held its election when Congress assembled.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, End of a Congressional era
In 1860, Lincoln's campaign brought the Republicans the Presidency. Likewise, the congressional elections also marked the transition from one major era of political parties to another. In just six years, over the course of the 35th, 36th and 37th Congresses, a complete reversal of party fortunes swamped the Democrats.


1860 and 1861 United States House of Representatives elections, End of a Congressional era
Elections for Congress were held from August 1860 to June 1861. They were held before, during and after the pre-determined Presidential campaign. And they were held before, during and after the secessionist campaigns in various states as they were reported throughout the country. Political conditions varied hugely from time to time during the course of congressional selection, but they had been shifting to a considerable extent in the years running up to the crisis.