1860 United States presidential election
Lincoln won the election with 1,866,452 votes. Douglas received 1,376,957 votes. John Breckinridge and John Bell shared the remaining 1,438,660 votes cast. Lincoln won the majority of the electoral college giving him the presidency. But he won without carrying a single Southern state. Before Lincoln's inauguration as president, seven Southern states declared their secession. In his inaugural address, Lincoln spoke to the Southern states. He said, "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war". He went on to say, "The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend' it." Lincoln called them friends and told them we are not enemies. Unfortunately by this time Jefferson Davis was already the president of the Confederacy. They were later joined by Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Two states, Kentucky and Missouri, attempted to remain neutral.