The Election of 1860 and the Secession Crisis: Analyzing the Causes and Outbreak of the Civil War

1. Objectives • Compare the candidates in the election of 1860, and analyze the results. • Analyze why southern states seceded from the Union. • Assess the events that led to the outbreak of war.

2. Jefferson Davis – Mississippi senator who became president of the Confederacy John C. Breckinridge –Southern Democrat nominated for president in the 1860 election Confederate States of America – formed in February 1861 by seven states that left the Union Crittenden Compromise – proposed constitutional amendment allowing slavery in all territories south of the Missouri Compromise line Fort Sumter – federal fort in Charleston, South Carolina, where first shots of Civil War were fired Terms and People

3. How did the Union finally collapse into a civil war? Disagreement between the North and South over slavery continued, despite last-minute attempts such as the Crittenden Compromise. With the election of Lincoln to the presidency, the crisis came to a head.

4. The election of 1860 had four candidates.

5. He believed the federal government must protect slavery. A Democrat, John C. Breckinridgewas from Kentucky.

6. A Democrat, Stephen A. Douglas was from Illinois. He believed popular sovereigntyshould decide the slavery issue when territories became states.

7. He believed slavery should not be allowed in the territories. A Republican, Abraham Lincoln was from Illinois.

8. He believed thefederal government should support slavery and defend the Union. Constitutional Unionist John Bell was from Tennessee.

9. With no national candidate dominating the campaign, Lincoln won with just over half of the electoral votes needed and 40 percent of the popular vote.

10. However, the South felt it no longer had a voice in the national government and did not see how it could remain in the Union. The vote for Abraham Lincoln was mostly a vote for moderation toward the issue of slavery and a vote for the Union.

11. South Carolina was the first southern state to leave the Union. At a state convention held six weeks after Election Day, legislators voted to secede. It was a unanimous vote. X

12. Outgoing President Buchanan publicly condemned South Carolina’s action. However, he did not use force to prevent it. Within weeks, six other Southern states followed South Carolina.

13. The states with the largest enslaved populations seceded.

14. closely resembled the U.S. Constitution. stressed the independence of each state. implied that states had the right to secede. forbid importing new slaves from other countries. The constitution of the Confederate States of America:

15. Jefferson Davis, former senator from Mississippi, became president of the Confederate States of America.

16. he urged peace between the Confederacy and the Union. he decided to try to hold on to the Union forts the Confederacy claimed, such as Fort Sumter. When Lincoln took office: However, Confederate forces attacked and captured the fort in defiance of Lincoln.

17. After Fort Sumter fell, Lincoln declared that insurrection existed. Four more southern states immediately joined the Confederacy.

18. A Nation Divided by Civil War The issue of slavery had long divided the nation, even at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The economic sectional differences in the mid-1800s also greatly contributed to the national division.

19. Predictions were the Civil War would be short, but it lasted for four terrible years.