The American Presidential Election of 1860

The 19th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1860, it's arguably the most important presidential election in American history, with a four way race that literally tears the country apart.

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In 1860, tensions were obviously high, not only between Democrats and Republicans, but within the Democratic Party. At the Democratic National Conventions, extreme pro-slavery “Fire-eaters,” walked out in protest. They were nicknamed Fire-eaters because they refused to compromise on slavery to a point where they wanted to secede and start their own country. They ended up being known as the Southern Democratic Party, as most of them were Southerners, and nominated their own candidates. Those Democrats who remained nominated Stephen Douglas, who by this time was very well known across the country as a moderate on the slavery issue who favored "popular sovereignty.” Benjamin Fitzpatrick was nominated for Vice President, but he refused the nomination, so they nominated Herschel Johnson, the former governor of Georgia, instead. So they were the nominees for what became known as the Northern Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, the Southern Democratic Party got together again and nominated current Vice President John C. Breckinridge for President and Joseph Lane, a Senator from Oregon, as his running mate. Wait, Oregon? Oregon’s a state now? Heck yeah. Both Oregon and Minnesota were now states, and got to participate in this election for the first time.

Oh yeah, James Buchanan, the current President, remember he was a Democrat, wasn’t even brought up as a nominee for re-election. That shows you just how unpopular he was.

The Republican Party, now stronger than they were in 1856, had four top contenders for their nomination. William Seward, a Senator from New York, Salmon P. Chase, a former governor and Senator of Ohio, Edward Bates, a former Representative from Missouri, and rising star Abraham Lincoln, a former Representative from Illinois. Lincoln had become famous after a series of highly publicized debates with Stephen Douglas when the two both ran for Senator in Illinois in 1858. Lincoln had lost that election, but now had a chance to face his old rival again for this time a much higher office.

You might already know this, but Lincoln won the nomination, mostly because he was the most moderate of the four I mentioned. The Republicans chose Hannibal Hamlin, a Senator from Maine, as his running mate.

To further complicate this election, there were other nominees. Former Whigs who wanted to avoid the country splitting up over the slavery issue created a new political party called the Constitutional Union Party. Their slogan was, "The Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is."So yeah, I guess the name fit. They nominated John Bell, a former Senator from Tennessee, with Edward Everett, a really good speaker and former Governor and Senator of Massachusetts, as his running mate.
There were other candidates, but in a crowded field already, the other candidates barely had any support so I will not mention them here. It seemed to be another classic four-way race.

[swahgiilitiousyt]

1856 and 1860 was a 2 election streak where the loser was named John, This won't happen again until 2004 and 2008

[alexkrakowski]

I had someone in my American History class who’s ancestor was John C Breckinridge. Pretty cool, he looked just like him.

[josestarks]

Lincoln was a pretty cool dude. He nominated every single rival from his political party that wanted the Presidency into his cabinet. That's quite an accomplishment.

[joshuaford]

Oh man, I wonder who’s gonna win

Edit: holy shit I did not see that coming

[morgankingsley]

This is the only election in which a third party won the most counties. Breckinridge won over 600 counties, almost 100 more than the next highest

[Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

"South, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself."
*-Abraham Lincoln*

[selahanany]

and this was the first and last election in which kansas was an important election factor lol

[Ares]

It's interesting how people somehow blame Lincoln for the southern states' temper tantrum.

[Felix-woqz]

I don’t even watch these videos because I need to study for school or something, I’m just interested in it. Great work mr. Beat

[MFPhoto]

The main reason Democrats did not re-nominate Buchanan in 1860 is that Buchanan was not running for re-election. He announced his intention of being a one-term President in his inaugural address, effectively making him a lame duck on day one.

Douglas did campaign, but towards the end of the election cycle, he did most of his campaigning in southern states where he was not on the ballot. He was not campaigning for votes, but to convince Southerners to stay in the Union regardless of the election outcome. It may have cost him the Presidency, not campaigning in the north.

Had Douglas been elected, he would have the second shortest Presidency in history. He died three months after Lincoln took office. Having a Southerner as VP, it would have really altered American history.

[RogerFusselman]

These students are getting an excellent lesson. Buchanan, you dropped the ball more often than a first-time quarterback.

[lovingearth]

What im learning from 1836, 1860, 1912 and 1968 is if you split a party's vote you can win big

[ethanstokes]

Douglas died less that 3 months after Lincoln was inaugurated

[wesmorgan]

It's pretty funny how the Northern Democrats chose a Southern vice presidential candidate, and the Southern Democrats chose a non-Southern vice presidential candidate.

[BobPantsSpongeSquare]

Theres a free to play online game called Campaign Trail where you pick a relevant candidate of a specific election and your running mate and answer a series of 25 questions which are based around issues of the time. All the while you look at the map of the country which shows which party its supporting based on your responses. The election of 1860 is credibly hard af because even with Lincoln you gotta say the right things as some crucial states like Stephen Douglas such as out west and New York, New Jersey, and Indiana and you can easily lose

[crosseightyeight]

How could such a high percentage of the population vote when women and blacks weren't allowed? Was is 82% of ELIGIBLE voters?

[georgewashington]

John Breckinridge was the great-grandfather of "Bunny" Breckinridge, a gay drag queen who played the ruler of the aliens in Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

Bill Murray portrayed him in the 1994 film "Ed Wood".

[jesusofsuburbia]

School brought me here, not as boring as I thought

[jamesmelt]

I knew a lot of the facts, but I still find this video interesting and entertaining. The background music and accompanying pictures were nice.

[blackwidowsm]

Only election Lincoln defeated Stephen doughlas was presidential. He lost every other election to Douglas. Douglas was well liked and though of during that era.