The Road to Secession
Republicans began to do well in the elections of 1858
Alarming southerners because: they believed in antislavery their economic program favored northern industrialists tariffs help northern business and hurt the south’s dependency on exporting cotton they provided money to John Brown who killed 5 farmers in Kansas
John Brown- abolitionist- tried to start a slave uprising in Virginia
Attacked Harpers Ferry and tried to arm slaves with guns from the arsenal expecting them to revolt
Lee and his troops captured Brown and his followers and they were hanged
Southerners saw this raid as proof the North was using slave revolts to destroy the south
John Brown was later praised for his humanitarian ways of wanting to free the slaves but northerners

The Election of 1860
Final event that triggered the South's secession
Breakup of the Democratic Party
Most Americans knew the country was almost to the disband of the union
Democrats were the last hope for the union
They held their national nominating convention in Charleston, South Carolina. Stephen Douglas was the party's leading candidate but angry southerners and supporters of President Buchanan
Democrats then held a second convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Representatives from the slave states walked out. The remaining delegates nominated Douglas and the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. Southern representatives held their own convention and nominated Vice President John C. Breckinridge as their candidate.
Southern Democrats wanted the unrestricted extension of slavery in all territories. They also wanted to welcome Cuba into the United States as a slave territory.
Republican nomination of Lincoln
The election of 1860 was an easy win after the split of the Democrat party
Their plan was to appeal towards the economic interests of northerners and westerners. Their plan called for the exclusion of slavery. They also promised a protective tariff for industry, free land for homesteaders, and internal improvements to encourage western settlement.
They chose Abraham Lincoln as their presidential candidate.
Southerners warned that if Lincoln was elected, the South would leave the union.
A fourth political party
Former Whigs, Know-Nothings, and moderate Democrats feared the departure of the South and formed the Constitutional Union party. Their platform was to enforce the laws and the Constitution but mainly to preserve the Union. They nominated John Bell as their presidential candidate.
Election results
While Douglas campaigned, Lincoln stayed at home and gave brief statements to the press.
Lincoln won the election of 1860, carrying all of the free states in the North. He was considered a minority president because he only won 39.8% of the election.
Breckinridge