U.S. presidential election, 1860

The U.S. presidential election of 1860 is widely considered to be a realigning election.

General election

Campaign

Two Illinois politicians, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas competed extensively in the north, while incumbent Vice President John Breckinridge and John Bell were rivals throughout the southern states. Fusion tickets of non-Republicans developed in New York and Rhode Island, and partially in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (the northern state in which Breckinridge made the best showing).

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Stephen Douglas became the first presidential candidate in history to undertake a nationwide speaking tour. He traveled to the South where he did not expect to win many electoral votes, but he spoke for the maintenance of the Union.

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Results

The election was noteworthy for the exaggerated sectionalism of the vote, with Lincoln not even on the ballot in nine Southern states - and winning only 2 of 996 counties in the entire Southhttp://elections.harpweek.com/1860/Overview-1860-2.htm#results.

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This election is a textbook example of how to get an electoral majority without a popular majority. While Lincoln captured less than 40% of the popular vote, the sectional divisions of the nation allowed him to capture 17 states plus 4 electoral votes in New Jersey for a total of 180 electoral votes. Although the three-way split of the non-Republican vote confuses the issue, the vote split was irrelevant to Lincoln's victory, because he would have won an outright majority in the electoral vote, 169-134, even had the 60% of voters who supported other candidates united behind a single candidate. Except for California, Oregon, and New Jersey, Lincoln won a popular majority in every state that cast its electoral votes for him.http://www.etymonline.com/cw/1860.htm Only in California, Oregon, and Illinois had Lincoln's victory margin been less than 7%.

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Meanwhile, Douglas finished second in the popular vote, but due to the north-south split garnered only Missouri's 9 electoral votes and three of seven electoral votes in New Jersey, good for fourth place. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia's electors, while Breckinridge won every other slave state except Missouri.

Related Topics:
Missouri - New Jersey - Kentucky - Tennessee - Virginia

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The voter turnout rate in 1860 was the second-highest on record (81.2 %, second only to 1876, with 81.8 %). The Fusion ticket of non-Republicans drew 595,846 voteshttp://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/outlines/election.html.

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Source (Popular Vote): {{Leip PV source| year=1860| as of=July 27, 2005}}

Related Topics:
July 27 - 2005

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Source (Electoral Vote): {{National Archives EV source| year=1860| as of=July 31, 2005}}

Related Topics:
July 31 - 2005

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(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.

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Results by state

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