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Candidate’s Choice to join
Tried running for other public offices but lost elections. Eventually decided to run for president, under the young Republican party. -
Abe Lincoln started campaign in 1858
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Election
The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, and was noteworthy for exaggerated sectionalism in a country that was soon to dissolve into civil war. Voter turnout was 81.2%, the highest in American history up to that time, and the second-highest overall (exceeded only in the election of 1876). -
Convention:
The Republican National Convention met in mid-May 1860, -
Electoral College Results:
Lincoln took 180 electoral votes against 3 rivals
Even against one rival, he would’ve won in the Electoral College, 169 to 134, even if all of the anti-Lincoln voters had united behind a single candidate
By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established, with Jefferson Davis as its elected president.
