The Election of 1860 and SECESSION [APUSH Review Unit 5 Topic 7] Period 5: 1844-1877

Summary

This video explores the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and its role in triggering the American Civil War. The script discusses the division within the Democratic Party and the rise of the Republican Party, which advocated for limiting the spread of slavery. Lincoln's victory, without any electoral votes from the South, signaled to Southern states that they lacked political power. This, combined with fears of losing slavery, led to secession and the formation of the Confederate States of America, which enshrined slavery as a perpetual institution.

Takeaways

• 🗳️ The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was a pivotal event that led to the secession of Southern states and the Civil War.
• 🤔 The question of the impact of Lincoln's election is central to understanding the tensions leading up to the Civil War.
• 🎭 The newly formed Republican Party's success in the midterm elections made Southern Democrats anxious about the 1860 presidential election.
• 🏛️ Lincoln ran on a Free Soil platform, aiming to prevent the spread of slavery into new territories, not to abolish it where it already existed.
• 💺 The Democratic Party was divided between a Northern faction supporting popular sovereignty and a Southern faction seeking federal protection for slavery.
• 🗽 Lincoln won the presidency with 40% of the popular vote and without any electoral votes from Southern states, signaling a lack of Southern political influence.
• 🚫 Southern states saw Lincoln's election as a threat to their power and a sign that the expansion of slavery was over, despite his assurances not to interfere with existing slavery.
• 🏰 South Carolina was the first to secede from the Union in December 1860, followed by six more states within six weeks, forming the Confederate States of America.
• 📜 The Confederate Constitution was similar to the U.S. Constitution but with provisions that protected slavery as a perpetual institution.
• 🤝 The reasons for secession were complex, but the seceding states' own declarations make it clear that protecting slavery was a primary motivation.
• 🗣️ The Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy, explicitly stated that the Confederacy was founded on the superiority of the white race and the perpetuation of slavery.

Q & A

What was the primary concern of the United States leading up to the election of 1860?

The primary concern was the growing tension over the question of slavery and its expansion into newly acquired territories.

What was the stance of the newly formed Republican party on slavery?

The Republican party, with Abraham Lincoln as their candidate, ran on a free soil platform which aimed to prevent the spread of slavery into new territories but did not call for the abolition of slavery where it already existed.

Who were the main candidates in the presidential election of 1860?

The main candidates were Stephen Douglas from the divided Democratic party and Abraham Lincoln from the Republican party.

What was the significance of the Democratic party's division during the election of 1860?

The division within the Democratic party, with separate northern and southern factions, led to a weakened united front, which contributed to their inability to win the election.

How did Abraham Lincoln's election impact the Southern states?

Lincoln's election was seen as a threat by the Southern states because he opposed the expansion of slavery, and they feared a loss of political power and the potential for slavery to be abolished in the future.

Which state was the first to secede from the Union after Lincoln's election, and when did this occur?

South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union in December of 1860, even before Lincoln was inaugurated.

What was the primary reason cited by the states that seceded to form the Confederate States of America?

The primary reason cited by the seceding states was the need to protect the institution of slavery, as evidenced by their articles of secession.

What was the stance of the Confederate states on federal power as reflected in their new Constitution?

The Confederate Constitution had provisions that severely limited federal power and enshrined slavery as a perpetual institution that could never be abolished.

How did the election of Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent secession of Southern states lead to the American Civil War?

The secession of Southern states in response to Lincoln's election created a divided nation, with the Confederate States of America forming a separate government, which ultimately led to the American Civil War.

What were the contrasting views within the Democratic party regarding the slavery question?

The northern faction of the Democrats, represented by Stephen Douglas, wanted the slavery question to be decided by popular sovereignty, while the southern faction, represented by John Breckinridge, wanted slavery protected by a federal slave code in new territories.

What was the Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens, and how did it relate to the Confederacy's stance on slavery?

The Cornerstone Speech by Alexander Stephens, the vice president of the Confederacy, argued that the foundation of the Confederacy was based on the superiority of the white race and the perpetuation of slavery as an everlasting institution.

Outlines

00:00

🗳️ The Election of 1860 and Its Impact on Slavery

This paragraph discusses the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, which served as a catalyst for the American Civil War. The newly formed Republican party's success in the midterm elections alarmed the Southern Democrats, leading to a divided Democratic party. The Republicans nominated Lincoln, who campaigned on a free soil platform aimed at preventing the spread of slavery into new territories, not its abolition. Despite Lincoln's assurances that he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed, his election signaled the end of slavery's expansion. The South perceived this as a threat, leading South Carolina to secede from the Union, followed by six more states, eventually forming the Confederate States of America with a constitution that protected slavery.

05:01

🏰 Secession and the Confederacy's Foundation

The second paragraph delves into the reasons behind the Southern states' secession from the Union. It highlights the secessionist arguments of Texas, South Carolina, and Mississippi, which all pointed to the protection of slavery as the primary motive. While the first president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, did not mention slavery in his inaugural speech, his vice president, Alexander Stephens, made it clear in the Cornerstone Speech that the Confederacy was founded on the superiority of the white race and the perpetuation of slavery. The paragraph emphasizes that despite debates about states' rights, the core reason for secession, as stated by the seceding states themselves, was to safeguard slavery.

Keywords

💡Secession

Secession refers to the act of withdrawing from an alliance or union, especially applied to states leaving a country. In the context of the video, secession is the central theme as it discusses how Southern states seceded from the United States, leading to the Civil War. The script mentions South Carolina as the first state to secede, followed by others, forming the Confederate States of America.

💡Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, elected in 1860. His election is highlighted in the video as a catalyst for the secession of Southern states due to his opposition to the expansion of slavery. Lincoln's platform, though not aiming to abolish slavery where it already existed, was perceived as a threat by the South, illustrating the political tension of the time.

💡Free Soil Movement

The Free Soil Movement was a political effort to prevent the expansion of slavery into new territories acquired by the United States. The video explains that the movement's goal was to curtail the spread of slavery, not to abolish it where it was already practiced. This movement is directly tied to Lincoln's political stance, which was a point of contention in the election of 1860.

💡Republican Party

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, but in the video, it refers to the party that had just been formed and was gaining influence in the years leading up to the Civil War. The Republicans, with Lincoln as their candidate, were opposed to the spread of slavery, which caused anxiety among Southern Democrats.

💡Stephen Douglas

Stephen Douglas was a prominent American politician and the Democratic Party candidate for president in the 1860 election. The video mentions him in contrast to Lincoln, noting that Douglas represented the Northern faction of the Democrats who advocated for popular sovereignty on the issue of slavery.

💡Popular Sovereignty

Popular sovereignty is the idea that the people of a territory should decide whether to allow slavery. The video explains that the Northern Democrats, led by Douglas, supported popular sovereignty, while the Southern Democrats wanted federal protection for slavery in new territories before states could decide through popular sovereignty.

💡John Breckinridge

John Breckinridge was a Southern Democrat and a candidate in the 1860 election, representing the Southern faction of the Democratic Party. The video points out the division within the Democratic Party, with Breckinridge advocating for federal slave code protection in new territories, illustrating the deep divisions over slavery.

💡Electoral Vote

The electoral vote refers to the process by which the President and Vice President of the United States are elected. The video emphasizes that Lincoln won the presidency without any electoral votes from Southern states, which underscored the political divide and contributed to the secession.

💡Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy, was formed by the Southern states that seceded from the United States. The video describes how these states created their own constitution, which was similar to the U.S. Constitution but with provisions that protected slavery, showing the centrality of slavery to their cause.

💡Secession Conferences

Secession conferences were meetings held by states considering leaving the Union. The video mentions that each state drafted articles of secession explaining their reasons, providing historical documentation of their motivations, primarily centered around the protection of slavery.

💡Cornerstone Speech

The Cornerstone Speech was delivered by Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy, in which he stated that the foundation of the Confederacy was the superiority of the white race and the perpetuation of slavery. The video uses this speech to illustrate the explicit connection between the Confederacy's founding principles and the institution of slavery.

Highlights

The election of 1860 precipitated secession and the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln's election effects are examined, focusing on his free soil platform.

The Free Soil Movement aimed to prevent slavery's expansion into new territories.

Lincoln's stance was to curtail the spread of slavery, not to abolish it where it existed.

The Democratic party was divided between northern and southern factions.

Stephen Douglas represented the northern Democrats advocating for popular sovereignty on slavery.

John Breckinridge represented the southern Democrats seeking federal protection for slavery.

Lincoln won the presidency with 40% of the popular vote and no electoral votes from the South.

Lincoln's victory was an ominous sign for the South, despite his assurances on slavery.

The South felt threatened by Lincoln's promise to end slavery's expansion.

South Carolina seceded from the Union in December 1860, followed by six more states.

The Confederate States of America was formed with a Constitution protecting slavery.

Secession led to the American Civil War, discussed in subsequent videos.

The reason for Southern secession was complex, with slavery being a central issue.

Texas's secession argument was against the equality of all men and the abolition of slavery.

South Carolina's secession focused on the violation of their constitutional rights related to slavery.

Mississippi's secession explicitly identified their position with the institution of slavery.

The Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens's Cornerstone Speech emphasized the perpetuity of slavery.

The states' own words indicate that slavery was the primary reason for secession.

Transcripts

Well hey there and welcome back to Heimler’s  History. We’ve been going through Unit 5 of  

the AP U.S. History curriculum and we’ve  been tracing the growing tension in the  

United States concerning the question  of slavery. In the last video we talked  

about the failure of compromise on that  issue and how even with all the failure,  

disunion was not yet a foregone conclusion.  Well in this video we’re going to look at  

the election of 1860 which is the event  that precipitated secession and Civil  

War. So if you’re ready to get them brain cows  milked, I stand at the ready, let’s get to it.

So the basic question we’re trying to  answer in this video is as follows:  

what were the effects of the  election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860?

So as I mentioned in the last video, the newly  formed Republican party did pretty well in the  

midterm congressional elections, and that made the  opposing southern Democrats pretty twitchy about  

the presidential election of 1860. And so for this  election the Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas,  

of Kansas-Nebraska Act fame, as their candidate.  The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln who  

ran on a free soil platform. Now, in case  you don’t remember, the Free Soil Movement  

sought to keep slavery from expanding into  any newly acquired territories. And it’ll be  

important for you to know that this platform was  concerned with curtailing the SPREAD of slavery,  

not the abolition of slavery where  it already existed. Now there were  

certainly some abolitionist Republicans who  did want to abolish slavery in the South,  

but that was not the official platform,  nor was it Lincoln’s stated goal. He was  

pretty emphatic in his debates with Stephen  Douglas that he had no intention of abolishing  

slavery where it already existed—if he were  elected, the Southerners could breathe easy.

Okay, that’s the basic outline of the presidential  contest of that year, but here’s where I tell you  

it’s a little more complicated than that. The  Democratic party was actually divided between  

a northern faction and a southern faction.  And there was actually a third division,  

but let’s not get too complicated: the point  is, the party was not unified going into the  

election of 1860. So the northern faction of the  Democrats, represented by Douglas, wanted the  

slavery question answered by popular sovereignty,  which by way of review, means that the people  

living in the territory can decide for themselves  whether to allow slavery. The southern faction of  

the Democrats, represented by John Breckinridge,  wanted slavery in the new territories protected by  

a federal slave code and once they became states,  THEN they could decide by popular sovereignty.

And if you’re listening closely,the rival  positions in the Democratic party are pretty  

similar. But as we’ve seen before  in our study of American history,  

when a party is divided like this and  puts forward rival candidates, they are  

unlikely to win. And when it came time to vote,  here’s how things shook out. Lincoln won 40% of  

the popular vote but carried the electoral  vote. And look at this electoral map. Like,  

let this sink in for a moment. Lincoln won  the presidency without a single electoral  

vote from southern states. And that was  an ominous sign for the Southerners.

Now remember, Lincoln was clear that he wouldn’t  mess with slavery where it already existed. But  

that didn’t matter to the citizens in the Southern  states. All they could see was that even if they  

deployed all their political power in a high  stakes decision like this election, they still  

didn’t have enough power to prevail, and that was  deeply threatening to them. Sure, Lincoln promised  

not to abolish slavery, but he DID promise that  the expansion of slavery was effectively over.  

And how long could the South endure the growing  political dominance of the North, who, according  

to the recent events of John Brown’s raid on  Harpers Ferry, only wanted to destroy them?

And so the Southern answer to that question was  plain: how much long can we survive in this Union?  

No longer. And so in December of 1860,  even before Lincoln was inaugurated,  

South Carolina seceded from the Union,  and within six weeks six more states had  

followed the cascade of secession including,  Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi,  

and Louisiana. Later Virginia, Arkansas,  Tennessee, and North Carolina all seceded  

as well, and together all these states  became the Confederate States of America.

The new confederacy created a Constitution  which was similar in form and language to the  

United States Constitution but with severely  limited federal power, and more to the point,  

provisions that enshrined slavery as a perpetual  institution never to be abolished. Now,  

this secession, of course, would cause the  American Civil War, and we’ll get to that  

in the next few videos. But for now, it’ll be  important to ask and answer a perennial question  

of the study of the secession crisis, namely:  for what reason did the Southern states secede?

Now when you ask this question today, you’ll hear  basically two competing answers. One group says  

the south seceded to protect slavery. The  other group says the South seceded on the  

grounds of states’ rights. And the thing is,  the answer to this question is not actually a  

mystery. And we’re going to allow the Confederate  states themselves to answer the question for us.

So when the secession question arose, each state  that would later make up the Confederacy held  

secession conferences. And as a result of these  conferences, each state drafted articles of  

secession that explained their reason for leaving  the Union. Now, I’m not going to go through all  

of them, but I’m just going to give you a taste,  and I think this will answer the question clearly,  

not with 21st century speculation, but with  declarations that they themselves penned.

Let’s start with Texas, whose reasoning went like  this. With the election of Lincoln, they argued,  

the country had become controlled by “a great  sectional party...proclaiming the debasing  

doctrine of the equality of all men, irrespective  of race and color—a doctrine at war with nature,  

in opposition to the experience of mankind, and  in violation of the plainest revelations of Divine  

Law.” They further charged the Republicans with  the nefarious agenda of “the abolition of negro  

slavery” and “the recognition of political  equality between the white and negro races.”

Or how about South Carolina? If you wanted a  real contender for the states’ rights argument,  

South Carolina’s articles of secession is a  very complex argument about the violation of  

their constitutional rights. However, those  arguments are focused like a laser on the  

northern sympathies with antislavery principles  and the oppressive designs of the newly ascendant  

Republican Party. South Carolina’s charge  against the Republicans was that “this party will  

take possession of the government…, the South  shall be excluded from the common territory…,  

and a war must be waged against slavery until  it shall cease throughout the United States.”

Let’s move on to Mississippi where the cause of  secession could not be plainer. In the articles of  

secession they said, “Our position is thoroughly  identified with the institution of slavery.”

Now, as with everything we could complicate  this argument endlessly. The first and only  

president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis  said precisely nothing about slavery in his  

inauguration speech when he cast a vision for  the founding principles of the Confederacy. But  

his vice president Alexander Stephens gave  his famous Cornerstone Speech just a month  

later in which he argued in no uncertain  terms that the foundation of the Confederacy  

lay in the triumph of the white race  over the black race and that such a  

triumph would always be perpetuated in  the everlasting institution of slavery.

But all the complication aside, if you look  at the words spoken by the states themselves,  

and you ask them, “Why did you secede from  the Union,” their own answer is plain:  

slavery must be protected world without end.

Thanks for watching. There are more videos  right here on Unit 5, so give that a click  

and keep studying. If you want help getting an  A in your class and a five on your exam in May,  

making these videos for you, then let  me know by subscribing. Heimler out.