1. Presidential election of 1860
The North and the South

2. Candidates John C. Breckinridge Abraham Lincoln Northern Candidate
Southern Candidate
John C. Breckinridge
Abraham Lincoln

3. slavery
The northern, Republican party, wanted to stop the spread of slavery, opposing expansion of slave states. So, when the North elected Abraham Lincoln, who was against slavery expansion, they feared that slavery may be outlawed.

4. Abe’s beliefs
Lincoln did not believe in the total abolishment of slavery, meaning that slavery should be illegal and all slaves should become equal members in society. He did believe that slavery should not expand beyond its current borders.
He believed that colonization would mainly help settle the slave debate. Lincoln thought that if most slaves left the USA and went back to Africa or Central America that slavery would be resolved.

5. Effects of 1860 election
Claiming that they were protecting their states’ rights and way of life, when Lincoln was elected as president, many southern states began to secede from the Union. The southerners decided to leave the Union, or the USA, creating their own country called the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. They wrote their own constitution, endorsing slavery and states’ rights. The Confederacy also elected Jefferson Davis as their president. With tensions running high, and two countries living among the same land, trouble began to brew.

6. Confederate and Union States