Lincoln’s First Inaugural AddressBy Otto, Grant, Morgan, and Henry

Presidential Election of 1860● Election Overview● Views on Slavery● Popular Vote● Electoral College Vote

Election Overview● Issues Debated before the Election● Douglas-Lincoln Debates● Views about Slavery● Candidates

Who was Abraham Lincoln?● Republican Party● Slavery

Republican Party● Against

Expansion of Slavery

● Comparison between Modern Day Republican Party

Who was Stephen Douglas?● Northern Democratic

Party● Popular Sovereignty

1860 Democratic Convention● Rupturing of Democratic Party due to

not selecting a candidate for election● Stephen Douglas had Popular

Sovereignty, while other southerners were more pro-slavery

● Split into Northern and Southern Democratic Parties

● This is likely why Lincoln won the election

Who was John Breckinridge?● Democratic from KY● Slavery

Who was John Bell?● Constitutional Union

Party● Keep Union Together

Constitutional Union Party● Focused on

keeping the country together.

● Tried to avoid the issue of slavery

Election ResultsLincoln: 1,865,908 Total Votes; 180 Electoral College Votes; 17 States Won; 39.7% of the Total Population

Douglas: 1,380,202 Total Votes; 12 Electoral College Votes; 1 State Won; 29.5% of the Total Population

Election Results (Continued)Breckinridge: 848,019 Total Votes; 72 Electoral College Votes; 11 States Won; 18.2% of the Total Population

Bell: 590,901 Total Votes; 39 Electoral College Votes; 3 States Won; 12.6% of the Total Population

Popular Vote Pie Chart

Electoral College Pie Chart

Popular Vote from 1860

Electoral College from 1860

Differences in the North and South

What it Secession?● Secession is the act of formally

withdrawing from a political state or union

● How it Affected the Election of 1860● Lincoln’s Reaction and Response

Map of the nations succeeding history

Border States● Slave States that Stayed with the

Union● Critical to the Outcome of War

Background of the Address● Seven states have seceded -- SC,

Georgia, Florida, Texas Louisiana and Mississippi

● North has increasingly higher population therefore having more seats in Congress

● South fearful of the abolishment of slavery

Main Points of Address● He makes a legal case against

secession● Offers reassurance to the South that

he will not interfere with slavery● Promises to follow constitution● How to handle conflicts that are not in

the Constitution● States position about war

Secession is Legally Impossible● “Union is perpetual,” and Perpetuity is

the “fundamental law of all governments” No way in Constitution to legally end government, therefore is secession is illegal.

● Contract can only be “peaceably unmade” by all states. It is illegal for any one state(s) to break away.

Reassurance to South● Says he has “no lawful right” nor the

“inclination to do so” to end slavery● Promises to uphold Fugitive Slave Act

as it is “plainly written in the constitution”

● Denounces John Brown’s invasion of Harpers Ferry.

Promise to Follow Constitution● Reminds everybody of the

Constitution, and that nobody has ever been denied their Constitutional rights

● Says, “I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me that the laws of the union be faithfully executed.

Conflicts that are not in Constitution● Lincoln understands that no document

can ever answer all the questions that arise in the country.

● Acknowledges that sometimes “the Constitution does not expressly say”

“We are not Enemies but Friends”● After all of his speech, Lincoln moves

away from legal arguments and claims that the North and the South have a deep connection.

“I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Questions?