The Election Of 1860 And The Administration Of Abraham Lincoln

The "most momentous" election in American history took place in a United States deeply divided over the issue of slavery. Each of the four major party candidates won electoral votes, and Republican Abraham Lincoln, who carried the votes of the northern states, emerged as the winner despite gathering less than 40 percent of the national popular ballot. Just weeks after Lincoln's election, the states of the Deep South voted to secede from the Union. In The Election of 1860 and the Administration of Abraham Lincoln, William E. Gienapp, a specialist in antebellum politics, describes the campaign and its aftermath. Book jacket.