The Civil War

Lesson 8

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Oil Painting 1869

 

Becoming President
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas both ran for President in 1860. Lincoln ran for the Republican Party. The Republicans wanted no slavery in the new states, but did not want to do away with slavery in those states that already had it. Douglas ran for the Democratic Party. In the North, the Democrats wanted each state to decide for itself to be slave or free. Douglas made no secret of his pro-slavery feelings. John C. Breckenridge ran for the Southern Democrats. The Southern Democrats wanted slavery in the new states. John Bell ran for the Constitutional Union Party. They said nothing at all about slavery.

The election was held in November of 1860. Lincoln won the popular vote by more than 500,000 votes. He won most of the votes of the Electoral College

Electoral Votes

Lincoln

180

Breckenridge

72

Bell

39

Douglas

12

Lincoln was now President.

The Life of Abe Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. When he was seven he moved to Indiana. He attended a real school for only one year. Abe taught himself to read and write. By the age of 17 Abe was working for local farmers. Around 1830 his family moved to Illinois. Abe was a good speaker. In 1834 he decided to get into politics. He ran for the Illinois State Legislature and won. Abe then became a lawyer while he was in the state legislature. He opened his own law office. Abe ran against Stephen Douglas for Senator and lost. Two years later he ran against Douglas again for President and won.

 

Lincoln's Assassination

On Good Friday, April 14 Lincoln was assassinated. He was attending a performance at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D. C. The assassin was an actor named John Wilkes Booth. After twelve days of running Booth was fatally shot. He had been part of a group of co-conspirators including Lewis Powell and Lewis Payne, who stabbed Secretary of State Seward that same night. Seward lived. After a manhunt for the eight conspirators four were hanged and the four others were imprisoned.

 

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