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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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