The1860 United States electionselected the members of the37th United States Congress.The election marked the start of theThird Party Systemand precipitated theCivil War.TheRepublican Partywon control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, making it the fifth party (following theFederalist Party,Democratic-Republican Party,Democratic Party,andWhig Party) to accomplish such a feat. The election is widely considered to be arealigning election.[4]
| ←18581859186018611862→ Presidential election year | |
| Election day | November 6 |
|---|---|
| Incumbent president | James Buchanan(Democratic) |
| Next Congress | 37th |
| Presidential election | |
| Partisan control | Republican gain |
| Popular vote margin | Republican +10.3% |
| Electoral vote | |
| Abraham Lincoln(R) | 180 |
| John C. Breckinridge(SD) | 72 |
| John Bell(CU) | 39 |
| Stephen A. Douglas(D) | 12 |
 | |
| 1860 presidential election results.Redshows states won by Lincoln,greenby Breckinridge,orangeby Bell, andblueby Douglas. Numbers indicate theelectoral voteswon by each candidate. | |
| Senate elections | |
| Overall control | Democratic hold[3] |
| Seats contested | 22 of 66 seats[1] |
| Net seat change | Republican +3[2] |
| House elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | All 183 voting members |
| Net seat change | Unionist +31[2] |
In the presidential election,Republicanformer RepresentativeAbraham LincolnofIllinoisdefeatedDemocraticVice PresidentJohn C. Breckinridge(who became the first incumbent vice president to lose a presidential election) and Democratic SenatorStephen A. DouglasofIllinois,as well as theConstitutional Unioncandidate, former SenatorJohn BellofTennessee.[5]Lincoln swept the Northern states while Breckinridge carried much of the South, foreshadowing the political alignment of the country throughout theThird Party System.At the1860 Republican National Convention,Lincoln won on the third ballot, defeating SenatorWilliam H. Sewardof New York and several other candidates. The Democratic Party split its votes afterthree chaotic conventions.Douglas was nominated at the second Democratic convention, while theSouthern Democratsnominated Breckinridge as their own candidate in a third convention. Bell ran on a platform of preserving the union regardless of the status of slavery. Lincoln's victory made him the firstRepublicanpresident. Lincoln took just under 40 percent of the popular vote, alower share of the popular votethan any other winning presidential candidate aside fromJohn Quincy Adams's 1824 campaign.
In theHouse,Republicans retained control of the chamber and won a majority for the first time after several states seceded. Democrats remained the largest minority, but several Congressmen also identified asunionists.[6]
In theSenate,Republicans made moderate gains, but Democrats initially retained a majority. They lost that majority shortly after the election when several Southern senators resigned. The Democrats would have the second-most members in the Senate, although many senators identified asunionistsrather than Democrats or Republicans.[7]
This marks one of four occasions where a newly elected president entered office with a divided legislature, occurring again in 1876, 1884, and 1980. 1884 is the only other occasion where the president's party held the House, but not the Senate. A divided Congress also occurred after the 1984 and 2012 elections.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Not counting special elections.
- ^abCongressional seat gain figures only reflect the results of the regularly-scheduled elections, and do not take special elections into account.
- ^Democrats lost control of the Senate after the election because several Southern senators resigned.
- ^Reichley, A. James (2000).The Life of the Parties(Paperback ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 8–12.
- ^"1860 Presidential Election".The American Presidency Project.Retrieved25 June2014.
- ^"Party Divisions of the House of Representatives".United States House of Representatives.Retrieved25 June2014.
- ^"Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present".United States Senate.Retrieved25 June2014.