1860 Election Dbq

567 Words3 Pages

Ashley Adornato Mr. Sutherland History May 21, 2015 The Election that Changed the Nation The famous election of 1860 was one of the key events that changed the nation forever. The events were first the debates, next the election, then the events that followed. Without this election our county would have a different way of running this government. It is a large possibility that without this election, slavery would still be legal in the United States today. These three main candidates all had very different outlooks on running the country, and with every different candidate, new ideas were expressed. The debates between slavery and antislavery politicians were very harsh and bitter. The winner of this debate would soon become the new senate. The majority of these politicians were pro slavery, which caused the balance of the pro slavery and antislavery politicians to be uneven. The debate took place in Illinois from August 21, 1858 to October 15, 1858. Through many disputes about slavery and antislavery, tension was …show more content…

The three main candidates for this election were John Bell, Abraham Lincoln, and Stephen Douglas. Lincoln was anti-slavery, Bell was pro-slavery, and Douglas was also pro-slavery. Both Douglas and Lincoln had already gotten publicity for their debates in 1858, however the majority of the country favored pro-slavery politicians, so John Bell had also a good chance of winning despite his lack of publicity. Through many debates and public speeches, the voting poll began. Even though most of the country favored pro-slavery politicians, both Bell and Douglas divided their own votes in half. This meant that Lincoln actually won electoral college despite the fact that most of the country wanted a pro-slavery president running the country. Abraham Lincoln was the new president of the United

Open Document