From: Lawrence Chen
Date: 4/20/00
Time: 7:57:15 AM
Remote Name: 209.244.82.152
Lawrence Chen Cutler History 67 4/20/00
What was the significance of Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860?
The significance of Abraham Lincoln’s election of 1860 was that the Deep South of the United States seceded from the Union. Even before Lincoln was inaugurated seven states which were South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Lincoln appealed for the preservation of the Union in his inaugural speech. The Confederacy by this time formed what was to be known as the Confederate States of America. The Confederate States of America was hoping to establish a government much like the one before the New Republican Party. The South saw their way of life which was slavery being threatened by the North. Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederacy in 1861. Lincoln, instead of compromising saw no way other than war to resolve the situation. In his Gettysburg Address Lincoln said that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” The South was optimistic about the Civil war, they were predicting that all of the North except the New England states would transfer its loyalty to the Confederacy. With that optimism three more states followed suit and seceded form the Union. Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina seceded from the Union after Lincoln called on the loyal states to provide troops for the war.