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Causes of the Civil War
Election of 1860
• April 1860: Democrats meet in
Charleston, SC
• Northern & southern members
could not agree on a candidate
• Party splits
Election of 1860
Senator
Stephen Douglas
Northern Democratic Party
Vice President
John C. Breckinridge
Southern Democratic Party
Election of 1860
• Constitutional Union Party—recognized
no political principles other than
Constitution, the Union, and the
enforcement of laws
Former Secretary of War
John Bell
Constitutional Union Party
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln
Republican Party
• Moderate: against the
spread of slavery
Abraham Lincoln
• Said he would not try
to abolish slavery
where it already
existed
Breaking from the Union
• Southerners angry
with the election
of Lincoln.
– felt that their vote
did not matter
– fear Lincoln will
abolish slavery
• Lincoln insisted
otherwise but
had said that
slavery would
die out
eventually
Breaking from the Union
• December 17, 1860:
South Carolina holds
secession convention
• South Carolina first
state to secede
Secession—act of formally withdrawing from the
Union
Confederate States of America
11 states that seceded joined together to form the
Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
• Jefferson Davis
elected President of
Confederacy
– West Point grad,
veteran of Mexican
War, Secretary of
War, & Senator
– Did not seek
presidency
– Opposed secession
Jefferson Davis