The campaign was characterized by three things: by an ominous
quiet coupled with great intensity of feeling; by the
organization of huge party societies in military
form--"Wide-awakes" for Lincoln, numbering 400,000, and "Minute
Men" for Breckenridge, with a membership chiefly Southern; and by
the perfect frankness, in all parts of the South, of threats of
secession in case the Republicans won.
In none of the States which eventually seceded were any votes
cast for Lincoln, with the exception of a small number in
Virginia. In almost all the other Southern States and in the
slave-holding border States, all the other candidates made
respectable showings. In Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, Bell
led. But everywhere else in the other slave-holding States
Breckinridge led, excepting in Missouri where Douglas won by a
few hundred. Every free State except New Jersey went for
Lincoln. And yet he did not have a majority of the popular vote,
which stood: Lincoln, 1,866,459; Douglas, 1,376,957;
Breckinridge, 849,781; Bell, 588,879*. The majority against
Lincoln was nearly a million. The distribution of the votes was
such that Lincoln had in the Electoral College, 180 electors;
Breckinridge, 72; Bell, 39; Douglas, 12. In neither House of
Congress did the Republicans have a majority.
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