Interesting Figures

“On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the election of President of the United States by collecting only 39 percent of the popular vote and carried every northern state except New Jersey. The Federal Record notes 81.2% of eligible voters participated in this election. Six out of ten of the American people had not voted for him and did not like him. Almost nobody in the southern states voted for Lincoln and he was not even on the ballot in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee or Texas. In these states most of the people voted for Breckenridge who swept the deep South. Although Douglas finished last in the electoral college, he received more popular votes than anyone except Lincoln. Lincoln was the first President to be elected by a purely sectional party, with its strength entirely in the North. To Southerners the future was particularly alarming. A man had been elected President who was not even on the ballot in ten states of the South. The North had simply outvoted them. Lincoln did appear on the ballot in some Southern states but faired poorly. For instance, in Maryland it was Breckenridge who took 45.8% of the vote. Bell took 45.2%, Douglas 6.5%, and Lincoln had 2.5%.”