The Making of a National Figure

By 1859, Abraham Lincoln had emerged as a prominent figure within the Republican Party, largely due to his famed debates with Stephen Douglas. As Republicans across the nation turned their attention to the upcoming 1860 presidential election, Lincoln’s political acumen became indispensable. Schuyler Colfax of Indiana wrote to him, expressing the party’s dilemma: how to unite a coalition that ranged from cautious conservatives fearful of disturbing peace to bold radicals willing to challenge slavery at any cost. Lincoln’s solution was to sideline divisive issues and focus on the party’s lowest common denominator—opposing the expansion and nationalization of slavery.

Through his letters and speeches in 1859 and early 1860, Lincoln positioned himself as a viable presidential candidate. Some, like Massachusetts lawyer George White, dismissed him as a “cunning, hypocritical, and calculating” figure whose public record seemed tailored for ambition. Yet Lincoln’s genius lay in his ability to appeal to all factions of the Republican Party. Occupying the ideological and geographical center, he was moderate enough to win the North—and thus the Electoral College—yet radical enough to provoke a secession crisis upon his election.

The Republican Party’s Tightrope Walk

In an era of fierce partisan loyalty, Lincoln remained a steadfast party man. He had been a Whig “from the origin to the end” of the party and now dedicated himself to Republican unity as a prerequisite for victory in 1860. His strategy was clear: avoid regional platforms that might alienate voters elsewhere.

One contentious issue was the Massachusetts referendum proposing a two-year waiting period before naturalized citizens could vote. While many Republican leaders in the state supported it, Lincoln and others urged its rejection, fearing it would alienate German Americans, a crucial voting bloc in the Northwest. When the amendment passed, Lincoln funded a German-language Republican newspaper in Springfield to counteract nativist sentiment.

Another challenge was distancing Republicans from accusations of advocating “Negro equality.” Lincoln carefully avoided discussions of racial integration or black suffrage, framing Democratic appeals to racism as distractions from the real issue: the expansion of slavery versus its containment.

The Fugitive Slave Law and States’ Rights

The enforcement of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act became another flashpoint. Some Northern states passed “personal liberty laws” obstructing the return of escaped slaves, while radicals invoked the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798–99 to justify state resistance to federal law. Wisconsin’s Supreme Court even declared the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional, prompting a Republican-controlled legislature to assert state sovereignty when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled them.

Lincoln, a staunch nationalist, opposed such defiance. While he disliked the 1850 law, he acknowledged Southerners’ constitutional right to an effective fugitive slave provision. He warned Ohio Republicans that demanding the law’s repeal would damage the party’s prospects, declaring, “The Republican cause is hopeless in Illinois if it can in any way be held responsible for that platform.”

The Cooper Union Address: A Defining Moment

Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech in February 1860 solidified his national reputation. Invited by New York Republicans hostile to frontrunner William Seward, Lincoln delivered a meticulously researched address refuting Douglas’s claim that the Founding Fathers endorsed popular sovereignty on slavery.

He argued that most founders viewed slavery as an evil to be tolerated but not expanded. Contrary to Chief Justice Taney’s Dred Scott ruling, Lincoln noted that the Constitution avoided terms like “slave” and “property,” instead referring to enslaved people as “persons.” His speech framed Republicans as the true conservatives, adhering to the founders’ principles.

The address was a triumph, reprinted in newspapers and pamphlets nationwide. Horace Greeley, though favoring Edward Bates, praised it as “one of the happiest and most convincing political arguments ever made.” Lincoln’s subsequent New England tour reinforced his message, further elevating his profile.

The 1860 Election and the Fracturing Nation

By May 1860, the Republican National Convention in Chicago faced a fractured field. William Seward, the party’s most prominent figure, was deemed too radical. Salmon Chase was seen as an abolitionist, while Edward Bates’s nativist ties alienated immigrant voters. Lincoln, the “Rail-Splitter,” emerged as the compromise candidate—moderate on slavery but firm against its expansion.

The Republican platform avoided divisive issues, focusing on:
– Opposing slavery’s expansion
– Supporting homestead legislation (free land for settlers)
– Endorsing a transcontinental railroad
– Rejecting nativist measures like Massachusetts’ waiting period

Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot. His victory in November was assured by Democratic division—Northern Democrats backed Douglas, while Southerners rallied behind John Breckinridge. A fourth party, the Constitutional Unionists, nominated John Bell, appealing to border-state Unionists.

Lincoln secured 54% of the Northern popular vote but appeared on no Southern ballots. His election triggered the secession of seven Southern states by March 1861, forming the Confederate States of America.

The Secession Crisis and Lincoln’s Dilemma

As president-elect, Lincoln faced an unprecedented crisis. Southern states seized federal forts, arsenals, and customs houses. He received conflicting advice: some urged compromise, while others, like Illinois Republican Alfred Babcock, warned that concessions would only embolden slavery’s defenders.

Lincoln refused to compromise on slavery’s expansion, writing to allies:
> “On the territorial question, I am inflexible. If we compromise now, all our labor is lost, and sooner or later must be done again.”

He dismissed proposals like the Crittenden Compromise, which sought to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, calling it “surrender” to secessionist blackmail.

The Inauguration and War

Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861, struck a conciliatory yet firm tone. He assured Southerners he would not interfere with slavery where it existed but rejected secession as “anarchy.” Quoting Andrew Jackson and Daniel Webster, he affirmed the Union’s permanence:
> “Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove our respective sections from each other.”

When Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, Lincoln responded by calling for 75,000 volunteers. Four more slave states seceded, but the attack galvanized Northern unity.

The War’s Unintended Consequences

Initially, Lincoln framed the conflict as a struggle to preserve the Union, not to end slavery. Yet abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and radicals like Charles Sumner saw war as slavery’s death knell. As Union troops advanced, enslaved people fled to their lines, forcing the issue of emancipation onto the national agenda.

John Quincy Adams had predicted decades earlier that war would destroy slavery. By 1861, his prophecy seemed imminent.

Conclusion: Lincoln’s Legacy

Lincoln’s rise from prairie lawyer to wartime president was marked by political shrewdness and an unwavering commitment to preventing slavery’s spread. His election triggered a crisis that reshaped America, proving that democracy could not coexist with human bondage. The Civil War, born from this clash, would ultimately fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence—a new birth of freedom.

As Lincoln himself had said in 1858:
> “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

By 1865, the Union would be preserved, and slavery abolished—but at a cost of 600,000 lives. Lincoln’s leadership through this defining crisis cemented his place as one of history’s greatest statesmen.