Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of United States over a divided Democratic Party, becoming the first Republican to win the presidency elections. Lincoln received 40 per cent of the popular votes but successfully managed to defeat the three other candidates: Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator for Illinois.
Abraham Lincoln who was a Kentucky-born lawyer and former Whig representative of Congress, gained first national stature during the campaign against Stephen Douglas of Illinois for a U.S. Senate seat in 1858. The senatorial campaign observed a remarkable series of public encounters on the various issues such as the slavery issue, known as Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which Lincoln was against spread of slavery while Douglas argued that each territory should have the right to decide whether it should become free. Lincoln lost his position in the Senate race, but his campaign brought national attention to the young Republican Party. In 1860, Lincoln won the party’s presidential nomination.
In the November 1860 elections, Lincoln again faced Douglas, who was representing the Northern faction of a divided Democratic Party, as well as Breckinridge and Bell. The announcement of Lincoln’s victory signalled the secession of the Southern states, and sparked the Civil War. For preserving the Union and bringing an end to the slavery, and for his unique character, Lincoln is hailed as one of the greatest American presidents.
