The Election of 1860, Voting for War?

Despite the partisan tense state of our current political landscape, all-out civil war still seems unlikely. The road to a conflict that that pits neighbor against neighbor and state against state seems unfathomable. Of course, it has happened before in American history. Those who lived up to the Civil War may have held similar notions about the unbreakable strength of the Union until it was too late. Was there online one event that made the war inevitable, that broke the country so profoundly that war was inevitable, and if so, with the advantage of hindsight, could we avoid that same trap with the current state of the Union, especially with such an influential election two months away?

Often, the start of the Civil War is seen by historians as April 12th, 1861, the day when Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumpter in South Carolina. Indeed, this first act of violence between the new confederacy and the Union started the war between these two sides. By this time, however, the southern states had already broken from the Union, a profound act of violence itself and one that made conflict inexorable. Even that, however, is not the true line from which America was unable to come back. Rather this blog suggests that the straw election that broke the camels, United States, back was the election of 1860, an election that made conflict all but inevitable.

Bell Everett Campaign Poster

The election that made Abraham Lincon the 16th president of the United States was a contentious one, not because of any misconduct in the election itself but rather because of the results, an anti-slavery republican elected president without the support of a single southern state. The words “anti-slavery” and not abolition is a purposeful one. Despite his reputation, when Lincon was elected, he was not an abolitionist; in fact, he saw abolition as just as great a threat to the Union as slavery. This didn’t bring comfort to the South. They saw the Lincons election as a shift in the political tides, a tide that would end the institution of slavery and the southern way of life. This is the moment in which the civil war truly started, in which violence became inevitable. Despite the lofty aspirations of abolitionists, it seems unlikely that slavery would have ended before the 20th century without violence. At the same time, even if the institution of slavery was not directly at risk, the southern states would not allow themselves to be governed by an executive that so fundamentally opposed their core beliefs. While it is disingenuous to claim that in voting or not voting for Lincon, Americans consciously voted for war, it is a truth that the election of 1860 was a line from which, once crossed, America was unable to recover without armed conflict. Of course, this is not to minimize the southern states’ role in escalation both by succeed from the Union and inciting violence but rather to point to how elections, even ones conducted fairly, have the power to rip nations apart.

The election of 2024 could be our could be our contemporary 1860. No matter the outcome, the election will be close. This means that millions of Americans will cast ballots for one candidate and end up with a completely different one in the white house. Duh. That’s how it always works, but like the election of 1860, each candidate has radically different views that, according to some on both sides, threaten one part or another of Americas way of life. It’s not hard to imagine how contentious issues like immigration or abortion could lead to political violence or even interstate conflict. In 2020, just as with the election of 1860, political violence wasn’t on the ballot, and yet the choices made by Americans in the polls led to the January 6th riot just the same, with some help of extremists and a former president, of course.

The past doesn’t determine the future, and no matter who wins the presidency, there are still countless ways to avoid political violence. Still, it can’t be helped, but I wonder if future historians will mark the 2024 election as the start of the second civil war.