1860 United States Presidential Election

1856 Presidential Election - 1864 Presidential Election

Results
1860 is one of the most controversial elections in history. Captain and Former Representative, Abraham Lincoln rose to the Republican nomination on a wave of newfound popularity, whilst incumbent President Scott Drend faced a primary challenge. Despite the relatively good economy, Drend was trailing Lincoln badly in the polls, until the President finally dropped out of the Presidential race, citing having completed all his accomplishments he set out to do, and wished the Democratic party luck as he endorsed his running mate and now Democratic nominee, James Buchanan. Buchanan came across as a very uninspiring choice in comparison to Drend, and was doing even worse off against Lincoln in the campaign as many aides and political analysts left his campaign for dead. Both Drend and Buchanan attacked Lincoln for his inactivity on the campaign trail, claiming that he has left no policy specifics in regards to his social or economic platform, accusing him of using a "bunker" strategy, but this did little to deter his lead in the polls. However, come election day, Buchanan was doing much better than previously thought, as Buchanan managed to win Iowa and Pennsylvania, states that voted for Davies in 1856. It looked as though Buchanan might actually win, but Lincoln made up ground in the critical midwest states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The election came down to the west coast, of which Lincoln pulled off a victory in Oregon and California, electing him President at that point in time after a surprisingly close battle in the electoral college with a one elector lead and a flat out tie in the popular vote. But controversy struck on the day of the electoral college, as a faithless elector from California had cast their elector for conservative Republican and Missouri representative Edward Bates. This left with both candidates without an electoral majority in the electoral college, as riots and legal threats were levied against the faithless elector. Without an electoral majority, the election would go down to the House of Representatives. Despite the legal challenges and cajoling attempted by the Lincoln campaign, they were unable to stop the process in which the Democratic super majority in the House would vote for the President, The Democratic super majority narrowly voted Buchanan as President, with many Democrat representatives voting Lincoln as the rightful winner. Hardline democrats who voted for Buchanan in the House argued that as the popular vote was a tie, they had every constitutional and moral reason to vote who they saw fit. The senate, however, voted for Lincoln's running mate, William Seward, to be Vice President. James Buchanan became President, much to the displeasure of many. Many protest were organized against Buchanan, claiming him illegitimate, until Buchanan finally decided to resign, thus resulting in his Republican Vice President William Seward becoming President.