| − | Lincoln became the “Rail Candidate” for president in 1860 because he opposed slavery in the territories but accepted it (as the Constitution did) in the South. He “rode the rail” of that principle right to the White House. As a former attorney for the railroads, the image stuck to him. | + | Lincoln became the "Rail Candidate" for president in 1860 because he opposed slavery in the territories but accepted it (as the Constitution did) in the South. He "rode the rail" of that principle right to the White House. As a former attorney for the wealthy railroads (which depended on keeping the Union together), the image stuck to him. |
| − | In 1856, he had switched from Whig to Republican, and this may have helped him when he won the election of 1860. | + | In 1856, Lincoln had switched from Whig to Republican, and this may have helped him when he won the election of 1860. |
| − | Douglas lost the support of both the North and South due to his “Freeport Doctrine,” which was a position he took in a debate with Lincoln at Freeport, Illinois in their contest for U.S. Senate from Illinois (in which Lincoln won the popular vote, but Douglas was chosen by the Illinois legislature to be the Senator, as was the practice then). After the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision that a slave is property who cannot be taken away from the slave owner, Lincoln asked Douglas, “Can the people of a United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution?” In his answer, Douglas adopted a position in the middle between Lincoln’s view that slavery should not be allowed in territories and the Supreme Court’s view that slavery must be protected everywhere as property. Douglas said that the people in each territory can decide whether to allow slavery, and if they prohibited it then as a practical matter the slave owner could not keep a slave there. This angered the South and also further alienated Douglas from the North. Douglas could then win only one state, Missouri, in the presidential election of 1860. Lincoln coasted to victory in the presidential election. | + | Douglas lost the support of both the North and South due to his "Freeport Doctrine," which was described above. After the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision that a slave is property who cannot be taken away from the slave owner, Lincoln asked Douglas, "Can the people of a United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution?" In his answer, Douglas adopted a position in the middle between Lincoln's view that slavery should not be allowed in territories and the Supreme Court's view that slavery must be protected everywhere as pure property. Douglas said that the people in each territory can decide whether to allow slavery, and if they prohibited it then as a practical matter the slave owner could not keep a slave there. This angered the South, which became afraid that a popular vote could deprive them of their slaves (each slave was worth $30,000 in today's money, and slaveowners often had many slaves). Douglas's position also cost him votes in the North. By trying to take a middle position, Douglas lost support on both sides and could win only one state, Missouri, in the presidential election of 1860. Lincoln coasted to victory in the presidential election. |
| − | Lincoln served for two terms and his administration was a prolonged struggle to save the Union. In 1862, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
| + | '''Question:''' Why did the South think it could win the Civil War?<ref>It assumed that Britain would come to its aid because it was an important manufacturer of cotton. But the South didn't take into account that Britain already got plenty of cotton from India, and thus could do without American cotton.</ref> |