Popular vs. Electoral Vote

The popular vote is the total number of individual votes cast by citizens in a presidential election – it shows which candidate more people voted for across the whole country. The electoral vote comes from the Electoral College, where each state has a set number of votes based on its population. States give all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state. Whoever gets 270 or more electoral votes becomes president, even if they didn’t win the nationwide popular vote. Lincoln didn’t get a vote in 9 states, for the electoral college, yet still won through electoral votes in other states.

Popular vs. Electoral Vote

• The popular vote is the total number of individual votes cast by citizens in a presidential election – it shows which candidate more people voted for across the whole country.

• The electoral vote comes from the Electoral College, where each state has a set number of votes based on its population. States give all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in that state. 

• Whoever gets 270 or more electoral votes becomes president, even if they didn’t win the nationwide popular vote.

  • Lincoln didn’t get a vote in 9 states, for the electoral college, yet still won through electoral votes in other states.

Sectionalism

• Loyalty to one’s own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole → election results reflect sectionalism because the candidates mainly won the regions where their supporters are from, as they spent no time/effort in other areas. 

• Abraham Lincoln

• Republican

• Anti-slavery → he believed slavery should be contained, but NOT extended

• EXPERIENCE: Lawyer, elected to the Illinois state legislature, fought against Douglas

• WHO WOULD VOTE FOR HIM: Those who opposed the Mexican-American War, the North

• Stephen Douglas

• Northern Democratic

• He thought the decision of whether a state allowed slavery or not should be left to its citizens (POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY!!)

• EXPERIENCE: Attorney General for Illinois, Secretary of State

• WHO WOULD VOTE FOR HIM: Those who wanted freedom in their decisions, democrats, middle of the country

• John Breckinridge 

• Southern Democratic

• Pro-slavery (popular sovereignty terrified him)

• EXPERIENCE: United States House of Representatives, youngest vice president

• WHO WOULD VOTE FOR HIM: White planters in the South, those who supported slavery

• John Bell

• Constitutional Union Party

• Neutral → he had slaves, but wanted to abolish it – he believes that slavery shouldn’t expand into Western Land

• EXPERIENCE: United States House of Representatives, Secretary of War for William Henry Harrison, United States Senate

• WHO WOULD VOTE FOR HIM: Middle states

• Votes

• Abraham Lincoln → 40% popular (ranked 1st), 180/303 electoral (ranked 1st) → North and West

• Stephen Douglas → 29% popular (ranked 2nd), 12/303 electoral (ranked 4th) → Middle

• John Breckinridge → 18% popular (ranked 3rd), 72/303 electoral (ranked 2nd) → South

• John Bell → 13% popular (ranked 4th), 39/303 electoral (ranked 3rd) → Middle

Maps

• Not all candidates received pop votes in each state – Lincoln understood some states weren’t worth campaigning in or disturbing voting tickets.

• Stephen Douglas received so many pop votes but so few electoral votes since his support was spread thinly around the country, concentrated, so he didn’t want the electoral college in most states.

• If the democratic party ran only one candidate, it is possible that the candidate likely would have won the election. Since there were 2 democratic candidates, their votes were split down the middle. The supposed single democratic candidate’s popular vote could have trumped Lincoln’s.

• The election results reflected sectionalism → Each candidate appeals to a region rather than the whole country – this means voters simply vote with their region and not for personal morals.

Secession

• When a group or region decides to leave or break away from a country or organization to become independent.

Secession Map

• Deep Southern states secede to form a confederacy (a new country). The Northern states did not secede, middle states seceded after Fort Sumter. Bottom states (majority) seceded before Fort Sumter.

• SOUTH CAROLINA WAS THE FIRST TO SECEDE (Dec. 20, 1860)

• 7 states seceded before Fort Sumter, 4 after

• Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware were called border as they bordered seceded states, but were still A PART OF THE UNION (pro-slavery, but still a part of the Union)

Secession Documents

• Texas Reasons (why it is seceding from the Union):

  • The government has failed to protect the lives of Texas people against Indian savages

  • Northern States are not listening to Southern laws, hurting the citizens

  • Slave-holding states feel as if they are in a powerless minority in Congress

• Georgia Reasons (why it is seceding from the Union):

  • The constitution guarantees slavery, so why are the Northerners restricting the South of it?

  • Northern states passed personal liberty laws to block the Fugitive Slave Act → angered Georgia because it showed the North was refusing to enforce laws that protected slavery (ALSO MISSOURI COMPROMISE)

  • Disturbed Southerners’ domestic peace and tranquility

• South Carolina

  • Non-slave holding states were being treated as less (but the country was created to have all states treated equally)

  • The US states that if the government isn’t meeting states needs, then they can leave

  • The government won’t survive if the country has such differing beliefs across the board

The North

• Slavery was dying out

• Lots of factories, not farms

• Smaller farmsteads

• Labor force: European immigrants

• 25% of people lived in cities, STILL MORE THAN THE SOUTH

• Political parties: Whig/Republican

• Careers: Manufacturers, factory workers, businesses, education, medicine, engineers

• Transportation: had ⅔ of train tracks in the whole country, boats

• Resources: Iron, copper

• More likely to be more educated than the South

The South

• ⅓ Southerners owned slaves

• No need for industrial development

• Large farms that grew tobacco and cotton

• 80% worked on farms/plantations

• 10% urban, 90% rural

• Political parties: democratic

• Careers: Military, farms, house

• Transportation: UNDERDEVELOPED, FEW train tracks, MORE waterways

• Resources: Farms, tobacco, cotton

• Spent less time at school due to familial ties to farms

Battle of Fort Sumter

• Fort Sumter was a US military fort located in the harbor of Charleson, South Carolina. After South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1860, the fort remained under federal (Union) control, even though it was now in Confederate territory.

• President Lincolm, newly in office in 1861, faced a tough choice about what to do with the Union troops stationed there. The Confederacy saw any Union presence as a threat and demanded they leave. Lincol had to decide if and how to support the troops.

  • 1) Withdraw troops → This would avoid conflict but also appear weak, possibly encouraging more secession

  • 2) Reinforce the fort with food and weapons → This might keep control, but it would likely provoke the Confederacy into open war

  • 3) Send only humanitarian aid (food, no weapons) → This shows care for the soldiers without aggression, aiming to put pressure on the South not to attack.

  • Lincoln’s choice: Option 3 – to only send food. This was a smart political move: it let him claim that the Union wasn’t starting a war, but if the Confederates attacked, they would look like the aggressors. 
    

Political Leadership

• Lincoln: Born into poverty, self-educated → lawyer → politician

• Jefferson Davis: Born into prosperity, United States military academy, long military career

Military Leadership

• Lincoln:

  • George McCellan: known for being slow and reluctant to attack

  • Ulysses S. Grant: Aggressive tactics

  • William Sherman: Known for using a strategy called “total war” (civilians were involved and everything was destructed)

• Davis:

  • Robert E. Lee: Commanded the army of Northern Virginia, cultural icon

  • Stonewall Jackson: Lee’s “right-hand man,” was accidentally killed by his own men

  • George Pickett: known for his charge in the battle of Gettysburg, either famous or infamous

Strategy

• LINCOLN (ANACONDA PLAN)

  • Blockade Southern ports to cut off trade and communication

  • Take control of the Mississippi River to split the Confederacy in two

  • Capture Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital

• DAVIS (GOAL: SURVIVAL AS A NATION):

  • Defend itself, fight a defensive war

The War in 1861

• Before the war, Lincoln was a lawyer, he was a politician, he was self educated, while Davis was a plantation millionaire and former secretary of war. After the Confederate States of America were formed, LINCOLN SAYS THAT HE BELIEVES THAT SECESSION IS UNCONSTITIONAL. After the Battle of Fort Sumter, both sides were very confident. THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN, known as the bloodiest victory of all time. The South vowed to keep fighting until either the North gave up from exhaustion or foreign nations recognized the Confederacy as an independent country.

The War in 1862

• Ulysses Grant becomes known as US GRANT, or unconditional surrender

• The U.S.S. Monitor (Union) and C.S.S Virginia (Confederate) were strongly defended because they were ironclad. This made them much more resistant to enemy fire, which was a major innovation in naval warfare at the time.

• Robert E. Lee (confederate) and Stonewall Jackson (confederate) attack McClellan (union) so he can’t get close to Richmond Virginia.

• BATTLE OF ANTIETAM – 23,000 casualties in a single day, known as America’s bloodiest day

The Emancipation Proclamation

• Lincoln’s current concerns:

  • That the confederacy will gain foreign support (Great Britain and France)

  • Role of slavery in the war?

• Emancipation Proclamation:

  • Issued after the Battle of Antietam

  • Effective Jan 1, 1863

  • The Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared all slaves in Confederate-held territory to be free. It only applied to the Confederate states, not to slaves in the Union states or Border states that remained loyal to the Union.

  • Lincoln justifies this proclamation by saying he has the right to take action in times of rebellion

The freed slaves could either work for wages, but were also allowed to join the UNION army (their opposing side)

• Union

• The war gained a symbolic purpose

• Henry M. Turner → In D.C. (political)

  • He recounts the Union state was so happy, white AND COLORED people shook hands and danced, and Lincoln was celebrated

• Confederacy

• Increased determination to fight

• Jefferson Davis →“Most hateful measure recorded in history, felt it was a direct target.”

General

• Emancipation Proclamation is more symbolic than practical.

• Compromise is no longer an option (keep fighting in the war)

• POLITICAL:

  • Republicans lose a lot of seats

  • Lincoln wanted everyone on board

  • France and Great Britain saw it as a political move against the Confederacy

• LINCOLN:

  • The democratic paper was offended

  • Reputation: great emancipator (he is known as the one who freed the slaves

• OTHER:

  • Frees millions of enslaved people in Confederate states

  • Northerners were cheering and happy

  • Signed it with a steady hand (didn’t want people to think he was hesitating)

  • Thought it would be a never-ending war

The War in 1863

• France and Great Britain lose support for the South because they both abolished slavery and they don’t want to fight alongside a country that is preserving it

• Black men in the North are now allowed to enlist in the Union Army

• Lincoln kept switching the Union Generals under him, no consistency

• BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE – Lee lost his most trusted advisor, Stonewall → known to be a bloody battle

• Pickett’s Charge → attack fails, South said they would never invade North again

• Lincoln tells mourners to keep fighting

The War in 1864

• 1864: Lincoln is up for reelection, he may lose against a negotiable candidate

• Ulysses S. Grant planned a major campaign targeting Richmond Virginia and Atlanta Georgia, two key Southern cities during the Civil War. President Lincoln feared that if these cities remained under Confederate control, it could hurt his reelection chances in 1864.

• LINCOLN ONCE AGAIN WINS IN A LANDSLIDE

• Sherman captures seaports and attacks civilians (TOTAL WAR)

• CONDITION OF CONFEDERACY: Losing their hope of victory, they feel Union soldiers in the North are so powerful that it’s not even worth targeting them