“Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, President Elect of the United States of America, with Scenes and Incidents in his Life,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, March 9, 1861

In the presidential election of 1860, Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer and former one-term Congressman from Illinois, defeated candidates from a fractured Democratic party (Stephen Douglas and John C. Breckenridge) and the Constitutional Unionist Party (John Bell). Lincoln took the then-moderate position that the federal government would not interfere with slavery where it already existed but would oppose its further expansion. Even that was too much for southern supporters of slavery, who deeply distrusted the Republicans and believed that the expansion of slavery was necessary for the South’s survival. Before Lincoln could even take the oath of office in March, 1861, seven southern states seceded from the union and formed the Confederate States of America.