The election of Abraham Lincoln was, in the view of many Southerners,

unconscionable. Many, like Jefferson Davis, would rather see the "Old Union"
broken up than be ruled by a "Black Republican." Typical of Southern secessionist
feelings is this rant from one Atlanta paper of the period:

"Let the consequences be what they may, whether the Potomac is crimsoned in human
gore, and Pennsylvania Avenue is paved ten fathoms deep with mangled bodies, the
constitutional South will never submit to such humiliation and degradation as the
inauguration of Abraham Lincoln."

Secessionist rants like the above completely baffled Lincoln. Lincoln's amazement
is depicted in his own words in Stephen B. Oates' "The Approaching Fury, Voices of
the Storm (1820-1861)" (Harper Perennial: 1998):

"A thousand Republicans had said that (they were pledged to leave slavery alone
where it already exists) ten thousand times, but our disclaimers fell on deaf ears
own in Dixie. It amazed me that Republicans and southerners spoke the same
language, yet when we promised (that), southerners heard abolitionist rantings
about invasion and destruction of their "institutions." Lincoln could not believe
the hysteria that his candidacy caused down south. His name did not even appear on
the ballot in ten states, and his effigy "burned in windows and public squares."
(334)

Commanding a largely unified bloc of northern and western (California and Oregon)
votes, Lincoln's task was made easier by the disunity of a fractious and
sectionalized Democratic Party, led (at least partially) by his old adversary
Stephen Douglas. Douglas controlled the party apparatus, whose superior northern
numbers called the shots when it came to seating delegations at the convention in
Baltimore. He could not control his party's southern secessionist wing, which
broke away and nominated the southerner John C. Breckenridge.

In one of the true pre-Civil War ironies, it was Jefferson Davis (the future
Confederate President) who tried to keep the Democrats together by offering a
compromise candidate from Virginia. Davis feared the Civil War that would result
in secession, and he still had an abiding respect for "the Old Union." Douglas
would have none of this, having won the nomination fair and square. He did not
want to see his party falling into the hands of traitorous secessionists, and
swore he would lose the election before he'd allow such a thing. Add to that, he
and Davis hated each other.

Departing from tradition, then, Douglas actively campaigned on his own behalf. He
traveled extensively throughout the North, frequently to be shouted down by
astonishingly large Republican crowds. He also displayed political courage in his
travels through the South. Once, while speaking in Norfolk, Virginia, he was
handed a set of questions from a local newspaper:

Q. Did he think that the South would be justified in seceding from the Union if
Abraham Lincoln were elected?

A. "Never on earth!"

Q. Would he advise the federal government to use force if the South seceded before
Lincoln committed an overt act?
A. "I myself would do all in my power to aid the government in maintaining the
supremacy of the laws against all resistance to them. . . I think the President,
whoever he may be, should treat all attempts to break up the Union as Old Hickory
treated the nullifiers in 1832 (by sending federal troops)." (330-331)
The foregoing responses did not ingratiate Douglas to southern Democrats, who
"ranted and raved" accusing him of "preaching violence and coercion" and acting as
"a Black Republican Ally." On election day, Douglas was in Mobile, Alabama (which
would become the first capital of the Confederacy). As he awaited the election
returns by telegraph, it became clear that he would come in second behind Lincoln
in popular votes with Breckenridge in third. In fact, Lincoln, who stayed at home,
would have won the election even if the Democrats had not split.

The secession of the first seven Southern states in the months following the
election South Carolina would go first on December 20, 1860, followed by
Mississippi (Davis' home state), Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas
(all by February 1, 1861) all occurred prior to Lincoln's being sworn in to
office. The last four Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee seceded
after the Confederate attack on fort Sumter in April of 1861.

In the end, it was the South's refusal to accept the will of the majority both as
former Democrats and later in a national presidential election that prompted them
to opt out of the Union they felt their forefathers had voluntarily joined (and
could voluntarily leave). Abraham Lincoln, backed by the superior manpower and
industry of the North would deem otherwise. No government, Lincoln contended,
could countenance its own illegal dissolution.

In his first inaugural address, Lincoln again assured the South that he was not
interested in their slaves. Again the South did not believe him. His speech,
however, stressed a keen interest in preserving the United States, which he saw as
the last best hope for representative government left on earth. Anything else, he
thought, would be a violation of his oath to preserve and defend the Constitution.