Words: 480
November 5, 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the 16th Presidential election against Stephen A. Douglas for numerous reasons. Lincoln wants to free slaves and his debates, but what really helped him win is that the Democratic Party was divided. Abraham Lincoln won the election because he opposed slavery and wanted them free. In 1 854, Lincoln came into politics soon after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. The U. S. Congress passed the Kansas- Nebraska Act on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within heir borders (Fonder 481).
Soon after, people for slavery and people against slavery swarmed into Kansas and started fighting over the land, which gave Kansas the nickname, Bleeding Kansas (Fonder 486). The act also disturbed Lincoln by paving the way for extension of slavery, a prospect he had long opposed. February 27, 1860, Lincoln made a famous speech in Manhattan, New York on his views of slavery. The speech was called the Cooper Union Speech and it consisted of three major parts (notes. Com). The first part concerns the founders and the legal positions they supported on the question of slavery in the territories.
The second part is addressed to the voters of the southern states, clarifying the issues between Republicans and Democrats, arguing that the Republican position on slavery is the ‘conservative’ policy. The final section is addressed to Republicans (notes. Com). In 1858, Lincoln and Douglas competed against each other in a series of seven debates known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln had run against Douglas before but loss terribly (notes. Com). Before the debates, Lincoln spoke at a Republican convention, which really put him out in the public.
His beech is known as the House Divided Speech. “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe the government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free” (Lincoln-Douglas Debates). The Lincoln-Douglas debates started as they were both running for an Illinois Senate seat. At first, Lincoln and Douglas debates were sometimes in the same city at the same time, but were separated. Soon after Lincoln wrote a letter to Douglas stating that they should have a series of joint debates (Lincoln-Douglas Debates). Lincoln and Douglas spoke in seven different cities throughout Illinois: Ottawa,
Freeport, Joneses, Charleston, Eagleburger, Quince, and Alton; the main topic was slavery and popular sovereignty. It was the campaign against Douglas (which he lost) and the debates between the two men that thrust Lincoln onto the national political stage. The splitting of the Democratic Party is another reason to why Lincoln won the election. The Democratic Party was split into two people: Northern Democrats who supported Stephen Douglas and Southern Democrats who supported John C. Befriending. John Bell was a Third Party candidate and was supported by the Constitutional Union Party Manager).