This is the third episode in an occasional series examining significant elections in American history. The most recent installment covered the election of 1992.
Democracy and the Constitution are on the ballot. The future of the republic is at stake. The potential for violence festers as Americans view their political opponents as existential enemies. Rival politicians eviscerate each other in heated rhetoric.
This was the United States of 1860, as the conflict over slavery threatened to split the nation in two. The election of Abraham Lincoln, the first antislavery president, was met with Southern secession — seven states left the Union before Lincoln was sworn in. Four years later, during some of the darkest days of the Civil War, Lincoln believed war weariness might cost him the election, but major Union victories that fall propelled him to victory, thereby saving the 13th Amendment.
In this episode of History As It Happens, two historians of 19th century American politics, Sean Wilentz and James Oakes, delve into the enduring consequences of these two “revolutionary” elections.
History As It Happens is available at washingtontimes.com or wherever you find your podcasts.
