Election day, Tuesday, November 6, 1860. The atmosphere in every city and town was heavy with tension. Tempers burst free and fistfights erupted—in the taverns, which were unusually busy that day, on the streets, and sometimes in workplaces. Men pulled their hats on and strode off to the polling places. Women stayed home, many of them fuming because women couldn’t vote.
It was raining in some parts of the union, a clear day in others. There was a great deal of tension. People recognized this election would mean severe changes to their lives. Some men considered it a celebratory day and headed for the tavern to share a drink with men of similar opinion.
Abraham Lincoln, a Representative in Congress, was the Republican candidate from Illinois. His party was the anti-slavery party, and he had promised if he was elected to abolish slavery. The Democrat party candidate was Senator Stephen A. Douglas, also from Illinois. The Southern Democratic Party candidate was John C. Breckinridge, the current Vice President. The Constitutional Union Party candidate was Senator John Bell from Tennessee.
Abraham Lincoln won by a landslide of electoral votes. He was the first Republican candidate to win the Presidency. (Keep in mind there were other parties in earlier years, such as the Whig).
In the far West, California and Oregon were states; the other western areas were territories. Both western states were carried by Lincoln. But in 1860, there was no internet and no telephone lines from East to West coast. The transcontinental telegraph line had not been completed, and California and Oregon residents were anxious to hear the election results. The day after the election, the results were telegraphed to Fort Kearny, Nebraska Territory, which was the end of the eastern telegraph line. Pony Express riders carried the news over snow-covered trails to Fort Churchill, Nevada Territory, the end of the western telegraph line. On November 14th, California received the election results stating that Abraham Lincoln had won the election. Thanks to the telegraph and the Pony Express, California had the news only seven days and seventeen hours after the East coast papers.[i]
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[Author’s comment: My research sources include Wickipedia.com, Britannica.com, my Great-Uncle John Watt Gibson’s memoir book, Recollections of a Pioneer, and family stories. In 1860, my Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother lived in California. Because of the anger and conflict that existed in California over the election and the subsequent Civil War, my great-grandparents left that state and moved to Wyoming mining country to get away from the tensions.
Two of my great-uncles rode as pony express riders for a while. It was a tough, rigorous job for young men, as Great-Uncle Watt wrote in his memoirs.
As I researched this writing in the days leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election, I visualized those young riders, urging their sturdy horses up steep grades, across treacherous stream crossings, pounding down snowy dirt trails. In the high country, November can be very cold. They were hardy young men and they carried precious information—news!]
Additional interesting facts:
There was no secret ballot until the 1880s, and states did not issue a voting ballot. Presidential ballots were printed and distributed by supporters of the candidates and by the political parties.[ii] Interestingly, no ballots were distributed for Lincoln in ten of the Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. This withheld 61 potential electoral votes from Lincoln.[iii] However, he still won by a landslide.
There were 33 states in the union in 1860. Kansas, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, North and South Dakota (at that time just Dakota), Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii were all territories, and West Virginia had not yet split off into a separate state.
The voting was sharply divided. Northern states voted for Lincoln; southern states voted for Brekenridge. The exceptions were Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, who voted for John Bell. Missouri was the lone state that voted for Stephen Douglas.
[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express, accessed Nov 4, 2024
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_United_States_presidential_election. Accessed November 5, 2024.
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