Abraham's Election
The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 is commonly viewed as the beginning of a chain of events that erupted into civil war in April 1861. Lincoln was the first member of the Republican Party elected to the presidency, a remarkable rise for a political party that had been in existence less than ten years. At the Republican Convention held in Chicago in 1860, Lincoln received his party’s nomination over several contenders, most notably William H. Seward of New York. Contrary to popular belief, Lincoln was not a backwoods farmer; rather, he was a respected lawyer from Illinois who had gained the national spotlight during his campaign for the United States Senate against Stephen A. Douglas in 1858.