AP US History AMSCO Guided Notes
5.7: Election of 1860 and Secession
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP US History Guided Notes
AMSCO 5.7 - Election of 1860 and Secession
Learning Objectives
- Describe the effects of Lincoln's election
I. The Road to Secession
1. What economic and political concerns made Southern states fear a Republican victory in 1860?
A. John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry
1. What was John Brown's plan at Harpers Ferry and how did it fail?
2. How did Brown's raid and his execution divide the North and alarm the South?
II. The Election of 1860
A. Breakup of the Democratic Party
1. Why did the Democratic Party split into two factions in 1860 and what did each faction support?
2. What were the key differences between the platforms of Stephen Douglas and John C. Breckinridge?
B. Republican Nomination of Lincoln
1. Why did Republicans choose Abraham Lincoln over William Seward as their presidential candidate?
2. What economic policies did the Republican platform promise to appeal to Northern and Western voters?
C. A Fourth Political Party
1. Who formed the Constitutional Union Party and what was their primary goal?
D. Election Results
1. How did Lincoln win the election despite receiving only 39.8 percent of the popular vote?
2. What did Lincoln's electoral victory demonstrate about the political power of the North versus the South?
III. Secession of the Deep South
A. Secession of the Deep South
1. Which seven states seceded from the Union and what was their stated reason for leaving?
2. What was the Confederate States of America and how did its constitution differ from the U.S. Constitution?
B. Crittenden Compromise
1. What did Senator Crittenden propose to prevent secession and why did Lincoln reject it?
2. How did Southern secessionists justify their actions using the language of the American Revolution?
IV. A Nation Divided
A. Fort Sumter
1. How did Lincoln's decision to send provisions to Fort Sumter lead to the start of the Civil War?
2. What was the significance of the attack on Fort Sumter for Northern public opinion?
B. Secession of the Upper South
1. Which four Upper South states seceded after Fort Sumter and what happened to western Virginia?
C. Keeping the Border States in the Union
1. Which four slaveholding states remained in the Union and what methods did Lincoln use to keep them loyal?
2. Why was keeping the border states in the Union so important to Lincoln's military and political strategy?
V. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: WHAT CAUSED THE CIVIL WAR?
1. What did Northern historians argue was the primary cause of the Civil War?
2. How did Southern historians explain the conflict between North and South?
3. What did Progressive era historians emphasize as the foundation of the Civil War conflict?
4. How did historians in the 1920s and 1930s challenge the idea that the Civil War was inevitable?
5. Why did historians in the 1950s and 1960s return to viewing slavery as the chief cause of the Civil War?
Key Terms
John Brown
Harpers Ferry
John C. Breckenridge
Constitutional Union Party
John Bell
secession
border states
Crittenden Compromise
Fort Sumter