litionists supported him as
having the most practical policy for the time being.

The total popular vote was 4,680,000. Lincoln got 1,866,000; Douglas,
1,375,000; Breckenridge, 846,900; Bell, 590,000. Of the electoral vote,
Lincoln got 180; Douglas, 12; Breckenridge, 72; Bell, 39. Lincoln
carried the Northern States, Breckenridge the Southern States, Bell the
border states of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, and Douglas New
Jersey and Missouri. To show how the people were divided, Douglas,
Breckenridge and Bell had some votes in nearly all states both North and
South. Lincoln had no votes in the states farthest south, but carried
all states north of the border states.

The career of Lincoln as President was made infinitely more difficult
as well as all the more creditable to him by reason of the fact that he
was not the choice of the majority of the people, but of less than half
of them; even less than half of the people of the Northern States.

South Carolina "hailed with delight" the news of the election of Lincoln
as a justification for immediate secession, which they desired, rather
than compromise or postponement; their Senators resigned; before
Christmas the Palmetto flag floated over every federal building in that
state, and early in January they fired on the ship "Star of the West" as
she entered Charleston harbor with supplies for Fort Sumpter. By
February seven of the Southern States--South Carolina, Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas--had seceded from the
Union and formed "the Confederate States of America," with Jefferson
Davis of Mississippi as President, and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia
as Vice-President.

Lincoln could, meanwhile, only wait in Springfield, during this most
trying interregnum; while the uncertain and impotent Buchanan allowed
the reins of government to slip from his weak hands, and many
influential men at the North counselled for peace at any price. Lincoln
was distressed, absent-minded, sad but also calm as he worked on his
inaugural address--a tremendous responsibility under the circumstances;
for in that address he must announce a policy in one of the gravest
crises that ever confronted a ruler in this world--sorrowful unto death,
he said, "I shall never be glad any more." Also he was beset with
office-seekers and troubled with his cabinet appointments; for the
agreement that Judge Davis had made at the Chicago convention with
Cameron of Pennsylvania wa