Election Of 1860 Dbq Essay

The Election of 1860 caused tensions to arise throughout the United States, particularly between the Northern states and the Southern states. While four men ran for presidential office, the two who gained the most electoral votes were Abraham Lincoln (most popular in North), and John C. Breckenridge (most popular in the South). These men represented the regions they were most favored by in their political beliefs. Breckenridge was a Southern Democrat, whose campaign identified closely with the beliefs of a common southerner; such as slavery, King cotton reliance, and strong state’s rights. In contrast, Lincoln was part of the new Republican party which strongly identified with the liberal beliefs of the North; including condemnation of slavery, …show more content…
First, this document was a military policy, which is technically not a law. (“I Would Save the Union”) It also only freed slaves that were in the Confederacy’s possession, so all slaves outside of the Confederate boundaries were not able to be freed under those circumstances. In addition, there was no force regulating whether or not the rebels who owned slaves had let them free or not, so there was no guarantee slaves that could technically be freed actually were.. People in the Confederacy most likely took the Emancipation Proclamation with a grain of salt and simply ignored it. After all, the Confederacy was its own nation, so why should it have to obey something from the Union? Also, even though the slaves that were freed could do whatever they wanted to, they often enlisted in the Union army or became reliant on army camps or others to be fed and paid since they had never been economically independent in their lives. Freed slaves also could not truly be free unless they gained respect from their white counterparts. This could be done through land ownership, since property guaranteed liberty, and/or by asserting political