9781422274200

A Broken Nation Disagreements between the northern and southern sections of the country had been building since the early nineteenth century. There were important economic and social differences between the North and the South. Tensions rose throughout the 1850s, as the nation wrestled with the issue of slavery, and reached a boiling point after the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in November 1860. Lincoln was the candidate of the Republican Party, which had been formed just a few years earlier. Most Republicans believed the system of chattel slavery in the South was evil and wanted to see it eliminated. However, slavery was permitted under the US Constitution, so during his election campaign Lincoln had promised not to interfere with slavery in the states where it already existed. He said he would continue to enforce the laws that protected slavery, such as the Fugitive Slave Act, which required northerners to help return escaped slaves to their masters. More Americans In 1860 were members of the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. Yet the Democrats were divided on the issue of slavery. Northern Democrats supported Stephen A. Douglass, a senator from Illinois. Douglass wanted to allow the people who settled in western territories to decide for themselves if they wanted to permit slavery or not—a doctrine that became known as popular sovereignty . Southern Democrats backed John

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