Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

Election Day

When
November 6, 1860
Where
United States
Part of
Lincoln elected 16th President in the four-way 1860 election

The United States presidential election was held on November 6, 1860, with four major candidates competing.

The election took place on November 6, 1860. Abraham Lincoln defeated John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas, and John Bell. Lincoln became the first Republican president. The contest reflected the national division over slavery, with four major political parties having nominated candidates.

Sources

  1. 1860 United States presidential election Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-06
  2. John C. Breckinridge Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06
  3. Stephen A. Douglas Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-28
  4. John Bell (Tennessee politician) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-03

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.