The Election of 1860 & the Road to Disunion: Crash Course US History #18
In which
John Green teaches you about the election of
1860. As you may remember from last week, things were not great at this time in
US history. The tensions between the
North and South were rising, ultimately due to the single issue of slavery.
The North wanted to abolish slavery, and the
South wanted to continue on with it. It seemed like a war was inevitable, and it turns out that it was. But first the nation had to get through this election. You'll learn how the bloodshed in
Kansas, and the truly awful
Kansas-Nebraska Act led directly to the decrease in popularity of
Stephen Douglas, the splitting of the
Democratic party, and the unlikely victory of a relatively inexperienced politician from
Illinois,
Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln's election would lead directly to the secession of several
...