How did the republican party and the election of 1860 spark the civil war?

By 1860, the divisions in the country had reached a breaking point. Southerners were outraged over a plot by abolitionist John Brown to start a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859, an event that garnered headlines in newspapers and magazines across the nation. The November 19, 1859, issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, for instance, led with the story The Harper’s Ferry Insurrection and an image of John Brown. Northern Republicans were equally angered by the recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford, declaring free soil unconstitutional. Northern Democrats, meanwhile, struggled to convince Americans that their policy of popular sovereignty still made sense.

The Harper's Ferry Insurrection [John Brown, Now Under Sentence of Death for Treason and Murder, at Charleston, VA.]

The presidential Election of 1860 brought these conflicts to a head with dramatic consequences. The Democratic Party split into three groups along regional lines, each vying for control of the party and each holding different ideas about how to deal with slavery in the West. These three camps lined up against Abraham Lincoln, the nominee of the Republican Party, who advocated that the West be free of slavery entirely. Because Lincoln’s opponents were so deeply divided, he won with less than forty percent of the popular vote (but with fifty-nine percent of the Electoral College) and without taking a single slave state. Although Lincoln’s election was fair, it nonetheless pushed the Deep South toward secession.

abraham lincoln

the image shown is not a reliable source. it is not a photograph taken of the event, and it is not a painting created by someone who witnessed the event. the image can be considered yellow journalism because it is sensational and exaggerated. the explosion did not likely cause bodies to fly in the air or create a large fireball, as shown here. the image was created to make the american public angry about the explosion, not to show what actually happened.

the painting is not reliable.

the painting is exaggerated.

the painting is inaccurate.

the painting was created to make the public angry, not to show what really happened.