Examine the election of 1860, analyze why the election of Abraham Lincoln was enough to drive the south to secession.

Mainly, Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election without a single vote from the South. What made matters worse was that he was a Rebuplican. Southerners feared that Republicans would take abolition to a whole new level, so they used Lincoln's election as a reason for secession.

The 1860 US presidential election is the 19th presidential election to elect the president and vice president of the United States. The elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, and won by the Republican Party led by Abraham Lincoln and his deputy Hannibal Hamlin. The electoral pool included 303 delegates. The electoral votes of the four main candidates were: Lincoln (180), John Breckenridge (72), John Bell (39) Douglas (12).

Lincoln's election led to the secession of seven southern states immediately and the Confederation was formed in February 1861, before Lincoln took office. Lincoln's other decisions resulted in the separation of four other southern states and their joining the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War.