Skip to main content
Grolier Club Exhibitions

Lincoln the Chosen

LINCOLN THE CHOSEN  
1860 to 1861 

Southern states seceded because Abraham Lincoln became president. His election was the improbable result of a series of circumstances. Lincoln was not the first choice in the Republican nominating convention but won his candidacy by being the shared second choice of divergent delegates. He was then one of four choices for president, each from a different political party that corresponded roughly to one of the country’s regional sections. Voting for Lincoln meant voting to restrict slavery; only 39.8% of voters chose as such, but this became 59.4% of the electoral college vote. During the South’s secessionist reaction to these results, Lincoln remained silent—but chose formidable politicians to serve in his cabinet. When he did break his silence, in his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln chose his words carefully: “I have no purpose . . . to interfere with the institution of slavery,” he said, but "the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy.”  

Cooper Union Address

Abraham Lincoln, [Cooper Union Address] Tribune Tracts.—No. 4., Speech . . . Delivered at the Cooper Institute (New York: New York Tribune, 1860).  

Abraham Lincoln, [Cooper Union Address] The Republican Party Vindicated . . . Speech of Hon. Abraham Lincoln ([Washington]: Republican Executive Congressional Committee, 1860).  

Secession

[South Carolina Secession Convention], Ordinance of Secession ([Charleston, SC: Evans & Cogswell], 1860).

Constitution of the Confederate States of America (Richmond [VA]: Elliott, 1861).  

Arrival in Washington

Abraham Lincoln, “Farewell Address” (New York: American News, [printed later, ca. 1865]).  

Abraham Lincoln, “Inaugural Address,” Senate Documents (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1861).  

Union Ball 1860 [Inaugural Invitation] (Washington: Philp & Solomons, [1860 or 1861]).  

President and Cabinet [Albumen Carte de Visite] (n.p.: n.p., ca. 1861).

War Begins

The Battle of Fort Sumter and First Victory of the Southern Troops (Charleston [SC]: Evans & Cogswell, 1861).  

Within Fort Sumter; Or, a View of Major Anderson’s Garrison Family (New York: Tibbals, 1861).  

Lincoln the Chosen