Emerging Parties Leading up to the Conflict

     Following the election of 1860, the two parties officially split and the South seceded to form the Confederacy. The Republicans all unanimously supported their candidate, Abraham Lincoln, while the Democrats were divided, leading to two candidates representing the Democrats: the Northern Democrats for Stephen Douglas and the Southern Democrats for John Breckinridge. The constitutional representative was John Bell. Lincoln and Breckinridge opposed and advocated slavery (respectively), Bell was undecided on the issue, and Douglas wanted the people to choose. Though after Lincoln won the election, tension between all the parties grew.