1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 605 Election Day

A few days before the election, Lincoln and the local Republicans squatted in the telegraph mailroom of the Springfield telegraph office in the capital of Illinois almost every day, anxiously waiting for the results of the election.

Although Lincoln looked very calm on the surface and seemed confident in the outcome of the election, in fact, Lincoln's heart was already turbulent and he was more nervous than anyone else.

At this moment, Lincoln himself was not sure whether he could win the election without any southern support.

No American president had ever won an election without receiving a single Southern vote.

Even though Buchanan had very low support in the South, Buchanan still won the votes of three southern states: Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.

There is no doubt that the first state Lincoln won was Illinois, then Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan, the young states in the west. It can be said that Lincoln's situation in the western states is great!

After all, Lincoln has long displayed his external image as a western pioneer. When Lincoln gave speeches in the western frontier areas, Lincoln always talked about the "Homestead Act" and promised to the pioneers in the central and western frontier areas.

Any U.S. citizen or alien with U.S. citizenship who is 21 years of age or older and is willing to live and operate land in the Western Frontier for more than five consecutive years is eligible to receive up to 160 acres (approximately 64.75 hectares) of government land. .

Applicants only need to pay a certain registration fee and settle on the land for five consecutive years and carry out farming or other forms of development, and they will automatically obtain the ownership rights of the settlement land upon expiration.

The pie that Lincoln planned for the western expansionists was undoubtedly very tempting. Due to the low level of development in the western region and the insufficient institutional construction, the issue that people in the western border areas were most worried about was the issue of land ownership. No one wants the land they have worked so hard to open up to end up being cheaper for others due to ownership issues.

After all, these frontier areas did not have semi-official immigration commissions to provide a full range of services to colonizing immigrants like those in the Utah Territory and Colorado Territory.

The western border states have long been on the fringes of American politics. Few politicians have seriously conducted research in the western region, which has inconvenient transportation, and thought about what the people in the western region really need.

Lincoln was the first politician to do so in the West, so it is not surprising that Lincoln was able to quickly win these western frontier states on the eve of the election.

It would be strange if the people of the western frontier states were willing to vote for a politician like Lincoln.

Soon, the votes in the three West Coast states were also assigned. Fremont, the candidate of the Citizens Party, won California, Oregon and Liangzhou one after another. To Lincoln's surprise, the Citizen Party actually gained support in Ohio, Georgia and Texas.

The situation in the Midwestern states has mostly been settled, but there has been no news from the most critical eastern states, which made Lincoln and other Republicans increasingly anxious. Lincoln paced back and forth in the telegraph mailroom to relieve his nervousness and anxiety, waiting uneasily for news from the eastern states.

It was not until 11 a.m. the next day that the Republican Party won the victory in Pennsylvania.

"Yes!"

When Lincoln learned that he had captured Pennsylvania, he couldn't help but pump his fist in excitement to vent his long-suppressed emotions.

This is the first large state on the eastern seaboard that the Republicans have won!

"Hello, Mr. President." Watson Salon, a local gentry in Springfield, an old member of the Republican Party, and a good friend of Lincoln, came to visit, handed over an exquisite invitation, and cordially invited Lincoln to attend the dinner he held tonight.

"Please be sure to enjoy this banquet."

"Watson, it's too early to call me President. Do you think with my current mental state, I still have the heart to attend the banquet?" Lincoln's voice was trembling when he spoke, "There is no news about the most critical state of New York. It makes me unable to sleep or eat well."

This is not that Lincoln is looking for excuses to refuse, but a true portrayal of Lincoln's heart at this moment.

New York State is the largest state in the United States. Whether it can win New York State can even affect the final result of this election.

Lincoln had no intention of participating in any kind of social event until the results from New York state came in.

After chatting with Watson Sharon for a while and seeing Watson off, Lincoln returned to the telegraph mailroom and waited in the telegraph mailroom waiting for news from the eastern states.

Around one o'clock in the morning, Lincoln received news that the Republicans had won Connecticut and Massachusetts. This made Lincoln so excited that he lost all sleep.

At three o'clock in the morning, news that the Republicans had won New York State finally reached the telegraph mailroom of the Springfield telegraph office.

This exciting news finally put Lincoln's heart at ease and he felt that he was sure of victory. Today he could finally have a good sleep in peace.

November 6, 1860.

The final vote results were finally released. The Republican Party led by Lincoln defeated his strongest competitor: the Northern Democratic Party led by Douglas by a vote count of 1,866,452 to 1,276,987.

In addition, Fremont of the Citizens Party won 721,453 votes, Breckenridge received 695,431 votes, and John Bell received 545,213 votes.

Although in the popular vote, polls showed that Lincoln had less than 38% support, he still won 175 votes in the Electoral College, and Breckinridge, the second-placed Southern Democratic representative, received 62 votes Fremont, the third-place representative of the Citizens Party, received 46 votes, John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party received 35 votes, and Douglas only received 13 votes in the Electoral College.

Although many people voted for Douglas in the popular vote, Douglas won only half of the Electoral College votes in Missouri and New Jersey.

Fremont of the Citizens Party carried all the votes in the three West Coast states and Texas, as well as half of Ohio and half of Georgia.

John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party gained widespread support in southern states close to the north, such as Kentucky and Tennessee.

Breckinridge, the Southern Democratic Party, achieved overall victory in the slave states except Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas.

After seeing the fresh election results, Lincoln was filled with mixed emotions.

Fortunately, he won the election. What is worrying is that in this election, he did not get a single vote from the southern slave states, not even the southern swing states of Kentucky and Tennessee.

This result showed that the United States of America was completely divided politically, which deeply disturbed Lincoln.

He was worried that southern states would make irrational decisions after learning that he had successfully been elected president.

After all, these Southerners had clamored before the election that once the Republican Party won the election, the South would secede from the Union and form a new alliance that would serve Southern interests.

Even President James Buchanan, who had not yet left office, believed that something like this would happen sooner or later.

How to deal with the southern issue was a great test for the Republican Party, which had only experience as an opposition party, and for Lincoln, who had only served as governor and congressman.