United States presidential election, 1860

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/united-states-presidential-election-1860

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the year of election?1860
2. What is the winning candidate?Abraham Lincoln (Republican Party)
3. Who won the United States presidential election in 1860?Abraham Lincoln won the election. He received 180 electoral votes, even though he did not win any Southern state.
4. Why was the 1860 election so important for America?The election was a big debate about slavery and the Union. Lincoln’s win made Southern states feel threatened and led to the Civil War.

Sectionalism: Loyalty to one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole.
Popular Sovereignty: A doctrine allowing the residents of a territory to decide whether to permit slavery.
Secession: The formal withdrawal of a state from the Union.
Emancipation Proclamation: An executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln that declared slaves in Confederate-held territory to be free.