Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln

Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States.[1]

Contents

Illinois House of Representatives

1832 - Lost
1834 - Won
1836 - Won
1838 - Won
1840 - Won

United States House of Representatives

See also: Illinois's 7th congressional district

1844 - Lost Whig Party nomination to Edward Dickinson Baker

1846

Illinois House of Representatives

1854 - Wins seat in Illinois House of Representatives, declines seat to focus on future candidacy for United States Senate[2]

1855 Senate election

February 8, 1855
Source[3][4]

Note: At this time, U.S. Senators were elected by the state legislatures, not by popular vote of the people
Candidate Round 1 ... Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Round 10
Lyman Trumbull, Democrat 5  ?  ? 35 51
Joel Matteson, Democrat 0 44 46 47  ?
Abraham Lincoln, Whig 45 ? ? 15 Withdrew
James Shields (inc.), Democrat 41  ?  ?  ? Withdrew

51 votes needed for election

     Candidate won that Round of voting
     Candidate withdrew
     Candidate won Senate seat

Note: Five anti-Nebraska Act Democrats voted for Trumbull rather than vote for Lincoln, a Whig. When pro-Nebraska Act Democrats were unable to reelect Shields, they switched their allegiance to Matteson, who had no stance on the Act. Lincoln then withdrew and threw his support to Trumbull, so that an anti-Nebraska candidate would be assured victory.[3][4]

1856 Presidential election

See also: United States presidential election, 1856

Vice Presidential nomination for the Republican Party

1858 Senate election

Note: At this time, U.S. Senators were elected by the state legislatures, not by popular vote of the people

1860 Presidential election

See also: United States presidential election, 1860

Republican Party Nomination

Presidential Ballot
Nominee Home State 1st 2nd 3rd 3rd "corrected"
William H. Seward New York 173.5 184.5 180 111.5
Abraham Lincoln Illinois 102 181 231.5 349
Simon Cameron Pennsylvania 50.5 2 0 0
Salmon P. Chase Ohio 49 42.5 24.5 2
Edward Bates Missouri 48 35 22 0
William L. Dayton New Jersey 14 10 1 1
John McLean Ohio 12 8 5 0.5
Jacob Collamer Vermont 10 0 - -
Benjamin F. Wade Ohio 3 0 - -
John M. Read Pennsylvania 1 0 - -
Charles Sumner Massachusetts 1 0 - -
John C. Fremont California 1 0 - -
Cassius M. Clay Kentucky - 2 1 1

After seeing how close Lincoln was to the 233 votes needed, a delegate from Ohio switched 4 votes from Chase to Lincoln. This triggered an avalanche towards Lincoln with a final count of 364 votes out of 466 cast.[5]

General election

Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote(a) Electoral
vote		 Running mate
Count Pct Vice-presidential candidate Home state Elect. vote
Abraham Lincoln Republican Illinois 1,865,908 39.8% 180 Hannibal Hamlin Maine 180
John C. Breckinridge Southern Democratic Kentucky 848,019 18.1% 72 Joseph Lane Oregon 72
John Bell Constitutional Union/Whig Tennessee 590,901 12.6% 39 Edward Everett Massachusetts 39
Stephen A. Douglas Northern Democratic Illinois 1,380,202 29.5% 12 Herschel Vespasian Johnson Georgia 12
Other 531 0.0% — Other —
Total 4,685,561 100% 303 303
Needed to win 152 152

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1860 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005).

(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.

1864 presidential election

See also: United States presidential election, 1864

Republican Party nomination

Presidential Ballot
Ballot 1st Before Shifts 1st After Shifts
Abraham Lincoln 484 506
Ulysses S. Grant 22 0

General election

Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote(a) Electoral
vote(a), (b)		 Running mate
Count Pct Vice-presidential candidate Home state Elect. vote(a), (b)
Abraham Lincoln National Union(c) Illinois 2,218,388 55.0% 212 Andrew Johnson(c) Tennessee 212
George Brinton McClellan Democratic New Jersey 1,812,807 45.0% 21 George Hunt Pendleton Ohio 21
Other 692 0.0% — Other —
Total 4,031,887 100% 233 233
Needed to win 117 117

Source (Popular Vote): Leip, David. 1864 Presidential Election Results. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections (July 27, 2005).
Source (Electoral Vote): Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996. Official website of the National Archives. (July 31, 2005). (a) The states in rebellion did not participate in the election of 1864.
(b) One Elector from Nevada did not vote
(c) Andrew Johnson had been a Democrat, and after 1869 was a Democrat. The Republican Party called itself the National Union Party to accommodate the War Democrats in this election.

References

  1. ^ http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/index.html
  2. ^ http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/29.2/pinsker.html#FOOT33
  3. ^ a b Goodwin, Doris Kearns. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Simon & Schuster. pp. 170–173. ISBN 0-7432-7075-4. 
  4. ^ a b http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=lincoln;rgn=div1;view=text;idno=lincoln2;node=lincoln2:312
  5. ^ Proceedings of the Republican national convention held at Chicago, May 16, 17 and 18, 1860
Electoral histories of the American Presidents