ORIGINAL 1860 POLL BOOK FROM SOUTHERN INDIANA, REVEALING STRONG SUPPORT FOR LINCOLN EVEN IN PRO-DOUGLAS AREAS

(LINCOLN, Abraham). Manuscript poll book. New Salisbury, Indiana, November 6, 1860. Slim folio (8-1/2 by 14 inches), stitched, original self-wrappers; pp. 12. $4250.

Fascinating 1860 poll book for New Salisbury, Jackson Township, Harrison County, Indiana used to record votes in the election of November 6, 1860.

Democratic President James Buchanan pledged to serve only one term as president. Thus, the field was wide open in 1860. Senator Stephan A. Douglas, Buchanan's chief rival, decided to seek the 1860 Democratic nomination. However, the slavery issue that had been so divisive in 1860 became even more so by 1860. Southern Democrats refused to support Douglas and broke up the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. When the convention reconvened in Baltimore the following month, a majority nominated Douglas and Herschel Johnson of Georgia as the Northern Democratic ticket. Some delegates broke away and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky and Joseph Lane of Oregon as the Southern Democratic candidates. The Republican National Convention also met that year. On the first ballot, delegates pledged to various opponents of William H. Seward voted for their favorite candidates, denying Seward of the nomination. On the second and third ballots, many of them switched to Abraham Lincoln, giving him the nomination. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine was quickly selected as the nominee for vice president. The Constitutional Union Party Convention also met and nominated John Bell of Tennessee and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, in an attempt to bridge divisions over slavery.

Although the election of 1860 was a four-way race among Douglas, Breckinridge, Lincoln, and Bell, sectionalism essentially turned it into a race between Lincoln and Douglas in the North and Breckinridge and Bell is the South. Ultimately, Lincoln won a plurality of 39.8%, due in large part to his antislavery stance. Lincoln also carried 17 northern and western states, including Indiana. In fact, Lincoln won 51.1% of the popular vote, essentially a landslide in a tight race. Moreover, Lincoln carried Jackson Township—the home of this poll book—with nearly 75% of the vote (though this poll book from New Salisbury shows him with just 70 votes for Lincoln's electors versus 201 votes for Douglas' electors). Secession began just six weeks later, leaving Lincoln with the inevitable and unenviable destiny of become a wartime president. Front self-wrapper labeled in a contemporary hand: "November Election 1860, Jackson Township Poll Book.

Faint dampstaining along edges, toning to folding creases. A desirable piece of Americana.