TOWARDS THE PRESIDENCY

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened the named territories to slavery, thus erasing the limits on slavery's spread that had been part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, also helped draw Lincoln back into electoral politics. It was a speech against Kansas-Nebraska, on October 16, 1854, in Peoria, that caused Lincoln to stand out among the other free-soil orators of the day.

During his unsuccessful campaign for the United States Senate against Stephen A. Douglas, in 1858, Lincoln debated Douglas in a series of events which represented a national discussion on the issues that were about to split the nation in two. The Lincoln-Douglas debates presaged the Presidential election of 1860, in which Douglas and Lincoln were once again opponents. On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States, the first Republican to hold that office.

Shortly after his election, the South made it clear that secession was inevitable which greatly increased tension across the nation. President-elect Lincoln survived an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland and on February 23, 1861 arrived secretly in disguise to Washington, DC. The South ridiculed Lincoln for this seemingly cowardly act, but the efforts at security may have been prudent.