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What was the Election of 1860?
In the mid-1850s, people who opposed slavery were looking for a new voice. Free Soilers, Northern Democrats, and anti-slavery Whigs formed the Republican Party. Their main goal was to keep slavery out of the western territories, not to end slavery in the South. The party grew and was ready in 1856 to challenge the older parties in power. They were not successful in 1856. In 1860, the Republicans ran Abraham Lincoln from Illinois. Lincoln was known to oppose slavery on the basis of its being morally wrong. However, Lincoln was not willing to end slavery at the risk of tearing the Union apart.