Northern voters wanted a political party that was against the existence of slavery. They were frustrated by the idea of popular sovereignty that Stephen A. Douglas from the Northern Democrats supported, because it still allowed the potential for slavery to occur. For those northerners who were opposed to slavery, the Republican Party offered the best hope that slavery might end.

This desire to end slavery opened the door to Abraham Lincoln receiving the nomination of the Republican Party in 1860. Abraham Lincoln became famous in the Lincoln-Douglas debates for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois in 1858. Abraham Lincoln made it clear that he was against slavery, and especially the spread of it, in these debates. While Lincoln stated in the campaign for the presidency in 1860 that he wouldn’t end slavery where it already existed, he did reinforce the idea that he was opposed to the spread of slavery. Abraham Lincoln defeated the other candidates in the northern states. The Democrats had split their votes between two candidates. Thus, by winning so many northern states, Abraham Lincoln won the election without winning one southern state.