Video: 'The American Presidential Election of 1860'

(Tuesday, November 6, 1860, during the 1860 United States presidential election) — Former U.S. Representative Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, a Republican, was elected as the 16th President of the United States today in a four-way contest, serving as the primary catalyst of the American Civil War.

Video: '6th November 1860: Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President of the USA'

Lincoln, whose name did not even appear on the ballot in 10 Southern States, and his running mate, U.S. Senator Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, won 39.82 percent of the popular vote, resulting in 180 electoral votes (152 electoral votes were needed to win a majority).

The Northern Democratic ticket of U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and his running mate, Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia, received 29.46 percent of the popular vote, but won only 12 electoral votes.

Video: 'Ken Burns’ Civil War, ep1 part 2-3' (Election of 1860 at 22:51)

The Southern Democratic ticket of incumbent Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky and his running mate, U.S. Senator Joseph Lane of Oregon, received 18.10 percent of the popular vote, but swept the South and picked up 72 electoral votes (to come in second place to Lincoln).

The Constitutional Union ticket of former U.S. Senator John Bell of Tennessee and his running mate, former U.S. Senator Edward Everett of Massachusetts, won 12.61 percent of the popular vote, resulting in 39 electoral votes.

Video: 'Abraham Lincoln (Documentary)' (Lincoln elected at 5:23)

The incumbent president, James Buchanan, a Northern Democrat with sympathies for the South, had honored his pledge to serve only one term.

Lincoln and Hamlin would be sworn in for a four-year term on March 4, 1861, by which time seven slave states had declared their secession from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America.