| ←1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 → Presidential election year | |
| Election day | November 6 |
|---|---|
| Incumbent president | James Buchanan (Democratic) |
| Next Congress | 37th |
| Presidential election | |
| Partisan control | Republican gain |
| Popular vote margin | Republican +10.3% |
| Electoral vote | |
| Abraham Lincoln (R) | 180 |
| John C. Breckinridge (SD) | 72 |
| John Bell (CU) | 39 |
| Stephen A. Douglas (D) | 12 |
 | |
| 1860 presidential election results.Red shows states won by Lincoln,green by Breckinridge,orange by Bell, andblue by Douglas. Numbers indicate theelectoral votes won by each candidate. | |
| Senate elections | |
| Overall control | Democratic hold[3] |
| Seats contested | 22 of 66 seats[1] |
| Net seat change | Republican +3[2] |
| House elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | All 183 voting members |
| Net seat change | Unionist +31[2] |
Elections for the37th United States Congress, were held in 1860 and 1861. The election marked the start of theThird Party System and precipitated theCivil War. TheRepublican Party won control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, making it the fifth party (following theFederalist Party,Democratic-Republican Party,Democratic Party, andWhig Party) to accomplish such a feat. The election is widely considered to be arealigning election.[4]
In the presidential election,Republican former RepresentativeAbraham Lincoln ofIllinois defeatedDemocratic Vice PresidentJohn C. Breckinridge (who became the first incumbent vice president to lose a presidential election) and Democratic SenatorStephen A. Douglas ofIllinois, as well as theConstitutional Union candidate, former SenatorJohn Bell ofTennessee.[5] Lincoln swept the Northern states while Breckinridge carried much of the South, foreshadowing the political alignment of the country throughout theThird Party System. At the1860 Republican National Convention, Lincoln won on the third ballot, defeating SenatorWilliam H. Seward of New York and several other candidates. The Democratic Party split its votes afterthree chaotic conventions. Douglas was nominated at the second Democratic convention, while theSouthern Democrats nominated Breckinridge as their own candidate in a third convention. Bell ran on a platform of preserving the union regardless of the status of slavery. Lincoln's victory made him the firstRepublican president. Lincoln took just under 40 percent of the popular vote, alower share of the popular vote than any other winning presidential candidate aside fromJohn Quincy Adams's 1824 campaign.
In theHouse, Republicans retained control of the chamber and won a majority for the first time after several states seceded. Democrats remained the largest minority, but several Congressmen also identified asunionists.[6]
In theSenate, Republicans made moderate gains, but Democrats initially retained a majority. They lost that majority shortly after the election when several Southern senators resigned. The Democrats would have the second-most members in the Senate, although many senators identified asunionists rather than Democrats or Republicans.[7]
This marks one of four occasions where a newly elected president entered office with a divided legislature, occurring again in 1876, 1884, and 1980. 1884 is the only other occasion where the president's party held the House, but not the Senate. A divided Congress also occurred after the 1984 and 2012 elections.