This Day in History: Abraham Lincoln Is Elected President (Saturday, November 6)

This Day in History: Abraham Lincoln Is Elected President.

November 6, 1860.

Receiving only 40% of the popular vote, President Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates to become the first Republican President.

A month after the Kentucky-born lawyer was sworn in on March 4, 1961, the U.S. Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter.

The announcement of Lincoln’s victory signaled the secession of the Southern states.

In 1863, as the tide turned against the Confederacy, Lincoln emancipated the slaves and won reelection in 1864.

In April 1865, he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Lincoln is hailed as one of the greatest American presidents