Election of 1860, Secession in Georgia and Alexander Stephens

The election of 1860 was the first time that Abraham Lincoln, a republican out of Illinois where he was a senator, won. Lincoln won by a very slim margin, not even winning the popular vote, which led many southerners to call his election "unholy".His election also prompted many of the southern states to secede, starting with South Carolina on December 20, 1860. The election of 1860 was caused by a split ion the democratic party, and led to secession. Georgia held its secession meeting the capitol, Milledgeville, in 1861. There were two main types of people at the convention; cooperationists, who did not want to secede, and secessionists, who did. In the end of it all, secession was agreed on. Georgia was the only southern state without a unanimous decision not to secede, because many felt it could not stand without the Union. The secession in Georgia was started by the unhappiness of the southerners due to the election and other reason, and it led to the secession of the state. Alexander Stephens was the vice president of the newly formed confederacy, under president Jefferson Davis. He was a cooperationist, but he constantly changed his views due to what the public wanted him to do. He and Davis were close at first, but grew apart as war continued. Stephens wanted to stay in the Union, but signed the secession from the union in the end. He came to power due to popularity in the south, but was a controversial figure by the end and was not popular any longer.





















 Alexander Stephens

http://www.ushistory.org/us/32d.asp
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2492
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_H._Stephens