Problems At the Beginning of the Presidency

The Campaign of 1860 was a campaign that would decide what was going to happen to the United States. There were two main candidates, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Buchanan had retired from public service. The South had said if Abraham Lincoln won the Campaign of 1860 and became the next President they would withdraw from the Union.  Lincoln won the Presidency in 1860, having won two-thirds of the electoral votes, but he only had forty percent of the popular vote. He had quite a bit to deal with.  Within the first four months of him becoming President, seven states had already seceded from the Union, letting him know that he was not wanted as President. But he was not ready to give up.  His main interest at this point was keeping the Union together.  During this time he did not have any real concerns about abolishing slavery.