Selected members of the militia were called minutemen because they could be ready to fight in a minute's time. Sure enough, when the advance guard of nearly 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen formed on the Lexington Green awaiting them.
Open Market Operation is a tool of monetary policy in which the Federal Reserve buys and sells government securities. It is the major tool the Fed uses to affect the supply of reserves in the banking system. The market is open, which means that the Fed doesn’t decide on its own which securities dealers it will do business with.
The Democratic Party split between moderate Democrats and Radical Democrats (who were for slavery). Douglas was the moderate Democrat candidate. Buchanan represented the angry southerners. 2 political candidates resulted in the Democrats' chances of winning less likely. This resulted in Lincoln winning the Presidency.
