In the election of 1860, the Republicans won the electoral votes
of all the free states, except a fraction of the New Jersey votes. Abraham Lincoln
was chosen the president by the Republicans. The Democratic Party was not
unified and so it broke down into Northern and Southern fractions. This helped
the Republican Party immensely during the elections. The Democratic party got
divided on the issue of slavery and its expansion. This created a great rift
between the members of the Democratic Party.
