The 1860 election in the United States was fundamentally shaped by the issue of slavery. Tensions between the Northern states, which generally opposed slavery, and Southern states, which maintained it, reached a boiling point. The election saw the emergence of the Republican Party, with Abraham Lincoln as their candidate, who campaigned on a platform featuring opposition to the expansion of slavery into new territories. This fractious political environment ultimately led to the intensification of sectional divisions, contributing to the onset of the Civil War shortly thereafter. Lincoln's election was perceived as a direct threat to the Southern way of life, igniting widespread fears of abolition.