slavery was safe--and according to the reading should be protected--everywhere in the nation." In 1860, though, disagreement within the Democratic Party over slavery led to a formal split between the two wings. Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas for the presidency of the United States, while John C. Breckenridge was the nominee of the Southerners. The Republicans, meanwhile, nominated the moderate Abraham Lincoln, who was able to secure the presidency by carrying the North. The South viewed Lincoln's ascension to the highest position in the land as an unmitigated disaster. One Southern paper called his election the greatest evil ever to befall the country, and he was burned in effigy in town squares across the South. Of greater import, however, was the reaction of the South Carolina legislature: they called for a convention to discuss seceding from the Union. After years of negotiation and compromise, both sides sensed that confrontation was inevitable. Other issues were important factors in the Civil War--property rights, states' rights, Southern disaffection with the might of the Northern industrial economy--but slavery was the major issue, and the very nature of the institution precluded satisfactory compromise. As Lincoln once wrote to a Southern politician, "You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us." The War Turns Hot!!On December 20, 1860, South Carolina announced its secession from the United States. Other slave-holding states followed, citing the supremacy of states' rights over federal law. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana all left the Union before Lincoln's March 1861 inauguration. Texas followed suit as well, ignoring the words of Governor Sam Houston, who was removed from office for his efforts to keep the state in the Union:"Let me tell you ...
