In the 1860 presidential election, Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln, supported banning slavery in all the U.S. territories at the time, something which the Southern states viewed as a violation of their constitutional rights and as being part of a plan to eventually abolish slavery.
In the 1860 presidential election, Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln, supported banning slavery in all the U.S. territories at the time. The Southern states viewed this as a violation of their constitutional rights and as the first step in a plan to eventually abolish slavery.