Election of 1860 (was Re: [EM] Action)

[Rob Lanphier]

On Thu, 11 Apr 2002 hager2002 at lsh107.siteprotect.com wrote:
> Has anyone thought of researching the 1860 Presidential race?  Lincoln's
> win with less than 40% of the popular vote gave us the Civil War. 

Hi Paul,

I've used the 1860 election as an example in the past.  It's a classic
example of how strong regional constituancies can cause a meltdown of a
two-party system.

However, I find that it isn't as powerful of an example as it could be,
because the results are tainted by a far greater flaw (and more obvious
flaw) in the election system.  African-Americans didn't have the right to
vote.  Had they had the right to vote, I imagine that anti-slavery
candidates would have won more easily.  :)

Changes like Condorcet vs. FPTP seem inconsequential in the face of such a
glaring injustice.  In trying to use it as an example, I found myself in
the position of saying "so you see, maybe all of the white men *could*
have avoided the Civil War had they had a better exclusionary election
system".  It's a useful case-study for election wonks like us, but not a
convincing example for someone who isn't convinced that change is needed.

Rob

P.S., this discussion inspired me to fill in the election of 1860 in
Wikipedia (copying text from public domain sources).  If you have
expertise to contribute, please fill in more details:
http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/U.S._presidential_election%2C_1860


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