jan 1, 1860 - Election of 1860

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By 1860, the Republicans had grown dramatically due to their absorption of the Free Soilers, whereas the Democrats had fully split and ran both a Northern and Southern Democratic candidate in opposition to one another. Furthermore, a third party, the Constitutional Unionists, had emerged in order to campaign against secession at any cost. The Republicans ultimately won the election, and the Southern Democrats responded by fully breaking away as the Confederate States of America; months later the American Civil War would start after the Confederacy attacked Union troops.

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