ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by sore losers,

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blisters with self-esteem issues.

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Thank you, Dr. Scholl's. All right.

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The election results shown in the image - this one, right here -

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led to... what? And here are your potential answers.

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[ buzzing ] [ mumbling ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right. Abraham Lincoln's election brought a largely anti-slavery

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party to the White House, which didn't sit too well with

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many slave-owning Southerners.

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So let's see which answer best describes the country's

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change in posture - like that,

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sit up straight -

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following Lincoln's ascendency as president.

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Did the election results in the image lead to A -

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the secession of West Virginia from Virginia?

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Well, the two states did in fact split

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by late 1861,

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but this was more of a result of events that transpired

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because of the 1860 election.

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So we're two degrees removed here. So not A.

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Could this election have led to B -

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the permanent division of the Democratic Party?

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Well, the nation's political landscape was even more divided

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following the 1860 election, but in the years

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following the Civil War, the two-party system was largely restored,

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with Democrats coming back together and offshoots

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like the Constitutional Union party dying out.

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So that knocks out B and D.

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Which means that the 1860 election led to C -

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the secession of several Southern states from the Union.

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Concerned that Lincoln would abolish slavery,

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which - spoiler alert - he did,

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many Southern states decided to secede from the Union,

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leading to the U.S. Civil War.

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So the correct answer is C.

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In fact, some Southern states had seceded

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before Lincoln was even inaugurated as president.

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Talk about jumping the gun.

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