Lincoln had only one real fault in this race, was that he had the least amount of experience as a politician. He spent one term as a representative in the House and many saw that as his big fault. After the first vote Seward held the majority, but through some dealings of David Davis, Lincoln was in second place. On the second ballot many anti-Seward factions decided to back Lincoln putting him within three votes of Seward. On the third ballot Lincoln defeated Seward and became the Republican nominee. .
There was plenty of turmoil in the months leading up to the election. Many southerners saw Lincoln as a real threat to their way of life. In many speeches Lincoln gave he promised to let slavery exist where it already was. Southerners believed that Lincoln was an abolitionist and would bring and end to slavery the first chance he got. South Carolina started threatening to leave the union if Lincoln was elected. Lincoln was having some problems within his own region. Many of the leading Republicans were not campaigning for the nominee. Seward, as well as other defeated nominees, still thought they should be the nominees. Many felt Lincoln to be incompetent. It looked as though Lincoln did not have the support of his party, but would soon find out other wise. Many Democrats switched sides after seeing the fighting in their own party. Party switching and the grassroots abolitionist movement helped to secure a large part of the northern part of the country to vote for Lincoln. .
This election saw four different candidates. John C. Breckinridge was a Southern Democrat, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, John Bell was a Constitutional Unionists, and Stephen Douglass was a Northern Democrat. Even though Douglass received 30% of the popular vote he only won 12 electoral votes finishing last. John Bell won three Border States for a total of 39 electoral votes. Breckinridge won all of the deep Southern states and commanded 72 electoral votes.