Cat­a­clysm unfold­ed in Spring­field, Illi­nois, on Novem­ber 6, 1860, with can­non fire sig­nal­ing the begin­ning of Elec­tion Day. Despite the nation being filled with ten­sion, Springfield’s res­i­dents were caught up in an atmos­phere of antic­i­pa­tion. Abra­ham Lin­coln, a promi­nent fig­ure, was con­sid­ered one of the top can­di­dates, but uncer­tain­ty lin­gered as to whether he could win. If no can­di­date won a major­i­ty, the deci­sion would rest in the hands of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. Mean­while, the local ice cream par­lor, a beloved gath­er­ing spot in town, pro­vid­ed refresh­ments to Repub­li­can women, sym­bol­iz­ing cama­raderie in the midst of a polit­i­cal­ly charged envi­ron­ment.

Lin­coln, who walked five blocks to the state capitol’s cam­paign office, was grant­ed spe­cial access by the gov­er­nor. As he reflect­ed on the weight of the moment, he com­pared elec­tions to “big boils”—an uncom­fort­able expe­ri­ence that ulti­mate­ly ben­e­fits the coun­try in the end. At the same time, fig­ures like Charles Fran­cis Adams praised the peace­ful process by which lead­er­ship tran­si­tions were hap­pen­ing in the U.S., acknowl­edg­ing the nation’s order­ly approach to this sig­nif­i­cant event. Despite the cel­e­bra­tions, the out­come of the elec­tion remained uncer­tain, and the fate of the coun­try appeared pre­car­i­ous. Lincoln’s can­di­da­cy had become a point of con­tention that would ulti­mate­ly reshape the nation’s future.

Lincoln’s antic­i­pat­ed vic­to­ry would mark a cat­a­clysmic shift in Amer­i­can pol­i­tics. A win for Lin­coln would dis­place the pro-slav­ery Democ­rats and solid­i­fy the Repub­li­can Par­ty as the new dom­i­nant force in nation­al pol­i­tics. This shift was due, in part, to the frac­tur­ing of the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty, which allowed Lincoln’s Repub­li­can Par­ty to gain trac­tion. As Lincoln’s pop­u­lar­i­ty surged, South­ern fears esca­lat­ed. They viewed him as an abo­li­tion­ist intent on dis­man­tling the South’s eco­nom­ic and social sys­tems. South­ern news­pa­pers stoked these fears, advo­cat­ing for imme­di­ate seces­sion if Lin­coln won, per­ceiv­ing his pres­i­den­cy as the end of their way of life.

At 3:30 PM, Lin­coln cast his vote, and the crowd around him cheered with enthu­si­asm, call­ing him “Old Abe” and “Hon­est Abe.” Lincoln’s humil­i­ty was evi­dent as he pub­licly dropped his bal­lot but also took the moment to cut his name from it. This hum­ble ges­ture rein­forced his com­mit­ment to his prin­ci­ples over self-pro­mo­tion, mak­ing him even more pop­u­lar among his sup­port­ers. Mean­while, news reports began com­ing in from across the nation. Ear­ly results showed Lin­coln hold­ing a sig­nif­i­cant lead, with strong wins in cities like Chica­go and states like Con­necti­cut. Although the out­come was look­ing increas­ing­ly favor­able for Lin­coln, there was still anx­i­ety sur­round­ing the final count, which per­sist­ed until New York’s results con­firmed his suc­cess.

With the news of Lincoln’s vic­to­ry, Spring­field erupt­ed in cel­e­bra­tions, though a sense of unease lin­gered. Many in the North rejoiced, but in the South, par­tic­u­lar­ly in South Car­oli­na, the elec­tion results were met with out­rage. Sev­er­al fed­er­al offi­cials in the South resigned in protest, sig­nal­ing that they would not accept the elec­tion’s out­come. Lin­coln, bewil­dered by the reac­tion, strug­gled to com­pre­hend why his elec­tion had pro­voked such strong oppo­si­tion. He had con­sis­tent­ly stat­ed that he would not inter­fere with slav­ery where it already exist­ed, but his words failed to allay South­ern fears. The South’s response to Lincoln’s vic­to­ry revealed a deep divi­sion that would soon tear the nation apart. The seces­sion cri­sis, which had been build­ing for years, was now at a break­ing point, and the coun­try stood on the brink of civ­il war.

While Lincoln’s vic­to­ry marked the begin­ning of a new chap­ter in U.S. his­to­ry, it also served as a cat­a­lyst for the South’s seces­sion. The elec­tion results exposed the deep­en­ing rift between the North and South, with each side view­ing the oth­er with grow­ing hos­til­i­ty and dis­trust. Lincoln’s elec­tion, which had been a cause for cel­e­bra­tion in much of the North, was per­ceived as a threat to South­ern sov­er­eign­ty and a har­bin­ger of the end of the insti­tu­tion of slav­ery. The nation, once unit­ed, was now frac­tured, and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of peace­ful res­o­lu­tion seemed increas­ing­ly unlike­ly. The elec­tion of 1860 set the stage for a con­flict that would change the course of Amer­i­can his­to­ry for­ev­er.