Lincoln Campaign Button, ca. 1860

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In 1860, the issue of slavery dominated the presidential campaign. Four candidates fought for the White House: Republican Abraham Lincoln, Democrat Stephen Douglas, Southern Democrat John C. Breckenridge, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. This campaign button in the White House Collection features Lincoln and the inscription “Abraham Lincoln, Free Soil & Free Men.” The mantra had previously been used by the Free Soil Party—a party opposed to the spread of slavery across the American West—showing that Lincoln shared this view. The Free Soil Party was short lived, but some party members went on to found the Republican Party.

Cannonading on the Potomac, October, 1861, ca. 1868-1870

Alfred Wordsworth Thompson (1840-1896)

Oil on Canvas

Abraham Lincoln’s election to the presidency in November 1860 was viewed as a threat to slavery, and in response, several southern states seceded from the Union, beginning with South Carolina in December. As Lincoln himself predicted, “A house divided against itself cannot stand;” instead, the nation found itself on the brink of war. On April 12, 1861, the first conflict of the Civil War unfolded at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The war continued for the next four years. Photographers and artists like Alfred Wordsworth Thompson captured scenes from the battlefields, including this depiction of cannon fire on the Potomac River prior to the Battle of Ball’s Bluff in October 1861.