Abraham Lincoln Elected President
Poets involved
What happened
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States, winning a four-way race without carrying a single Southern state. His election, seen as a threat to slavery, prompted South Carolina to secede on December 20, followed by six other states. The election marked the final rupture of the Union and set the stage for the Civil War.
Literary impact
Lincoln's election inspired a flood of poetry, both celebratory and condemnatory, across the divided nation. Walt Whitman, who later became Lincoln's poetic eulogist, saw in his election a new hope for democracy. Southern poets, such as William Gilmore Simms, expressed alarm and defiance, while Northern poets like James Russell Lowell welcomed Lincoln as a leader capable of preserving the Union. Lincoln's own literary sensibility would later shape his speeches, which poets and critics have long admired as works of art.
Source: Wikipedia
