The enormous excitement and anticipation of the 1860 presidential election campaign spread into unexpected corners of the United States. Indeed, during the months surrounding the contest, and especially after Americans learned of Abraham Lincoln's victory, reports circulated across the Southern states of political attentiveness and restlessness among the slaves.
Southern newspapers noted the slaves' attraction to “every political speech” and their disposition to “linger around” the hustings or courthouse square “and hear what the orators had to say.” But even more significantly, witnesses told of elevated hopes and expectations among the slaves that Lincoln intended “to set them all free.” And once Lincoln assumed office and fighting erupted between the Union and Confederacy, hopes and expectations seemed to inspire actions. Slaves' response to the election of 1860 and their ideas about Lincoln's intentions suggest that they, too, were important actors in the country's drama of secession and war, and that they may have had an unappreciated influence on its outcome.
Scholars and the interested public have long debated Lincoln's views on slavery and how they influenced his policies as president. How committed was he to abolition? What was he prepared to do? Could he imagine a world in which white and black people lived together in peace and freedom? For many slaves, at least at first, the answer was clear: Lincoln's election meant emancipation.
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