9. Splitting the Democratic Party’s core in defense of slavery, John C. Breckinridge ensured the election of the first Republican president and the violent Civil War which would follow the election of 1860
An American lawyer and politician, John Cabell Breckinridge represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky as both a Representative and as a Senator starting in 1851. During this time, Breckinridge established himself in advocating the states’ right position concerning slavery and allying with Stephen Douglas in support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Becoming the fourteenth and youngest-ever Vice President in 1857, winning election alongside James Buchanan after being placed on the ticket to balance his northern counterpart, Breckinridge joined with Buchanan in supporting the Lecompton Constitution for Kansas resulting in the split of the Democratic Party in 1859.
Following the walkout of Southern Democrats at the 1860 Democratic National Convention, whereafter the northern and southern factions held rival nominating conventions, Breckinridge was chosen to contest the presidential election on behalf of his tribe. Dividing the Democratic vote, with Breckinridge winning most of the southern states – carrying eleven for seventy-two electoral votes – in failing to make any serious headway into the North due to a split electorate, the stubbornness of the Southern faction resulted in the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln and triggered the Civil War. Following his defeat, Breckinridge ignominiously defected to the Confederacy and was expelled from his seat in the U.S. Senate.