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1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania
Lincoln 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%	Fusion 40-50% 50-60% 60-70%
President before election; James Buchanan; Democratic	Elected President ; Abraham Lincoln; Republican

The 1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania took place on November 6, 1860, as part of the 1860 United States presidential election. Voters chose 27 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

The Democratic Party chose its slate of electors before the National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina. Since this was decided before the party split, both supporters of Stephen A. Douglas and supporters of John C. Breckinridge claimed the right for their man to be considered the party candidate and the support of the electoral slate. Eventually, the state party worked out an agreement: if either candidate could win the national election with Pennsylvania's electoral vote, then all her electoral votes would go to that candidate. Of the 27 electoral candidates, 15 were Breckinridge supporters; the remaining 12 were for Douglas. This was often referred to as the Reading electoral slate, because it was in that city that the state party chose it.^[1]

Not all of the Douglas supporters agreed to the Reading slate deal and established a separate Douglas-only ticket. This slate comprised the 12 Douglas electoral candidates on the Reading ticket, and 15 additional Douglas supporters. This ticket was usually referred to as the Straight Douglas ticket. Thus 12 electoral candidates appeared on 2 tickets, Reading and Straight Douglas.^[1]

Results

1860 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Abraham Lincoln	268,030	56.26%	27
	Democratic (Fusion)	John C. Breckinridge / Stephen A. Douglas	178,871	37.54%	0
	Democratic ("Straight Douglas")	Stephen A. Douglas	16,765	3.52%	0
	Constitutional Union	John Bell	12,776	2.68%	0
Totals			476,442	100.0%	27

Results By County

1860 United States Presidential Election in Pennsylvania (By County)^[3]
County	Abraham Lincoln Republican		John C. Breckinridge/ Stephen A. Douglas Fusion		Stephen A. Douglas Democratic ("Straight Douglas")		John Bell Constitutional Union		Total Votes Cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total Votes Cast
Adams	2,724	50.06%	2,644	48.59%	36	0.66%	38	0.70%	5,442
Allegheny	16,725	68.15%	6,725	27.40%	523	2.13%	570	2.32%	24,543
Armstrong	3,355	60.80%	2,108	38.20%	5	0.09%	50	0.91%	5,518
Beaver	2,824	62.66%	1,621	35.97%	4	0.09%	58	1.29%	4,507
Bedford	2,505	51.87%	2,224	46.06%	14	0.29%	86	1.78%	4,829
Berks	6,709	41.64%	8,846	54.91%	420	2.61%	136	0.84%	16,111
Blair	3,050	61.48%	1,275	25.70%	239	4.82%	397	8.00%	4,961
Bradford	7,091	76.17%	2,188	23.50%	9	0.10%	22	0.24%	9,310
Bucks	6,443	52.82%	5,174	42.41%	487	3.99%	95	0.78%	12,199
Butler	3,640	60.60%	2,332	38.82%	13	0.22%	22	0.37%	6,007
Cambria	2,277	54.81%	1,643	39.55%	110	2.65%	124	2.99%	4,154
Carbon	1,758	50.97%	1,301	37.72%	369	10.70%	21	0.61%	3,449
Centre	3,021	55.07%	2,423	44.17%	26	0.47%	16	0.29%	5,486
Chester	7,771	58.68%	5,008	37.81%	263	1.99%	202	1.53%	13,244
Clarion	1,829	46.67%	2,078	53.02%	0	0.00%	12	0.31%	3,919
Clearfield	1,702	47.80%	1,836	51.56%	0	0.00%	23	0.65%	3,561
Clinton	1,736	56.88%	1,244	40.76%	72	2.36%	0	0.00%	3,052
Columbia	1,873	43.17%	2,366	54.53%	86	1.98%	14	0.32%	4,339
Crawford	5,779	65.49%	2,961	33.56%	62	0.70%	22	0.25%	8,824
Cumberland	3,593	51.71%	3,183	45.81%	26	0.36%	147	2.12%	6,949
Dauphin	4,531	62.18%	2,392	32.83%	195	2.68%	169	2.32%	7,287
Delaware	3,181	62.12%	1,500	29.29%	152	2.97%	288	5.62%	5,121
Elk	407	43.76%	523	56.24%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	930
Erie	6,160	70.02%	2,531	28.77%	17	0.19%	90	1.02%	8,798
Fayette	3,454	49.82%	3,308	47.71%	24	0.35%	147	2.12%	6,933
Forest	107	69.48%	47	30.52%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	154
Franklin	4,151	56.37%	2,515	34.15%	622	8.45%	76	1.03%	7,364
Fulton	788	45.05%	911	52.09%	1	0.06%	49	2.80%	1,749
Greene	1,614	37.34%	2,665	61.66%	26	0.60%	17	0.39%	4,322
Huntingdon	3,089	64.52%	1,622	33.88%	55	1.15%	22	0.46%	4,788
Indiana	3,910	74.07%	1,347	25.52%	0	0.00%	22	0.42%	5,279
Jefferson	1,704	59.81%	1,134	39.80%	6	0.21%	5	0.18%	2,849
Juniata	1,494	55.23%	1,147	42.40%	2	0.07%	62	2.29%	2,705
Lancaster	13,352	67.93%	5,135	26.12%	728	3.70%	441	2.24%	19,656
Lawrence	2,937	77.86%	788	20.89%	16	0.42%	31	0.82%	3,772
Lebanon	3,868	65.58%	1,917	32.50%	10	0.17%	103	1.75%	5,898
Lehigh	4,170	49.28%	4,094	48.39%	145	1.71%	52	0.61%	8,461
Luzerne	7,300	51.76%	6,803	48.24%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	14,103
Lycoming	3,494	56.59%	2,402	38.91%	187	3.03%	91	1.47%	6,174
McKean	1,077	64.49%	591	35.39%	0	0.00%	2	0.12%	1,670
Mercer	3,855	59.75%	2,546	39.46%	2	0.03%	49	0.76%	6,452
Mifflin	1,701	56.53%	1,189	39.51%	83	2.76%	36	1.20%	3,009
Monroe	844	35.21%	1,262	52.65%	291	12.14%	0	0.00%	2,397
Montgomery	5,826	46.18%	5,590	44.31%	509	4.03%	690	5.47%	12,615
Montour	1,043	48.65%	786	36.66%	311	14.51%	4	0.19%	2,144
Northampton	3,839	44.02%	4,597	52.71%	115	1.32%	171	1.96%	8,722
Northumberland	2,422	49.46%	2,306	47.09%	97	1.98%	72	1.47%	4,897
Perry	2,371	57.00%	1,743	41.90%	8	0.19%	38	0.91%	4,160
Philadelphia	39,223	50.78%	21,619	27.99%	9,274	12.01%	7,131	9.23%	77,247
Pike	381	31.41%	831	68.51%	0	0.00%	1	0.08%	1,213
Potter	1,545	74.78%	521	25.22%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	2,066
Schuylkill	7,568	57.78%	4,968	37.93%	422	3.22%	139	1.06%	13,097
Snyder	1,678	63.25%	910	34.30%	60	2.26%	5	0.19%	2,653
Somerset	3,218	73.07%	1,175	26.68%	1	0.02%	10	0.23%	4,404
Sullivan	429	46.28%	497	53.61%	0	0.00%	1	0.11%	927
Susquehanna	4,470	63.62%	2,548	36.27%	2	0.03%	6	0.09%	7,026
Tioga	4,754	78.57%	1,277	21.10%	11	0.18%	9	0.15%	6,051
Union	1,824	68.31%	812	30.41%	28	1.05%	6	0.22%	2,670
Venango	2,680	57.96%	1,932	41.78%	6	0.13%	6	0.13%	4,624
Warren	2,284	67.67%	1,087	32.21%	4	0.12%	0	0.00%	3,375
Washington	4,724	53.69%	3,975	45.18%	8	0.09%	91	1.03%	8,798
Wayne	2,857	52.16%	2,618	47.80%	0	0.00%	2	0.04%	5,477
Westmoreland	4,887	50.33%	4,796	49.40%	13	0.13%	13	0.13%	9,709
Wyoming	1,286	50.81%	1,237	48.87%	8	0.32%	0	0.00%	2,531
York	5,128	43.60%	5,497	46.74%	562	4.78%	574	4.88%	11,761
Total	268,030	56.26%	178,871	37.54%	16,765	3.52%	12,776	2.68%	476,442

Analysis

Pennsylvania voted for the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, over the fusion ticket. Lincoln won Pennsylvania by a margin of 18.72%. Lincoln's victory was the first of eighteen out of nineteen Republican victories in the state, as Pennsylvania would not vote Democratic again until Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, and would not vote for a different candidate again until Theodore Roosevelt’s third-party bid in 1912.

Pennsylvania in the election was one of the four states that had a fusion ticket for the Democratic Party. The other three states were New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.

The 1860 presidential election in Pennsylvania began a trend in which the state would vote the same as nearby Michigan in presidential elections, as the two states have voted for president in lockstep with each other on all but three occasions since Lincoln's victory – 1932, 1940, and 1976.

References

^ ^a ^b Dubin, Michael J., United States Presidential Elections, 1788–1860: The Official Results by County and State, McFarland & Company, 2002, p. 188
^ "1860 Presidential General Election Results - Pennsylvania". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
^ "Presidential Results: Pennsylvania, 1860". votearchive.com. Retrieved July 23, 2024.