Political career of Abraham Lincoln (1849–1861)

This article documents the political career of Abraham Lincoln from the end of his term in the United States House of Representatives in March 1849 to the beginning of his first term as President of the United States in March 1861.

After serving a single term in the U. S. House, Lincoln returned to Springfield, Illinois, where he worked as a lawyer. He initially remained a committed member of the Whig Party, but he joined the newly formed Republican Party after the Whigs collapsed in the wake of the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act. In 1858, he launched a challenge to Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Though Lincoln failed to unseat Douglas, he earned national notice for his role in the Lincoln–Douglas debates. He subsequently sought the Republican presidential nomination in the 1860 presidential election, defeating William Seward and others at the 1860 Republican National Convention. Lincoln went on to win the general election by winning the vast majority of the electoral votes cast by Northern states. In response to Lincoln's opposition to the expansion of slavery into the western territories, seven Southern states seceded, and the American Civil War commenced in the second month of Lincoln's presidency. Four additional states then seceded.