Aborted 13th Amendment I

Intro.: "A Moment in Time" with Dan Roberts.

Content: It was the "secession winter" and melancholy had descended over the City of Washington. A split in the Democratic Party and the resulting four way election of 1860 had given the Presidency to Abraham Lincoln but he was a minority President elected by less than forty percent of the popular vote. In December South Carolina seceded, six other states followed. The repudiated and politically impotent James Buchanan sat in the White House.