At that time, senators were elected by the state legislature. After leading in the first six rounds of voting, he was unable to obtain a majority. Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for Lyman Trumbull. Trumbull was an antislavery Democrat, and had received few votes in the earlier ballots; his supporters, also antislavery Democrats, had vowed not to support any Whig. Lincoln's decision to withdraw enabled his Whig supporters and Trumbull's antislavery Democrats to combine and defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate, Joel Aldrich Matteson. 1856 campaign Violent political confrontations in Kansas continued, and opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act remained strong throughout the North. As the 1856 elections approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans and attended the Bloomington Convention, which formally established the Illinois Republican Party. The convention platform endorsed Congress's right to regulate slavery in the territories and backed the admission of Kansas as a free state. Lincoln gave the final speech of the convention supporting the party platform and called for the preservation of the Union. At the June 1856 Republican National Convention, though Lincoln received support to run as vice president, John C. Frémont and William Dayton comprised the ticket, which Lincoln supported throughout Illinois. The Democrats nominated former Secretary of State James Buchanan and the Know-Nothings nominated former Whig President Millard Fillmore. Buchanan prevailed, while Republican William Henry Bissell won election as Governor of Illinois, and Lincoln became a leading Republican in Illinois. Dred Scott v. Sandford Dred Scott was a slave whose master took him from a slave state to a territory that was free as a result of the Missouri Compromise. After Scott was returned to the slave state he petitioned a federal court for his freedom. His petition was denied in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). In his opinion, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote that black people were not citizens and derived no rights from the Constitution, and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional for infringing upon slave owners' "property" rights. While many Democrats hoped that Dred Scott would end the dispute over slavery in the territories, the decision sparked further outrage in the North. Lincoln denounced it as the product of a conspiracy of Democrats to support the Slave Power. He argued the decision was at variance with the Declaration of Independence; he said that while the founding fathers did not believe all men equal in every respect, they believed all
{
        'QUESTION: Who led in the first six rounds of voting before deciding to withdraw?': 'ANSWER: Abraham Lincoln',
        'SEPARATOR',
        'QUESTION: What happened after Lincoln decided to withdraw?': 'ANSWER: His Whig supporters and Trumbull\'s antislavery Democrats combined to defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate.',
        'SEPARATOR',
        'QUESTION: Which party did Lincoln join when attending the Bloomington Convention?': 'ANSWER: The Republicans.',
        'SEPARATOR',
        'QUESTION: What was the main goal of the party platform at the Bloomington Convention?': 'ANSWER: To endorse Congress\'s right to regulate slavery in the territories and support the admission of Kansas as a free state.',
        'SEPARATOR',
        'QUESTION: Who won the 1856 presidential election?': 'ANSWER: James Buchanan.',
        'SEPARATOR',
        'QUESTION: How did the Dred Scott case affect public opinion on slavery in the United States?': 'ANSWER: Many Northerners saw the ruling as an attempt to expand slavery into new territories, increasing tensions between the North and South.',
        'SEPARATOR',
        'QUESTION: What did Lincoln argue about the Dred Scott decision?': 'ANSWER: He claimed it was a product of a conspiracy among Democrats to support the Slave Power and contradicted the principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.',
        'SEPARATOR',
        'QUESTION: Why was Dred Scott considered a slave despite having lived in a free territory?' : 'ANSWER: Because his owner brought him there from a slave state.'
    }