Lincoln , a former Whig Congressman , emerged as a major Republican presidential candidate following his narrow loss to Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in the 1858 Senate election in Illinois . Though he lacked the broad support of Republican Senator William H. Seward of New York , Lincoln believed that he could emerge as the Republican presidential nominee at the convention after multiple ballots . Lincoln spent much of 1859 and 1860 building support for his candidacy , and his Cooper Union speech was well-received by eastern elites . Lincoln positioned himself in the " moderate center " of his party ; he opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories but did not favor the abolition of slavery in slave states . On the first ballot of the May 1860 Republican National Convention , Lincoln finished second to Seward , but Seward was unable to clinch the nomination . Ignoring Lincoln 's strong dictate to " make no contracts that bind me " , his managers maneuvered to win Lincoln 's nomination on the third ballot of the convention . Delegates then nominated Senator Hannibal Hamlin from Maine for vice president . The party platform opposed the extension of slavery into the territories but pledged not to interfere with it in the states . It also endorsed a protective tariff , internal improvements such as a transcontinental railroad , and policies designed to encourage the settlement of public land in the West
1860 Republican National Convention
1860 Republican National Convention
Presidency of Abraham Lincoln