He carried every Northern state except Missouri and New Jersey. He received one hundred and eighty electoral notes. Breckenridge carried every Southern state except the "border states" of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and received seventy-two electoral votes. Bell carried the three "border" Southern states and Douglas carried Missouri and New Jersey. There was no doubt as to Lincoln's election. He had received a great majority of the electoral votes. But his opponents had received more popular votes than he had received. He was therefore elected by a minority of the voters.
除了密苏里州和新泽西州，林肯获得了所有北方各个州的选票，他获得180张选票；除了弗吉尼亚、肯塔基和田纳西这三个"边缘州"，布莱克里奇获得了所有南方各州的选举人票，他共获得72张选票；贝尔获得三个南方"边缘"州的选票，而道格拉斯获得密苏里和新泽西的选票。林肯当选是毫无疑问的，他获得了绝大多数选票，但是他的对手获得的大众投票比他要多，因此，他是通过少数投票人选出的总统。
373. The North and the South.

373．北方与南方

Lincoln had been elected by a minority of the people. He had been elected by the people of one section. Other Presidents had been chosen by minorities. But Lincoln was the first man to be chosen President by the people of one section. The Republicans, moreover, had not elected a majority of the members of the House of Representatives, and the Senate was still in the hands of the Democrats. For two years at least the Republicans could not carry out their ideas. They could not repeal the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They could not admit Kansas to the Union as a free state. They could not carry out one bit of their policy. In their platform they had declared that they had no intention to interfere with slavery in the states. Lincoln had said over and over again that Congress had no right to meddle with slavery in the states.
林肯已经被少数人选出，他是由某个区域的人们所选出的总统，其他总统都是通过大多数人选举出的总统，但林肯是第一个由一个区域的人民选出的总统，而且共和党人并没有在众议院中选出占大多数的议员，参议院还在民主党的控制下。至少两年内共和党无法执行自己的想法，他们不可能废止《堪萨斯-内布拉斯加法案》，他们不可能接受堪萨斯作为一个自由州加入联邦，他们不可能行使自己的一点点政策方略。共和党人在自己的宣言中称无意干涉各州的奴隶制，林肯在国会上反复说国会无权干涉各州的奴隶制。