Lincoln was a self-made man from the frontier. Self-taught, he became a leading lawyer in Illinois. He was a leader of the Whig party (which sent him to Congress for one term). When the slavery issue exploded in 1854, he helped form the new Republican party and became its leader in Illinois. Lincoln was opposed to the Slave Power and staunchly opposed its efforts to expand slavery into federal territories. His debates with Democratic leader Stephen Douglas in 1858 gave him national visibility, and as a western moderate he won the 1860 presidential nomination. His victory in the 1860 presidential election was the final straw for the deep South, where seven states seceded, formed the Confederate States of America, and took control of U.S. forts and other properties within their boundaries, setting the stage for the American Civil War.
