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There have been critical presidential elections in U.S. history; this 4 page paper examines three: 1860, 1932 and 1980. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVCriEle.rtf
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three: 1860, 1932 and 1980. Discussion Critical elections are also known as "realigning elections," and such elections "describe a dramatic change in politics" (Realigning elections, 2005).
Specifically, they are defined by the fact that in such elections there are "sharp changes in the rules of the game" (Realigning elections, 2005). Changes may be made in
campaign financing or ways of determining voter eligibility, for example (Realigning elections, 2005). With these watershed elections come "new issues, new leaders and new bases of power for each
of the two political parties, resulting in a new political power structure and a new status quo that will last for decades" (Realigning elections, 2005) The 1860 election is important
because it marked the end of one major political party, and saw the "fundamental realignment of electoral support" throughout the country (Schofield, Miller & Martin, 2002). Before 1860, the
two main parties had been the Whigs and Democrats, who had been getting "roughly comparable" vote shares from 1836 to 1852, such that neither party could claim an overwhelming majority
in any region of the country (Schofield, Miller & Martin, 2002). But in 1860, Abraham Lincoln, who was from a new party, the Republicans, "won the presidential election by
capturing a majority of the popular vote in 15 northern and western states" (Schofield, Miller & Martin, 2002). There were three other candidates, Bell (a Whig), and Douglas and
Breckinridge, both Democrats (Schofield, Miller & Martin, 2002). Bell won Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee while the two Democrats won the entire South (Schofield, Miller & Martin, 2002). Lincoln carried
"every Northern state" largely because the South split its vote between the two Democrats; his election was "the proximate cause of secession and his efforts to keep the nation united
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