John Breckinridge, the Vice President at the time, was the southern states candidate so if he had won the southern states would of stayed in the union..
Given that most southern states left the Union before Lincoln even took office so he hadn't even implemented a policy.... what was the difference between the two ?
What did the south think Lincoln would... do or not do as president... that they had to leave the Union
... or...
What did the south think Breckinridge would ...do or not do as president...that the south would state in the Union
..did in have something to do with what Lincoln was NOT going to do?..
Like Lincoln was NOT going to use the federal to enforce the Supreme Court Dred Scott ruling in the northern states with regards to runaway slaves? (read Lincoln's first inaugural address)
So again what was the difference in policy between Lincoln and the south choice Breckinridge ?... could it be Breckinridge would use the federal to enforce Dred Scott in the north?
In his First Inaugural Lincoln did not state that he would not enforce the Fugitive Slave Act. He did, however, imply that it should be reconsidered, particularly to make sure that those claimed to be slaves actually were slaves.
The odd part of this is that the Fugitive Slave Act had been admittedly passed to expand federal power and override states’ rights exercised by northern states.
Similarly, the actual issue on which the Democratic Party broke apart, ensuring Lincoln’s election, was over whether Congress should pass a Slave Code imposing slavery on all territories regardless of the wishes of the inhabitants.
Yet southern apologists, after the war and since, insist that they seceded in resistance to federal power. Whereas the facts indicated they seceded because the north refused to expand federal power in the way they wanted it to.