There was a time when an eighth-grade education meant something. Today, your average college graduate doesn't know the circumstances that brought Lincoln to the nomination. But I can assure you it was nothing like today, and it came as a complete surprise to a lot of people when a few people finally made the difficult decision to go with Abe Lincoln.
Well 2006 many Repubs were thrown out giving us the worst Speaker of the House in history.
Yes, Lincoln won because the Democrat party was split due to the Southern States, however most of New England which was where the majority of the population was voted for Lincoln.