In 1860 New Jersey voters chose presidential electors by voting for them individually, and four Republican electors and three Douglas Democrats won.1 The four cast their votes for Abraham Lincoln and the three for Stephen A. Douglas.2 The state's Democrats decided that their electors would support whichever Democratic candidate had the best chance of defeating Lincoln.3 Their fusion ticket had three electors pledged to Douglas and two each to John C. Breckinridge and John Bell.4
Historian Charles Merriam Knapp wrote that the fusion of the Breckinridge and Douglas factions came too late to give complete success.5 According to the Lehrman Institute's Abraham Lincoln's Classroom, three separate Douglas electors also ran alongside the fusion slate, which made the results close and confusing.6 The leading fusion elector received about 4,500 more votes than the leading Lincoln elector, but the top four Lincoln electors outpolled the fourth through seventh fusion electors.7 Averaging the votes for each slate, the New Jersey Globe found that Lincoln's electors won 49.3 percent of the statewide vote.8
Lincoln won the presidency with 180 electoral votes, and Douglas finished with 12, from Missouri and New Jersey.9
Sources for each sentence
Each numbered entry quotes the words that support that sentence, as they appear on the linked page.
- Back to sentence 1
Voters in New Jersey appointed electors by voting for them individually. Four Republican electors and 3 Douglas Democrat electors won.
archives.gov/electoral-college/1860 - Back to sentence 2
Douglas-Missouri, and New Jersey (3) a total of 12.
friendsofthelincolncollection.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/LL_1929-11-04_01-1.pdf New Jersey 13 7 4 3 - 4 3 - New York 35
archives.gov/electoral-college/1860 - Back to sentence 3
The New Jersey Democratic State Committee decided that their electors would support whichever Democratic candidate had the best chance of defeating Lincoln.
newjerseyglobe.com/presidential-election/new-jersey-democrats-had-no-horse-in-1860-6/amp - Back to sentence 4
Democrats forged a fusion ticket: three electors were pledged to Douglas and two each to Breckenridge and Bell.
newjerseyglobe.com/presidential-election/new-jersey-democrats-had-no-horse-in-1860-6/amp - Back to sentence 5
The Democrats did try to put the factions supporting John Breckinridge and Stephen Douglas in a unified ticket, but Knapp wrote that it was done
abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-state-by-state/abraham-lincoln-and-new-jersey/index.html too late to give complete success in the election
abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-state-by-state/abraham-lincoln-and-new-jersey/index.html - Back to sentence 6
The actual results were close and confusing because there were three Douglas electors in addition to a Democrat fusion slate for the Electoral College.
abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-state-by-state/abraham-lincoln-and-new-jersey/index.html - Back to sentence 7
The highest Democratic fusion elector got about 4,500 more votes than the top Lincoln elector, but the top four Lincoln electors got more votes than the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh fusion electors.
abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-state-by-state/abraham-lincoln-and-new-jersey/index.html - Back to sentence 8
Lincoln's electors won 49.3% of the statewide vote, running 1,568 votes behind the Demcoratic fusion ticket.
newjerseyglobe.com/presidential-election/how-abraham-lincoln-won-new-jersey-5 the Globe took an average vote for each slate of seven.
newjerseyglobe.com/presidential-election/how-abraham-lincoln-won-new-jersey-5 - Back to sentence 9
Electoral Vote Winner: 180 Main Opponent: 12 Total/Majority: 303/152
archives.gov/electoral-college/1860 Douglas-Missouri, and New Jersey (3) a total of 12.
friendsofthelincolncollection.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/LL_1929-11-04_01-1.pdf
Sources checked on October 3, 2026
Every sentence above links to the page it comes from, with the exact words quoted. On that date a script re-read each cited page and confirmed that every quote is on it. How these stories are made · Report an error