Explore map of America 1860 to see the political division of United States in 1860 including states, territories, other countries, and disputed territories.
States in the United States in 1860
#
State
Year of Statehood
Capital (in 1860)
Population (1860 Census)
Slave or Free
Region
1
Delaware
1787
Dover
112,216
Slave
Border
2
Pennsylvania
1787
Harrisburg
2,906,115
Free
North
3
New Jersey
1787
Trenton
672,035
Free
North
4
Georgia
1788
Milledgeville
1,057,286
Slave
South
5
Connecticut
1788
Hartford and New Haven (shared)
460,147
Free
North
6
Massachusetts
1788
Boston
1,231,066
Free
North
7
Maryland
1788
Annapolis
687,049
Slave
Border
8
South Carolina
1788
Columbia
703,708
Slave
South
9
New Hampshire
1788
Concord
326,073
Free
North
10
Virginia
1788
Richmond
1,596,318
Slave
South
11
New York
1788
Albany
3,880,735
Free
North
12
North Carolina
1789
Raleigh
992,622
Slave
South
13
Rhode Island
1790
Providence and Newport (shared)
174,620
Free
North
14
Vermont
1791
Montpelier
315,098
Free
North
15
Kentucky
1792
Frankfort
1,155,684
Slave
Border
16
Tennessee
1796
Nashville
1,109,801
Slave
South
17
Ohio
1803
Columbus
2,339,511
Free
North
18
Louisiana
1812
Baton Rouge
708,002
Slave
South
19
Indiana
1816
Indianapolis
1,350,428
Free
North
20
Mississippi
1817
Jackson
791,305
Slave
South
21
Illinois
1818
Springfield
1,711,951
Free
North
22
Alabama
1819
Montgomery
964,201
Slave
South
23
Maine
1820
Augusta
628,279
Free
North
24
Missouri
1821
Jefferson City
1,182,012
Slave
Border
25
Arkansas
1836
Little Rock
435,450
Slave
South
26
Michigan
1837
Lansing
749,113
Free
North
27
Florida
1845
Tallahassee
140,424
Slave
South
28
Texas
1845
Austin
604,215
Slave
South
29
Iowa
1846
Des Moines
674,913
Free
North
30
Wisconsin
1848
Madison
775,881
Free
North
31
California
1850
Sacramento
379,994
Free
West
32
Minnesota
1858
St. Paul
172,023
Free
North
33
Oregon
1859
Salem
52,465
Free
West
34
Kansas
1861
Topeka
107,206 (est.)
Free
West
United States in 1860
Over the questions of slavery, state rights, and the future of the Union, the United States in 1860 was sharply split. With four main contenders representing many political philosophies, the presidential contest of 1860 was among the most significant in American history. With 39.8% of the popular vote and 180 electoral votes, Abraham Lincoln, the Republican nominee, took office as president. His triumph was considered as a direct challenge to the Southern way of life, which led to the December 1860 secession of South Carolina and subsequent several other Southern states in early 1861. Stephen A. Douglas represented the North while John C. Breckinridge represented the South, therefore separating the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern sections. Appealing to moderates, John Bell of the Constitutional Union Party sought to maintain the Union but had little impact. Deep political rifts prepared the ground for the Civil War, which would start in April 1861.
Geographic Expansion and States
The United States had grown to 33 states by 1860, with Kansas just about ready for statehood. Along with large areas of present-day Arizona and New Mexico, the US had also gained the territories from the Mexican-American War, the Oregon Territory, and the Gadsden Purchase of 1854. Still a significant source of conflict is whether newly acquired territory would permit slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 had let immigrants decide whether slavery would be accepted in their territory, hence sparking bloody clashes often referred to as "Bleeding Kansas." By declaring that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens and that Congress lacked power to prohibit slavery in the territories, the Dred Scott v. Sandford Supreme Court decision of 1857 stoked even more hostilities.
Population Development and Demographic Trends
The U.S. population had expanded to around 31.4 million by 1860, including about 4 million slaves. With so many Irish and German immigrants entering in the last decades, immigration was clearly important in this increase. Rapid urbanization saw cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago growing out of industry and labor migration in the North. With an economy based on plantation farming and enslaved labor, the South remained essentially rural. Disease, forcible deportation, and strife kept Native American numbers down.
Economic development and industrialization
The industrialized North and the agricultural South clearly showed different aspects of the American economy in 1860. Making textiles, machines, and iron items, the North had evolved as the manufacturing center for the country. With more than 30,000 miles of track constructed by 1860, railroads grew quickly to enable commercial and army movements in the approaching war. By contrast, the South mostly relied on cotton, which made around 60% of American exports. The cotton gin had established the system of slavery even as it made cotton farming very lucrative. The South's lack of industrialization left it economically weak and dependent on imported commodities from the North and Europe. Northern cities concentrated banking and financial firms, therefore widening the economic difference between the areas.
Sectional Tensions and Slavery
The defining issue of the decade was slavery; the North was becoming more against its spread while the South defended it as necessary for their way of life and economy. Figures like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and John Brown supported an end to slavery, therefore energizing abolitionist organizations. Thousands of enslaved people made their way to free states and Canada via the Underground Railroad Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1852 stoked anti-slavery feeling in the North even further. Restricting slavery would ruin Southern leaders' economic structure, hence demands for secession arose.
Foreign Policy and Expansionism
United States had an expansionist and economic diplomatic strategy in 1860. Trade ties with Europe were good, especially with Britain and France whose textile businesses depended on Southern cotton. With initiatives as the Ostend Manifesto (1854), which suggested the acquisition of Cuba from Spain, the United States also aimed to increase its influence in Latin America. But the sectional problem developing at home diverted attention from foreign policy as the approaching Civil War became the main focus of the country.
Transportation and infrastructure
By 1860, railroads connected big cities and enabled trade, hence becoming the backbone of the U.S. transportation system. With a significantly more developed rail system than the South, the North enjoyed a major logistical advantage going into the forthcoming Civil War. For shipping commodities over the Mississippi River and other rivers, steamboats were indispensable. Launched in 1860, the Pony Express offered quicker connection between the East and the growing West, but the telegraph quickly took front stage. Roads, canals, and train lines expanded to link far-off areas to metropolitan markets and aid to integrate the economy.
Cultural and Educational Development
Public education was growing especially in the North, where literacy rates much exceeded those in the South. Though it was approved during the start of the Civil War, the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 (proposed in 1860) sought to create technical and agricultural universities. Intellectual thinking was shaped in great part by universities such Harvard, Yale, and the University of Virginia. Public opinion was greatly shaped by newspapers and literature; big periodicals like "The New York Times" and "The Liberator" argued for many political points of view. Writers such as Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville contributed to the cultural character of America, therefore fostering the flourishing American literature.
Social and Religious movements
Inspired by social reform groups like slavery, women's rights, and temperance, the Second Great Awakening still shaped American culture in 1860. Moral change was promoted by religious revivals; churches were instrumental in organizing groups for political activity. Though women's voting rights were far off, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's suffrage campaign was gathering steam.
Scientific and Technological Developments
Science and technology advanced greatly during the decade before 1860. Agricultural innovations include mechanized reaper and the steel plow increased agricultural effectiveness. The telegraph system's development transformed communication so that news and information could travel quickly. Though medical knowledge was still primitive, advances in anesthetic and surgical methods enhanced treatment. The Smithsonian Institution kept pushing scientific inquiry to help in advancements in many spheres.
Deep political, economic, and social divides threatening to split the country apart by 1860 put the United States in close proximity to civil war. Abraham Lincoln's victory was a sea change because Southern states saw his administration as directly endangering slavery and their way of life. The South remained agricultural and dependent on enslaved labor while the North was becoming an industrial powerhouse with a fast rising economy and increasing infrastructure. National debate focused mostly on slavery, state sovereignty, and territorial expansion, which resulted in the Civil War starting in April 1861 and a crisis of secession. The strife and changes of the 1860s were forming the basis of modern America as the nation entered this stormy era.