Timeline
1860 Shadow of Fear
Already in the shadow of war, Arkansas continued to show signs of progress. Arkansas's first state fair was held in Little Rock; the Little Rock gas plant was completed and gas lighting entered homes and businesses; Elias Conway, the outgoing governor, could point to $304,106.98 in specie in the state treasury; and the telegraph reached Fayetteville, providing a communication link with the east coast.
This year's elections offered the "dynasty" its strongest opposition. Thomas Hindman, openly hostile to the True Democrat, won reelection easily as first district Congressman. Edward Gantt, winner in the second district, was also outside the "dynasty." But the primary challenge came from a blood relative, Henry M. Rector who opposed Richard H. Johnson for governor. (When Johnson left the True Democrat, he was replaced as editor by Elias Boudinot, a lawyer of Cherokee heritage who had worked for the Fayetteville Arkansian.) Rector defeated Johnson, 30,577 to 28,618.
In the presidential campaign, the Democratic Party divided into two factions, with Stephen A. Douglas the nominee of the northern wing and John C. Breckinridge of the southern wing. Remnants of the Whig and American parties nominated John Bell as the Constitutional Union Party candidate. The Republican Party chose newcomer Abraham Lincoln as its candidate for president. The electoral vote went along clear sectional lines with Lincoln victorious in 18 free states, Breckinridge carrying 11 slave states (including Arkansas), Bell winning three border states and Douglas carrying Missouri and three New Jersey votes.
Several Southern states had threatened to secede from the United States upon a Republican victory. South Carolina immediately did so and other states would follow early in 1861.
Although Arkansas had strong Unionist sentiment, particularly in the northwest where slavery was not as prevalent, the southeast was now solid in the "cotton kingdom." In 1850, 512 Arkansawyers could be considered "planters" by owning more than 20 slaves; by 1860, the number had reached 1,363. While there were officially only 11,481 slaveholders out of 325, 000 whites in Arkansas, slaveholders and their families formed a strong class in the state.
