In 1860 four candidates vied for the presidency of the United States. The relatively new Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln from Illinois as its candidate. Stephen A. Douglas, also from Illinois, represented the Democratic Party. John Bell of Tennessee was the candidate of the Constitutional Union Party, made up of former Whigs hoping to avoid secession over the issue of slavery. Following a split in the Democratic Party over its selection of a presidential candidate, southern Democrats then formed the Southern Rights Party and nominated John C. Breckinridge from Kentucky as its candidate. Slavery was the central political issue in the U.S. presidential election of 1860. Indeed, the subject of slavery had polarized the nation, which was looking to this election to settle its future—particularly the extension of slavery and the rights of slave owners. The 1860 election was thus essentially two elections: one in the North between Lincoln and Douglas and one in the South between Breckinridge and Bell.