Wednesday, November 7, 1860
On the day after his election, President-elect Lincoln began a four-month transition to the Presidency.
Much of that time was spent as he had before the election – greeting visitors at the State Capitol – using the office of the outgoing governor.
Before he went to bed, early that morning, Lincoln had sketched out a list of possible cabinet appointments. Most of the candidates he had barely met and knew primarily by reputation. Most on the original list would eventually be selected.
Election results that continued to reach Springfield’s telegraph office that day confirmed that Lincoln had swept the north – winning a majority of the electoral votes (180 out of 303) but only a plurality of the popular vote in the four-way race. His victory in vote-rich New York was particularly important since the forces of his three opponents had unsuccessfully tried to combine to defeat him that state.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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