‘We Didn’t Vote for Him: Delaware and the Election of 1860’ — virtual lecture from The Old State House on Nov. 14, 2020
–Program to be presented free via Zoom; registration required–
The most portentous election in American history — the election of 1860 which brought Abraham Lincoln to power — will be explored in the program “We Didn’t Vote for Him: Delaware and the Election of 1860” that will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. NOTE: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the program will not be conducted in front of a live audience but will instead be streamed live, via Zoom, from Dover, Del.’s Old State House.
Every four years, headlines solemnly declare that “this is the most important election in the country’s history,” but what happened in the election of 1860 that inexorably took the nation into a vicious four-year civil war? In this lecture, historic-site interpreter Gavin Malone will take viewers back 160 years to explore why Delawareans didn’t vote for Lincoln and discover how he won the election without receiving a single vote in 10 of the 15 states where slavery was permitted by law.
“We Didn’t Vote for Him: Delaware and the Election of 1860” is free and open to its first 100 registrants. Viewers MUST REGISTER for the program by going to the following sign-up link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-0M8uiUDRK-ddt36dqgY0g.
For additional information, contact The Old State House at 302-744-5054. Go to the following for information on how to join a Zoom meeting.
Completed in 1791, The Old State House is one of the earliest capitol buildings in the nation, serving as the home of Delaware’s legislature until 1933 when the General Assembly moved to larger quarters in Legislative Hall. The venerable structure now appears as it would have in the late 1700s during the United States’ critical early years as an independent country. It features a courtroom, governor’s and county offices and chambers for the state’s Senate and House of Representatives. The building is situated on Dover’s historic Green, a partner site of the First State National Historical Park. The Old State House is administered by the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, an agency of the State of Delaware.