This Day in History: br Abraham Lincoln Is br Elected President.br November 6, 1860.br Receiving only 40 of the popular vote, President Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates br to become the first Republican President.br A month after the Kentucky-born lawyer was sworn in on March 4, 1961, the U.S. Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter.br The announcement of br Lincoln’s victory signaled br the secession of the Southern states.br In 1863, as the tide turned against the Confederacy, Lincoln emancipated the slaves and won reelection in 1864.br In April 1865, he was br assassinated by John Wilkes Booth br at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.