The Democrats fatally split their votes in 1860, but they might have failed to defeat the Republicans anyway. Although not always in charge, the party of Madison, Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Polk and Pierce had overcome challenge after challenge and usually came away victorious. But John C. Calhoun sowed the poisonous roots of separatism and idealized slavery, and these finally broke free a decade after his passing. Even at the time, people knew something had just fundamentally changed. They did not realize how right they were.
