Ka kammala wannan magana: Kafin da kuma lokacin yakin basasa, Pennsylvania ya kasance jihar raba. Kodayake Pennsylvania ta haramta bautar, yawancin masu ra'ayin mazan jiya na Pennsylvania sun yi imanin cewa gwamnatin tarayya ba za ta tsoma baki ba a cikin tsarin bautar. Ɗaya daga cikin irin waɗannan mutane shi ne Democrat James Buchanan, shugaban karshe na kafin yakin basasa. Jam'iyyar Buchanan ta lashe zaben shugaban kasa da na gwamna a Pennsylvania. Duk da haka, jaririn Jam'iyyar Republican ta
An gudanar da taron farko a Philadelphia, kuma zaben 1860 ya ga Jam'iyyar Republican ta lashe zaben shugaban kasa na jihar da kuma ofishin gwamnan. Bayan rashin nasarar Crittenden Compromise, da rabuwa da Kudu, da kuma yakin Fort Sumter, yakin basasa ya fara tare da Pennsylvania a matsayin babban memba na Union. Duk da nasarar da Jam'iyyar Republican ta samu a zaben 1860, 'yan Democrat sun kasance masu iko a jihar, kuma da dama daga cikin' yan takarar sun yi kira ga zaman lafiya a lokacin yakin. 'Yan Democrat sun sake daukar iko da majalisar dokokin jihar a zaben 1862, amma Gwamnan Republican Andrew Curtin ya ci gaba da kula da gwamnan a 1863. A cikin zaben 1864, Shugaba Lincoln ya ci nasara a Pennsylvania George B. McClellan don kuri'un zaben jihar.