Pedzisa mutsara unotevera: Muchikamu pamusana pekurwisana kwezvematongerwe enyika kwechisimba muKansas, kushorwa kweKansas-Nebraska Mutemo kwakaramba kwakasimba muIllinois uye muNorth yose. Pakasvika sarudzo dza1856, Lincoln akasiya bato reWhig rainge risisiripo achitsigira reRepublicans. Akaenda kuMay 1856 Bloomington Convention, iyo yakasimbisa zviri pamutemo Illinois Republican Party. Purogiramu yekokorodzano yakasimbisa kuti Congress yakanga ine kodzero yokudzora uranda munharaunda uye yakadana kubvumirwa pakarepo kweKansas senyika yakasununguka. Lincoln akapa hurukuro yokupedzisira yekokorodzano yacho, umo akatsigira purogiramu yebato ndokukumbira kuchengetedzwa kweUnited. Muna June
Muna 1856 Republican National Convention, Lincoln akawana rutsigiro rwakakura pakuvhotera mutevedzeri wemutungamiri wenyika, kunyange zvazvo bato racho rakasarudza tikiti raJohn C. Frémont naWilliam Dayton. Lincoln akatsigira zvakasimba tikiti reRepublican, achirwira bato racho muIllinois yose. VaDemocrats vakasarudza aimbova Mumiriri James Buchanan, uyo akanga asipo munyika kubva muna 1853 uye nokudaro akanga adzivisa gakava pamusoro pokuranda munharaunda, nepo Know Nothings vakasarudza aimbova Mutungamiri weWhig Millard Fillmore. Musarudzo dza1856, Buchanan akakunda vose vaipikisa, asi Frémont akakunda nyika dzakawanda dzokuchamhembe uye Republican William Henry Bissell akakunda sarudzo saGavhuna weIllinois. Kunyange zvazvo Lincoln pachake asina kukunda hofisi, nhimbe yake yakasimba yakanga yamuita muRepublican anotungamirira muIllinois.