Lincoln knew very well the importance of semantics. He treated the act of secession as an act of rebellion against the democratic self-government of a state. In his view a minority of people had taken over the governments in the South because they did not like the way the 1860 presidential election had turned out. This act defied a main principle of democracy, which is a freely elected government. Lincoln stated "It is now for [us] to demonstrate to the world, that those who can fairly carry an election, can also suppress a rebellion."