HELP Read the section "Election Results."

Select the paragraph from the section that shows why Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860.

A.
On November 6, 1860, voters cast their vote for president of the United States. Lincoln won the election in an Electoral College landslide. He received 180 electoral votes, although he won less than 40 percent of the popular vote.
B.
The North had many more people than the South, and therefore it controlled the Electoral College. Lincoln did very well in the Northern states, but didn't carry a single Southern state.
C.
Douglas received some Northern support, but not nearly enough to defeat Lincoln. The Southern vote was split between Breckenridge and Bell. Breckenridge won 72 electoral votes, while Bell won 39.
D.
Lincoln was sworn in as president on March 4, 1861. By then, 11 Southern states had left the Union. Weeks later, the Confederate Army fired on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War.

Lincoln barely won 40 percent of the popular vote nationally, yet he won 180 of the electoral votes. He was not even on the ballot in nine Southern states. With the Democratic Party so splintered, he was able to secure the election, with Breckinridge a distant second. The election results assured Southern secession as several states had already made it clear that Lincoln's ascension to the presidency would force them to take the drastic action.