William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln awaited the results of the Republican National Convention in Chicago on May 18, 1860, in their respective hometowns. Lincoln's opponents were shocked and incensed when he won. Each had vigorously run for president throughout the stormy 1850s as the conflict over slavery was inescapably escalating towards secession and civil war. Lincoln's success was due to a personality...