What Made the Civil War Unavoidable?

[Steve]

The effect of Free Sovereignty was to cause Lincoln to make an issue of the bone-headed decision during the Lincoln/Douglas debates in 1858. And, while Douglas still retained his Senate seat, he became very unpopular with Southern Democrats which split the Democratic party into three warring groups and led to Lincoln’s minority election.

This Quora contributor is incorrect the Democratic split led to Lincoln's election. Based on the 1860 state vote totals, the only two states Lincoln won which likely would have gone to a combined Democratic ticket were California and Oregon. The split New Jersey electoral vote would've gone to the Democratic ticket. This leads to a whopping net loss of 11 electoral votes, giving Lincoln 169 electoral votes (instead of 180) with 152 electoral votes needed to be elected President outright.