sentences:  Lincoln spent much of 1859 and 1860 building support for his candidacy, and his Cooper Union speech was well-received by eastern elites.Lincoln positioned himself in the "moderate center" of his party; he opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories but did not favor the abolition of slavery in slave states.On the first ballot of the May 1860 Republican National Convention, Lincoln finished second to Seward, but Seward was unable to clinch the nomination.