during the presidential campaign in 1860, at a time of escalating tension between the north and south, abraham lincoln addressed the harsh treatment of republicans in the south in his famous cooper union speech: [w]hen you speak of us republicans, you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. you will grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to "black republicans." [...] but you will not abide the election of a republican president! in that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! that is cool. a highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, "stand and deliver, or i shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!"