Ep. 2.27: The Election of 1860

This episode opens with a gripping story of Father John Hogan’s perilous overnight journey by handcar across Missouri to ensure Mass for his scattered flock—a testament to his courage and pastoral zeal during wartime. Monsignor and Teresa then pivot to the national stage, examining the fractured political landscape leading to the election of 1860. They detail the rise of Abraham Lincoln, the splintering of the Democratic Party into Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell factions, and the sectional tensions that made Lincoln a minority president. The episode closes by exploring Missouri’s divided loyalties, Thomas Hart Benton’s unrealized vision of unity through westward expansion, and the ominous signs of conflict that would soon engulf St. Louis and the nation.