How did southern lawmakers react to Lincoln‘s election

Southern lawmakers, like the vast majority of Southerners in general, were absolutely horrified at Lincoln's election in 1860. To them, it spelled doom for their whole way of life. Lincoln had run on a platform that pledged not to extend slavery. As the Southern economy and society were both founded on the so-called "peculiar institution," there was a general feeling that Lincoln's election was simply the first step on the road toward the outright abolition of slavery. Tensions had been building in the nation for quite some time, but for Southerners, Lincoln's election was the last straw.
Not long after the election, the Southern states began to make plans for formal secession. Just over a month after Lincoln's victory, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. It was followed, in chronological order, by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

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