Both sides wanted a Republican form of government. Each wanted a political system that would “protect the equality and liberty of individuals against aristocratic privilege and… tyrannical power.” (404) However, the North and South differed greatly in "their perceptions of what most threatened its survival." (404) Southern secession was an attempt to reestablish Republicanism, as they no longer found a voice on the national stage. Before the 1850s, this conflict was channeled through the national political system. The collapse of the two-party system gave rise to “political reorganization and realignment,” Holt wrote. Democratic voters shifted their influence to state and local elections, where they believed their concerns would be addressed. This was not an exclusively economic factor. This showed the exercise of power of action by individual states. Holt noted: “[T]he emergence of a new bipartisan framework in the South varied from state to state depending on conditions there. » (406) The "deep South" was repelled by the "old political process", most Southerners trusted their state to be the guarantor of republicanism. (404) They viewed the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, a member of the "anti-South Republican Party," as something the old system could not do.