Why did the South find the election of Abraham Lincoln to be threatening?

For the South, the election of Abraham Lincoln was the worst-case scenario in the election of 1860. In the 1850s, the relationship between the North and the South had worsened. With the publishing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act followed by the fighting in Kansas, the issuing of the Dred Scott decision, and the failed attempt of John Brown at Harpers Ferry, much of the trust between the regions had disappeared.  The South believed Lincoln was going to end slavery. They knew, from the Lincoln-Douglas debates, that Lincoln was against slavery. The South believed that if Lincoln got elected he was going to end slavery. The South believed ending slavery would alter their way of life and cause their economy to collapse. However, that perception that Lincoln would definitely end slavery was not accurate. Lincoln said he wanted to prevent slavery from spreading. He indicated he would allow slavery to exist if meant keeping the country together. The South just didn’t believe Lincoln would allow slavery to exist. As a result, when Lincoln got elected, southern states began to secede from the Union leading to the Civil War.