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The Decline of the Whigs Took no position on slavery appeal to the most people Election of 1848: Whigs v. Democrats v. Free Soil Close Whig victory- Zachary Taylor
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Chapter 13: The Union in Peril1848-1861
Valerie Higgins
Argument
• Politics became so divided along sectional lines that, while compromises were attempted, those efforts led to further divisions and eventually Southern secession from the Union.
The Decline of the Whigs
• Took no position on slavery appeal to the most people
• Election of 1848: Whigs v. Democrats v. Free Soil Close Whig victory- Zachary Taylor
Party Versus Policy (Whigs)
• The Compromise of 1850• Henry Clay’s compromise:
CA admitted as a free state Fugitive Slave Law- capture and return escaped
slaves• Effect: Sectional tensions abate
Decline of the Whigs (cont.)
• Election of 1852: Whigs v. Democrats fighting in the party sectionalism Democratic victory- Franklin Pierce
• Effect: Last Whig election Sectional divisions and slavery can no longer be
ignored
New Political Parties
• Know-Nothing Party (1850s): Opposed Catholics and immigrants Drew support away from the Whigs
• Republican Party (1854): Formed as a direct result of the KS-NE Act Didn’t want slavery out West Northern and Western
“I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that “all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty—to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy.”
- Abraham Lincoln, August 24, 1855
Economic Differences
• Northern industry- protect American businesses Favored higher tariffs, free homesteads, and
internal improvements (RR)• Southern agriculture- trade with Britain
Party Versus Policy (Democrats)
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854• Allowed popular sovereignty in the new
Kansas and Nebraska territories• Effect: Repealed the Missouri Compromise
surrender to slave power Republicans
• Is popular sovereignty a reasonable or idealistic policy?
Effects of Compromise
• “Bleeding Kansas”- fighting between pro and anti-slavery groups in KS sectional warfare Take decisions into their own hands Lecompton Constitution (1857)
Tensions Build
• The Election of 1856• Democrats v. Republicans v. Know-Nothings• Democratic victory
James Buchanan Reject Pierce and Douglas
• Effect: foreshadows Republican success
11/16 free states
Tensions Build (cont.)
• Sectional divisions lead to violence• Caning of Senator Sumner (1856)• Harpers Ferry Raid (1859)
John Brown and followers try to take Virginia arsenal
Tensions Build (cont.)
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)• Chief Justice Taney and Supreme Court decide:
African Americans can’t sue bc they aren’t citizens Congress can’t restrict slavery property rights Missouri Compromise= unconstitutional
Republican suspicion
The Election of 1860
• Democrats: Steven Douglas- popular sovereignty, Fugitive
Slave Law S. Democrats disagree form their own party
based on slavery• Republicans: Abraham Lincoln- no slavery West, economics• Constitutional Union Party enforce laws, preserve the Union
Election of 1860 (cont.)
• Republican victory Split of Democratic votes
• Effect: Secession of the Deep South (end of 1860s) Confederate States of America (beginning of 1861s)
• Crittenden Compromise Lincoln rejects
