The Demise Of The Second Party System And The Rise Of The Republican Party Antonio Lovato The Whig Party • 
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1834-­‐1854 Led by Henry Clay A group organized in their opposiHon to Andrew Jackson They supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency. Had 2 presidents: William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor; both died in office. –  John Tyler succeeded Harrison but was expelled from the party and was a firm democrat –  Millard Fillmore became president aVer Taylor and was the last Whig to hold office The Whig Party ConHnued •  Jackson’s victories in 1828 and 1832 destroyed the NaHonal Republican Party and allowed for the Whig party to grow. •  In 1836 they ran three presidenHal candidates (Daniel Webster, Hugh L. White, and William Henry Harrison) to appeal to the East, South, and West •  They pracHcally captured Congress and the White House in 1840 and were poised to become the naHon’s dominant party. The Demise of the Whig Party •  By the late 1840’s the Whig party began to unravel due to the dispute of slavery. •  Millard Fillmore’s enforcement of the fugiHve slave law won the support of the southern Whigs but had alienated anHslavery Whigs. •  The Party was destroyed primarily by the quesHon of whether to expand slavery and because Fillmore wasn’t reelected in 1852 the party nominated General Winfield Scoc. •  Scoc won favor because he had support from the North and some support from the South in the ElecHon of 1852. •  On ElecHon Day, the power of the Whigs significantly decreased due to the fact that they had elected no governors and no president, leaving only control of Tennessee and Kentucky. The Demise of the Whigs ConHnued •  Franklin Pierce was elected president, someone who was very democraHc. •  The Democrats first made their way into the South aVer the ElecHon of Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire who was safe on slavery. •  The democrats believed that congress had no power to interfere with slavery which was widely favored in the South. •  At first the Democrats could not find a candidate but found Franklin Pierce and the South was so united on his winning that the Democrats won by a landslide. •  Pierce enforced the fugiHve slave law heavily which didn’t allow escaped slaves a trial. The Demise of the Whigs ConHnued •  As the south grew away from the Whigs they became more DemocraHc •  The dispute of slavery became such a big issue that the Whigs were no longer able to make a broad naHonal appeal. •  In 1854 most Whigs had joined the newly formed Republican Party.
–  The Republican Party destroyed the Whigs because, when the country was divided on slavery, the Republican Party was formed in order to keep slavery quaranHned in the South. –  The party acracted many AnH-­‐Slavery Democrats and Whigs. The Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act of 1854 •  The Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act of 1854, proposed by Stephen Douglas, caused civil disorders in Kansas and was passed on May 30, 1854. •  It served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of laHtude 36o30’ –  Angered North and pleased the South. •  The act allowed the residents of Kansas to vote on whether slavery would be allowed (popular sovereignty). •  Pro-­‐slavery and anH-­‐slavery seclers rushed in to affect the outcome of the first elecHon but this caused violence. The Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act ConHnued •  Pro-­‐slavery seclers and anH-­‐slavery seclers both acempted to hold elecHons but were accused of fraud by the opposing which resulted in President Franklin Pierce’s interference. •  Pierce, someone with a pro-­‐slave stance, sent in troops to stop the violence and disperse the anH-­‐slavery legislature; resulHng in the victory of the South/pro-­‐slavery supporters. •  Stephen Douglas was the man who iniHated the act of making Kansas and Nebraska states able to vote on whether or not they wanted slavery. •  Douglas proposed the repealing the Missouri Compromise organizing two territories: Nebraska and Kansas in which it seemed that Kansas was reserved for slavery and Nebraska for freedom. –  With the repealing proposed to the President by Douglas he was given an ulHmatum: endorse the repeal or lose the South. –  Pierce surrendered to the idea and agreed to make the revised Kansas-­‐Nebraska bill. The Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act ConHnued •  The Whig party was split right down the center by the Act and caused an official parHng of ways destroying the Whig party altogether. •  This meant that the Whigs of the South would easily be swept over by the DemocraHc South and the North leaned towards a new party: The Republican Party. –  This was a violaHon of the Missouri Compromise because it was above the line of non-­‐slave states therefore allowing the expansion of slaver, but a vote would occur in order to decide whether there would be slavery in the states. –  This caused strong slave owners and aboliHonists, such as Steven Brown to rush into the states in order to affect the vote. –  This was meant, by Douglas, to stop the civil war but in fact did the opposite and cause even more of a hatred and separaHon between the south and the north. •  This act caused the spark and rise of the Republican Party because they Republicans were mainly focused on the stop of the expansion of slavery which was very important at the Hme. Bleeding Kansas •  Missourians such as Atchison, a DemocraHc Missourian Senator, was the catalyst for the proslavery movement into Kansas. •  He rallied up approximately 5,000 Missourians to rush into Kansas and “to kill every God-­‐damned aboliHonist in the Territory.” •  This caused not only a large amount of legal issues but primarily a large outburst of violence in the new territories. •  AVer two state consHtuHons were drawn up by both views, two territorial governments formed: the official one at Lecompton and one at Topeka actually represenHng the majority. •  Governor Shannon, when threats of violence from Missourians began to arise, acempted to disassemble the conflicts with the help of Atchison. The Lecompton ConsHtuHon •  In 1857 proslavery delegates met in Lecompton, Kansas to draV a state consHtuHon in order to become a state. •  Proslavery officials had weighted the elecHon in their favor, parHally through Atchison, and draVed two versions of a consHtuHon: –  One that protected slavery and allowed future importaHon. –  And one that also protected slavery but did not allow for future importaHon The Lecompton ConsHtuHon ConHnued •  Both versions allowed slavery in Kansas so the anHslavery ciHzens, the majority of the populaHon, to not vote allowing the consHtuHon to easily pass, acempHng to let Kansas join the Union as a slave state. •  When the ConsHtuHon was posed to Congress Stephen Douglas refused it because it was not a true representaHon of the Kansas populaHon. •  Kansas was denied statehood, delaying its statehood unHl 1861. •  Eventually, in 1861 under the Wyandoce ConsHtuHon, Kansas was brought into the Union as a free state therefore doing nothing for the South’s westward expansion of slavery. The Free Soil Party •  A party that existed from 1848-­‐1852. •  Founded in Buffalo, New York as a third party. •  Consisted of mainly former members of the Whig Party and the DemocraHc Party. •  Its main purpose was to stop the expansion of slavery into Western territories. •  They responded to the Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act with revolts that were meant to show the presidency that the North was against the act. •  Eventually, it was largely absorbed by the Republican Party in 1854. The Rise of the Republican Party •  AVer the splinng of the Whigs and Democrats because of the Kansas-­‐Nebraska and due to the issue of slavery, the southern Whigs were absorbed by the DemocraHc Party. •  In the North, there was a plethora of parHes such as the Free Soilers, the anH-­‐Nebraska Democrats, the Know-­‐Nothing party, and the abandoned Whigs who were split from the South. •  With all the different parHes scacered, groups of Whigs proposed to abandon mere party names and rally as one for the establishment of liberty and the overthrowing of Slave Power; they became known as the Republican Party. The Republican Party ConHnued •  The growing controversy over slavery and its expansion into Western territories was a major influence for the party’s formaHon. •  It was mainly the outrage over the Kansas-­‐Nebraska that quickly caused the Republican Party to consolidate and rally into unified poliHcal party. •  The party, at the Hme, was completely based on the issue of slavery and punng an end to its expansion past where it already existed. •  The new party was endorsed in Washington by 33 delegates on May 9th 1854, Michigan officially designated itself Republican in July and the convenHon stated “In view of the necessity of bacling for the first principles of republican government, and against the schemes of aristocracy the most revolHng and oppressive with which the earth was ever cursed, or man debased, we will co-­‐
operate and be knows as Republicans.” Republicans in the Civil War •  In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, an unknown former Whig yet member of the Republican Party, from Illinois won presidency and was the first Republican President in the United States. •  Throughout the Civil War, the Republican Party was idenHfied by the cause of preserving the Union at all costs. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in slavery •  Lincoln: –  Lincoln was a former Whig and part of the anH-­‐Nebraska group and believed that the founding fathers were opposed to slavery based on “all men are created equal” –  He truly believed that the people who founded this country were against slavery due to things such as the Northwest Ordinance (prohibiHon of slave trade) and the direct words of the ConsHtuHon. –  He did not believe that there was moral right in the enslavement of one man to another. –  He truly wanted to abolish slavery but knew that it would not pass. –  Lincoln viewed Nebraska as part of the country and if the control of it was surrendered to slavery it would also surrender government altogether. –  Lincoln acknowledged the fact that it was an industry and tradiHon that existed and that it would be very hard to end. Lincoln and Douglas in slavery conHnued •  Douglas: –  He viewed slavery as something that was up to the people and that if it were going to occur in Kansas it was not preventable. –  Viewed slavery as a form of “self-­‐government” –  Believed in the Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act and that “Popular Sovereignty” was the right thing to do in order to allow the new territories to structure their society. –  He never explicitly stated his standpoint on slavery but always refused to respond when the quesHon of whether slavery is evil was posed (by Lincoln). –  He did however, say that “If each state will agree to mind its own business, this republic can exist forever divided into free and slave states.” Slavery Debates Overall •  Lincoln “beat” Douglas in the debates of slavery and the Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act. •  Despite Lincoln’s victory, Douglass sHll prevailed in the poliHcal world causing Lincoln to shrink away for 2 years. •  Lincoln felt his poliHcal future was bleak, and stated “I now sink out of view, and shall be forgocen.” The Dredd Scoc Decision •  In 1857, the historic Scoc v. Sandford, becer known as the Dred Scoc case, rose to the supreme court. •  It derived from the dispute of the Missouri Compromise because it dealt with slavery in both the free and slave states. •  Dred Scoc: –  Born a slave in Virginia around 1800 and sold to John Emerson in 1830 –  He accompanied Emerson to the free state of Illinois and later to Wisconsin. –  In 1842 Scoc returned with Emerson to St. Louis where Emerson died, and his widow contracted the Scocs elsewhere in Illinois. –  He began to sue because he was living in a free state yet sHll being treated as a slave; he believed he had the right to freedom. Dred Scoc ConHnued •  In 1846 Scoc brought the case to a St. Louis court suing for his freedom and they found him as free. •  By the end of 1847 the case was taken by Emerson to Missouri where he was found a slave in 1852 but eventually they directed them to the Supreme Court. •  At the Supreme Court, the jusHces consisted of 5 Southerners and 4 Northerners, Chief JusHce Roger B. Taney believed in the inferiority of African Americans resulHng in Southern control of the court and the siding of Sandford in a 7-­‐2 decision on March 6th, 1857. •  The reasoning behind the decision was because he was not a ciHzen, he was property, and therefore he did not have the consHtuHonal rights of freedom. •  The Dred Scoc decision was a huge blow to aboliHonists across the country because it showed that slavery would be allowed to expand its way throughout the naHon. •  It was rejoiced by the Southerners because it revealed to them that slavery was pracHcally legal in all federal territories, they had found a loophole. Lincoln and Douglas in Dred Scoc •  Lincoln believed that the Dred Scoc decision was a complete outrage and believed that it was the beginning of the destrucHon of free states in the naHon. –  He believed this because the decision made by the Supreme Court showed that slaves could easily be brought into the North because they were not ciHzens, therefore nothing legal could be done to stop it. •  The opinion of Stephen Douglas in the Dred Scoc case is illustrated in his Freeport Doctrine. Lincoln and Douglas in Dred Scoc ConHnued: The Freeport Doctrine •  On August 27th, 1858 in Freeport, Illinois, Stephen Douglas stated his posiHon on slavery while engaging in his second debate with Abraham Lincoln. •  He was acempHng to hold his belief of Popular Sovereignty but was quickly losing support. •  Lincoln was acempHng to force Douglas to choose between the principal of popular sovereignty and the decision of the Dred Scoc case which showed that slavery could not be legally excluded from the U.S. •  With this Lincoln pointed out the impossibiliHes of Douglas’ views. •  Douglas responded by saying that slavery could be prevented from any territory by the refusal of the people and supported it with a speech known as the Freeport Doctrine. The Freeport Doctrine •  Origin-­‐ This is an authenHc speech by Stephen A. Douglas on August 27th,1858 in Freeport, Illinois. •  Purpose-­‐ The purpose of this doctrine is to give Lincoln, and the naHon, reasoning behind why Douglas’ idea of slavery being decided by popular sovereignty is sHll relevant despite Scoc’s case. •  Value-­‐ This source has high value because it was wricen shortly aVer the Dred Scoc case so it gave the outlook of Douglas, a very important poliHcian, and also showed his true opinions on slavery; it also gave hints to the causes of the close civil war. •  LimitaHon-­‐ The doctrine is biased towards the Democrat Party and, more specifically, the personal opinion of Douglas only. [Douglas to Lincoln, August 27th, 1858 in Freeport Illinois] “The next quesHon propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln is, Can the people of a Territory in any lawful way, against the wishes of any ciHzen of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formaHon of a State consHtuHon? I answer emphaHcally, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred Hmes from every stump in Illinois, that in my opinion the people of a Territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formaHon of a State consHtuHon. Mr Lincoln knew that I had answered that quesHon over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska bill on that principle all over the State in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my posiHon on that quesHon. It macers not what way the Supreme Court may hereaVer decide as to the abstract quesHon whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the ConsHtuHon, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulaHons. Those police regulaHons can only be established by the local legislature; and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representaHves to that body who will by unfriendly legislaHon effectually prevent the introducHon of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislaHon will favor its extension. Hence, no macer what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract quesHon, sHll the right of the people to make a Slave Territory or a Free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer saHsfactory on that point.” Sources •  McPherson, James M. Ba0le Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford UP, 1988. Print. •  Sowards, Adam M. “first and second party systems.” American History. ABC-­‐CLIO, 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. •  “The History Place – Abraham Lincoln: Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act.” The History Place – Abraham Lincoln: Kansas-­‐Nebraska Act. N.p., n.d. Web 17 Sept. 2014. •  “Bleeding Kansas.” American History. ABC-­‐CLIO, 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. •  “Republican Party.” American History. ABC-­‐CLIO, 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. •  Leinder, Gordon. “Lincoln v. Douglas.” Great American History: N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.