The Know-Nothing Party

Enter the presidential election of 1860, which brought these problems to a collision with dramatic consequences. The Democratic Party split into three groups along their regional lines, with each one vying for control of the party and each holding different ideas about how to deal with slavery in the West. They camps consisted of John C. Breckinride, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas; their efforts would be worthless however, as Abraham Lincoln would win for the Republican Party. Lincoln stood on the grounds that the West should be absolutely free of slavery entirely; which apparently was enough as he won the election with less than forty percent of the popular vote. On a side note about the election, fifty-nine percent of the Electoral College did vote for Lincoln;

A new party arose from that election named the Free-Soil Party. At the time I have heard talk around the town about this party. I remember how they wanted to keep slavery

In 1854 another problem arose which resulted in Congress passing the Kansas-Nebraska Act which repealed the Missouri Compromise, this act was introduced by Stephen A. Douglas a chairman of Committee on Territories, this act allowed the people of Kansas and Nebraska to choose rather they wanted slavery in their boundary or not through the power of popular sovereignty, the Pro-slavery settlers won the election but were charged with accusations that they cheated, in order to make sure that the vote was right they ordered a re-election but the Pro-slavery refused and the refusal resulted into a battle. John Brown an Anti-slavery leader who believed that he was sent here by god to kill anyone who was pro-slavery. He led the anti-slavery force which gained the nickname “Bleeding Kansas”. The fight was soon stopped, and a final election was held, this time the anti-slavery settlers won the vote and was announced that Kansas would become a free state in 1861. In conclusion the Compromises and Acts may have had their flaws but it they some how manage to solve the slavery issues.

A leading example of the struggles of slavery in the western states was the struggle over slavery in Kansas. Document F depicts a political cartoon basically stating that Stephen Douglas, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan all attempted intentionally or unintentionally to spread slavery to the West. Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in which the Midwest Nebraska territory would be divided into two states Kansas and Nebraska and the issue of slavery would be determined by in state vote known as "popular sovereignty". Franklin Pierce aided with the signing of the bill. The results upon this bill was harsh fighting between pro-slavery supporters and non-slavery supporters in Kansas over this issue. It also led to the non-reelection of Pierce and the end to the Whig party, along with the introduction of the sectional Republican party, who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. An attempt at forcing slavery into

Moreover, by 1852, the party had attained a phenomenal growth (Aron, 2006). Arguably, it performed extremely well in local as well as state elections. Additionally, with the passage of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, it won more followers from the ranks of conformists who could support neither the pro-slavery Democrats nor anti-slavery Republicans. By December 3, forty three representatives were confirmed members of the party.

In 1820, a politician by the name of Henry Clay decided to help work out a compromise that would keep the balance the North and South. Clay suggested that Congress should admit Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The official proposal was passed in March of 1820 and prohibited slavery from any territories in the Louisiana Purchase that was North of 36°30’ latitude. (The American Journey Page 320,437, and 438) Almost thirty years later, a dispute over slavery broke out in Congress because a bill was introduced by Illinois senator Stephen Douglas. Douglas originally wanted to run for president but in order to do that he needed the support of the Southern Democrats. With Douglas trying to win over both northerners and southerners, the Kansas-Nebraska act proclaimed that Kansas and Nebraska territories would have the choice to be a free or slave state. Douglas was basically saying that “they” being Congress would repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and would rely on “popular sovereignty” which is letting the people decide. He figured that because Kansas and Nebraska becoming slave

The coexistence of a slave owning south with an increasingly anti-slavery north made conflict likely. It was formidable to decide whether such states like the ones gained from the Mexican War should be slavery or anti-slavery, which either way would disrupt the balance between the slave and antislavery states. This divided the Union and Confederacy even further. Later on, President Lincoln sought not to propose federal laws against slavery where it already existed, but he had in his 1858 House Divided speech, expressed a desire to “arrest the further spread of it “(Doc. G). Much of the political battle in the 1850s focused on the expansion of slavery into the newly created territories. All of the organized territories were likely to become free soil states which increased the southern movement toward secession. Both north and south assumed that if slavery could not expand it would become nonexistent. Southern fears of losing control of the federal government to anti-slavery forces, and northern feared that the slave power already controlled the government; these thoughts brought the sectional disagreements. The morality of slavery, the scope of democracy, and the economic merits of free labor versus slave plantations caused the Whig and know nothing parties to collapse and the free soil party to arrive, ruining the resolve of compromise.

The challenge would be to decide whether the new territories would be slavery areas or not. Tensions were high over the expansion of slavery. Politicians did not deal impartially with the tensions, and the decisions were made based on the interests of the political parties. Aftermath, the decisions led to conflicts, inflame debates, political divisions, and the emergence of new political parties. In this conflictual moment lived between the Northerners (abolitionists) and the Southerners (pro-slavery), a fact in 1857 disheartened the abolitionists by the end of the

In 1860 a new president was going to be elected to the US. The newly elected president would have to deal with the issues of slavery and what to do with the west. The Democratic Party split into 3 groups and was running against Republican Nominee Abraham Lincoln. The Democratic Convention adjourned without nominating anyone. Different elements of the Democratic Party then chose their own candidates John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, who represented the Deep South Democrats, and Stephen A. Douglas, who represented the Northern and border-state Democrats. The Constitutional Union Party, comprised of former Whigs and other factions, nominated John Bell of Tennessee as its candidate. Each group had their own theories on how to change the country and avoid war. On November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election. He received 1,866,452 popular votes and 180 electoral votes in the 17 of the 33 states. He did not win one southern state in the election of 1860 and wasn’t even on the ballet in the southern states. The reason that Lincoln had some many electoral votes was because he won all the northern states, which had higher populations than the southern states. In response on December 20, 1860 South Carolina declared that they would secede from the US. This happened 3 months after Lincoln was elected president the first real actions of the south separating from the north happened. They were seceding because a geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all

From the Mexican-American War, the United States gained California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. The massive territorial gain caused sectional division as many argue whether or not slavery would be permitted within the newly acquired regions. During the presidential campaign of 1848, the Democrats nominated the Lewis Cass of Michigan and the Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor. Discontented with the presidential candidates, opposers of slavery nominated Martin Van-Buren and formed the Free-Soil Party. The development of the Free-Soil Party is a pivotal moment in American politics because it displays how passion over slavery was forming division and instability within the political realm.

The party leadership consisted of anti-slavery former members of the Whig Party and the Democratic Party. Its main purpose was to oppose the expansion of slavery into the western territories, arguing that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. This stance repulsed the New York State Democrats and encouraged them to join with anti-slavery Whigs and the majority of the Liberty Party to form the Free Soil Party, which was formalized in the summer of 1848 at conventions in Utica and Buffalo, New York

The Native American Party, renamed the American Party 1855 and commonly known as the "Know Nothing" movement, was an American Nativist political party that operated nationally in the mid-1850s. It was an anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant movement, often taking the form of a secret society. The movement briefly emerged as a major political party in the form of the American Party. Adherents to the movement were to reply "I know nothing" when asked about its specifics by outsiders, thus providing the group with its common appellation The "Know Nothings" believed a "Romanist" conspiracy was afoot to subvert civil and religious liberty in America and sought to politically organize native-born Protestants in the defense of traditional religious and

The political effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act were colossal. Before the act’s passage, the Whig party had been one of the largest political parties in America, consisting of both Southern and Northern Whigs. The Kansas-Nebraska Act initially violated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, an unceasing pact that had been strongly supported by both the North and South. The ratification of the bill conclusively split the Whig party into two; almost every Southern Whig had

As Tyler Anbinder pointed out, “Know Nothings admitted that the country needed immigrants, and consequently they never proposed restricting the flow of newcomers as a means to preserve the homogeneity they valued.” Instead, they sought to thoroughly “Americanized” future immigrants and mitigate their political influence. First, they proposed to make the immigrants wait for twenty-one years before they became citizens and were eligible to vote. The current five-year probation period, according to the Know Nothings, was not long enough for the newcomers to fully adopt American values and culture. Second, the Know Nothings urged voters to elect only native born to government positions, because “only those born and raised in America understood the complexities of operating a republican

While this uncertainty was taking place, a social force greater than party loyalty was beginning to reshape American politics. The slavery issue, with the passions it aroused in the North and the South, gradually compelled a realignment of parties. The Whigs party began to split in 1852. This was a result of the deep split in opinion over slavery. During the next few years most Southern Whigs joined the Democrats. Northern Whigs joined northern antislavery Democrats. In 1854 groups of northern men against slavery urged the creation of a new political party opposed to the continuation of slavery. This party has become today’s Republicans. During 1854 to1860, the slavery issue became such a hot topic that even Democrats were becoming divided among themselves. In 1860 four candidates ran for the presidency. Brekenridge was the Southern Democrats candidate, Douglas was the Northern Democrats candidate,