The Relationship Between The Collapse Of The Whig Party

At the end of the 19th century the United States were in a time called “The Gilded Age”, coined by Mark Twain; a time of mass immigration, Western settlement, and industrialization. Out of these times emerged a political party named the Populist party, later changed to the People’s party. This party stood for the working man, like farmers and factory laborers. Though this party meant well, it did not last long. Surviving until 1896, the Populist party eventually merged with the Democratic party. With this being said, the Populist party was a short lived dream and failure.

Political and Economic go hand in hand when comparing and contrasting the two parties. The rivalry between the Democrats and the Whigs was important because it started the Second Party System that we have in America today.

During the times leading up to the Civil War the Whig Party had an internal power vacuum that led to their downfall. Out of the rubble and smoke came a new political party known as the Republican Party with a new leader running for office, Abraham Lincoln (Thinker, America).

The presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil war. By 1860, the nation had been divided mostly up to that point regarding questions of states’ rights and slavery in the territories. Southerners were outraged over the plan by abolitionist, John Brown, to start a

It is yet another day I live and walk this earth. About 2 years ago an election occurred where two parties --the Democratic and Whig Party--had split because of the slavery issue occurring in our nation. As you know, I am against slavery and believe that keeping men, women, and children as slaves is morally wrong. I, for one, would not like to be treated like crud and taken away from my dear family. Why is it that the South believe they are happy in unsanitary and cruel conditions? Blacks are people too, just like us, there is no need to treat them like they are anything less.

Although the two parties seemed to be polar opposites, there were a few similarities between them. The whigs may have been in favor of a larger central government, they did not support many types of government intervention. As businessmen most whigs were willing to use cheap child labor to make larger profits. For this, the southern democrats often criticized the

The Jacksonian Democratic Party and the Whig Party each, exemplified different beliefs on the role of the federal government in the economy and towards westward expansion in the 1830s and 1840s. However, the Jacksonian, laissez faire supporting Democrats and the economic nationalistic Whig party shared almost no beliefs except for the removal of American Indians in the areas their supporters wished to settle. The lack of similarities is because the Whigs formed their own party to oppose President Jackson’s strong-armed leadership style and policies which earned him the nickname “King Andrew.” The Jacksonian Democratic Party evolved out of the Democratic-Republican Party in the early 1800s, the core of its membership was composed of farmers, immigrants, and white Southerners. The Whigs formed in 1834 and lasted for 20 years, they were the major political party that opposed Andrew Jackson. The Whigs were created based upon the Federalist beliefs in a strong federal government and adopted many Federalist and National Republican policy ideas, including federal funding for internal improvements, a central bank, and high tariffs to protect the growth of manufacturing enterprises. Overall, the Jacksonian Democratic agrarian Party and the industrialization supporting Whig Party had different beliefs toward the role of the federal government in the economy and towards westward expansion.

Abraham Lincoln freely expressed his hatred for slavery and it’s expansion to Northern states, but he wasn’t calling for immediate emancipation. Despite this, Southerners’ fears that slavery would soon be abolished by Republicans reached its peak after the presidential election. Southerners viewed the presidential election of Lincoln as a virtual referendum regarding slavery. The 1860 presidential election caused fear and paranoia amongst Southerners that slavery would quickly be eradicated entirely by Lincoln and the newly formed Republican party, which ultimately illustrates the influence the election had on the outbreak of the Civil War.

8. The new Whig party formed because of Jackson’s abuse of power as president. They called him King Andrew I. They attracted other groups that had been alienated by Jackson.

Throughout much of the mid-nineteenth century Northern and Southern states remained locked in a fierce debate over the issues of slavery, state’s rights, and taxation. This partitioning between the North and the South is evident when examining the election of 1860. Abraham Lincoln, a Northerner and product of the Republican party, faced opposition from Southern Democrats to such a great extent that he did not even make the ballot in the South. The South was so angry at the prospect of a Northern Republican becoming president and possibly interfering with their rights that upon Lincoln’s election, they seceded from the Union, leading up to the bloodiest war the United States had ever taken part in: the Civil War. This lack of conflict resolution

It also revised the Fugitive Slave Act and offended many northerners as it took away a fugitive’s right to trial with a jury, but ended the slave trade in DC. President Taylor quickly realized that it was harder to accommodate all sides over slavery. After this compromise was passed it was no longer an effortless task to keep quiet about the topic of slavery. Since no one wanted to bother to state their stance on abolition, the lines between political parties would be blurred for a short period of time. Whigs and Democrats were soon to be almost one and the same, this would eventually cause the depletion of the Whig party overall. As time went on though, the differences between parties became redefined and four parties emerged. The Northern and Southern Democrats, Republicans, and finally the Constitutional Union

In the summer of 1854 a group of former whigs met in Ripon, Wisconsin to discuss forming a new political party, with the platform of stopping slavery http://www.ushistory.org/gop/origins.htm. There were two types of whigs, the Conscience Whigs and the Cotton Whigs. The Conscience Whigs were abolitionist and the Cotton Whigs were pro-slavery supporter. The party was made up of Anti-Nebraska democrats and anti-Nebraska whigs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3D37o7KD1s. The textbook states that “In 1854 the republicans chose candidates to challenge the pro-slavery Whigs and Democrats in state and congressional elections.” The party took Michigan and made advances in other states in the North, by 1855 they soon won control of the House of Representatives and other state governments(Mr. Adreon notes and Discovering our Past; The History of the United States Early Years p.433 ). On February 22 of 1856 in Pittsburgh, the Republican Party attended their first organizing convention. http://www.ushistory.org/gop/origins.htm. William H. Seward was considered as nominee but John C. Fremont was chosen. Fremont had no political record and led several expeditions in the West. Fremont went against a former president part of the Americans or Know Nothings political party, Millard Fillmore. The democratic nominee was James Buchanan. At this election the Republican Party had a few platforms and that was to denounce Kansas and Nebraska act, denounce the spread of slavery, and advocate internal improvements. The Republican Party won several North and Northwestern states, receiving almost no support in the south. James Buchanan won all southern states, midwestern states, and California. The Southern states threatened to secede if a Republican became president. The Know nothings only won Maryland. Even though the Republican Party failed in their first election, they grew. The Know

The core issue of the Republican Party, and Lincoln was over the extension of slavery. Abolitionists and supporters of free soil in the North worked to keep the Republicans from compromising on their territorial stand. In the South, proslavery advocates and secessionists gathered public opinion and demanded that state conventions assemble to consider secession.

By the end of 1856, the nation’s political landscape had shifted due to the issue of slavery. The Whig Party, which was organized in 1834, had split over the issue of slavery in 1852 once General Winfield Scott became the Whig nominee for president. Scott owed his nomination to the Northern whigs who opposed the Fugitive Slave Act and gave only lukewarm support to the Compromise of 1850. However, many Southern Whigs backed the Compromise of 1850 in order to appear both proslavery and pro-Union. Because of Scott’s position, the Whig vote in the south fell from 50 percent in 1848 to 35 percent in 1852, which resulted in handing the election to the Democratic candidate Franklin Pierce. Shortly after, in 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act brought about

In the mid-1800’s, the country was split between the Republicans, who had allied with the Union, and the Democrats, who had allied with the Confederacy. Over time, the Democrats and Republicans switched platforms and ideologies back and forth multiple times. In fact, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican by name, but today we would consider him a socially left-leaning Democrat. These switches were caused by Civil Rights in the 18 and 1960’s and other major events (DeMichele).