US History the Rise of the Republican Party

US History the Rise of the Republican Party Essay

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US History the Rise of the Republican Party Essay

The Rise of the Republican Party

The Republican Party was formed due to a split in the Whig Party. The anti-slavery “Conscience Whigs” split from the pro-slavery “Cotton Whigs”. Some anti-slavery Whigs joined the American “Know-Nothing” Party, while the remainder joined with independent Democrats and Free-Soilers to form a new party, the Republicans.

The initial members stood for one principle: the exclusion of slavery from the western territories (Shi, p. 462). Knowing the Republicans ideology, we will look at how the events leading up to the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to greater political division that eventually caused the formation of the Republican Party and its rise to the presidency in 1860.

In the 1850’s, America was becoming increasingly divided between those for and against slavery. The Compromise of 1850 had temporarily appeased both sides by admitting California as a free state, allowing no slavery restrictions in New Mexico and Utah, paying Texas, abolishing slave trade but no slavery in the District of Columbia, establishing the Fugitive Slave Act, and denying congress authority to interfere with interstate slave trade (Shi, p. 457).

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This Fugitive Slave Act was highly contested, although very few slaves were returned to the south under this Act. In fact, it ended up uniting anti-slavery people, more than aiding the South. It was during this time that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written, selling more than a million copies worldwide and detailing the harsh brutality of slavery (Shi, p. 46 0-461).

In the mid-1850’s, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. The main reason for it was to the settle the vast territory west of Missouri and Iowa, and to create a transcontinental railroad to capitalize on Asian markets and goods. New territories brought up questions of whether slavery would be allowed, with many supporting “popular sovereignty” where voters chose whether they would have slavery or not.

The issue here was that the 1820 Missouri Compromise had said there would be no new slavery above the 36th parallel (Shi, p. 462). In order to past the new Act, they repealed the Missouri Compromise and pushed the Act through Congress, passing by outvoting the anti-slavery Whigs.

The dispute over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, ended up causing the breakdown of the new Republican party. One of the first to join the party was a young Illinois congressman, Abraham Lincoln. He believed the north must mobilize to stop pro-slavery southerners or the Union was endangered (Shi, p.463).

Nebraska voted against slavery, but Kansas became the hotbed of the Union. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups both set up governments and held elections, voting opposite of each other on slavery. Violence broke out between supporters of the groups, and about 200 people were killed in conflicts that became referred to as “Bleeding Kansas” (Shi, p.

463). Even members of the Congress broke out into fights, with Congressman Brooks beating Senator Sumner with a cane due to a speech he gave (Shi, p. 465). In 1858, the Republicans selected Abraham Lincoln to run against Democrat Stephen Douglas for the Senate. Lincoln did not win, but through a series of public debates became well known.

The Lincoln-Douglas debates helped Lincoln and his stand against slavery be well known (Shi, p. 470). With Minnesota and Oregon joining the Union in 1858 and 1859, and free states now outnumbered slavery states. By 1860, Democrats were not united and selected separate Presidential candidates, aiding the Republicans. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the Republican nomination over William Seward, to much celebration.

The nomination of Lincoln cemented the parties stand against the expansion of slavery. In the election of 1860, Lincoln won all 18 free states and none of the slavery states (Shi, p. 474). Combating pro-slavery supporters attempts to expand slavery was the primary basis for formation of the Republican Party.

Conflicts leading up to and during the Kansas-Nebraska Act set off a chain of events where more people supported stopping the spread of slavery into new territories. Despite several politicians efforts for compromise, the divisions between the groups strengthened the support for anti-slavery Republicans and helped Abraham Lincoln get elected President in 1860.

Shi, David Emory. America: The Essential Learning Edition, 2nd Edition. New York: W.W.

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Classmate 2

Politics of slavery played an important role the westward expansion. As the United States began acquiring new territories such as Texas and the Mexican territories, a majority of the Northern States wanted to ban slavery in these new territories. This posed a problem for the Southern states, as most of them were slave owners.

If the new territories did not allow slavery and began having voting power within Congress, then the South feared that the majority would make slavery illegal throughout the nation, even in the south. The South did not want to be told what to do by the North and westward expansion was a problem if they could not expand slavery as well.

The North also feared the power of the South and if slavery expanded west then the South’s power would expand as well. “…Northerners were jealous of the power of the South and did not want any new states joining the slave-state alliance”(Shi, pg. 451). There was definitely a struggle for power and disagreements upon slavery were the biggest debate between and Northern and Southern states.

Although a Civil War would more than likely occurred without westward expansion, the expansion did escalate the likelihood and timing for it to occur. A civil war was inevitable as a decision had to be made if slavery was going to be allowed as a nation or not. The nation could not be split on what was allowed especially as it was expanding. The South’s secession occurred partially as a result of the events that took place during the expansion and the Civil War began.

US History the Rise of the Republican Party Essay

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