How Did Slavery Affect Political Parties

Slavery’s Effect on Political Party’s

During antebellum America there were a lot of different parties, acts, and compromises created due to slavery. This issue is what eventually led our nation to the Civil War. Although U.S. expansion during the 1850’s was not the main reason why the nation got torn apart, the increase of land was a catalyst to it. The fact that there was equilibrium in congress between the North and the South was basically the last hanging thread before war. After the conquest of Oregon territory and the land in the Southwest, however, tensions rose because there were new states coming into the Union and people were afraid that the balance of power would shift to one side or another. Due to the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, these areas were forced to figure out the status of their region, hence popular sovereignty. The notion of popular sovereignty was extremely complicated and it tore a lot of regional political groups apart. Slavery was a very controversial issue in the 1840’s, 50’s and early 60’s and it heavily impacted many political groups such as the Free Soil Party, Whig Party, and Republican Party.
The Free Soil Party was a short-lived political party that formed primarily to oppose the expansion of slavery into the Southwestern territories.
Their line of arguing was that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. With the help of the Compromise of 1850, the party gained many followers from the North, specifically the state of New York. In 1854, however, the Republicans absorbed many of the Free Soilers supporters because the two groups shared extremely similar views on slavery and the Republicans appealed to a wider variety of voters. Another reason why the group ended was because in the Dred Scott Case the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could not regulate slavery, which
was the Free Soilers main issue. In 1833 the Whig party was formally initiated to oppose Andrew Jackson and his democratic cabinet. Considered integral to the second party system, the Whigs drew their support previous Federalists, anti-Masons, Southerners that were big on states’ right, and eastern financial conservatives. The party had many flaws because the members had opposing political goals. Therefore, the coalition was destined to fall apart. There were two main causes that led the party to its death- slavery and the death of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. The two leading figures wrote the Compromise of 1850 which was basically the Whigs political position on slavery. After the men died, there was no leadership which caused increased tension and disputation on topics. In the regional coalition, the Southern Whigs requested more pro-slavery representation whereas the Northern Whigs left the group and merged into the Republican Party. The Republican Party is currently the second oldest political group in the United States and it emerged in 1854 to combat the Kansas Nebraska Act which threatened to extend slavery into the territories. Formed by many other torn apart coalitions, the Republicans gained many more supporters after Bleeding Kansas. In the 1860 election it was the only time where a third party won a presidential election. President Lincoln won with just under 40% of the popular vote and his win showed that the Republicans was a truly regional group considering his name did not appear on the ballot in any of the southern states. Even though everybody knew the party’s position after the 1856 election, the Republicans were still able to scramble enough votes for Lincoln to win. The Free Soilers, the Whigs, and the Republicans were three major political party’s in antebellum America that were focused around and heavily influenced by the controversial topic of slavery. Political coalitions were not the only affected aspects of the pre-civil war era by slavery; rather, compromises and acts were created to help determine the statuses of many territories. Slavery was a regional issue and parties that crossed regions were dismantled by this issue. Party’s that were confined to one area, however, stayed together. When creating a coalition or club, to be successful one must take into consideration the current news, surroundings, and controversial issues like the Whigs, Free Soilers, and Republicans did about 130 years ago.