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“This Nebraska Business Will Entirely Denationalize the Whig Party”

Michael F. Holt

in The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War

On December 14, Iowa's Democratic Senator Augustus Dodge introduced a bill to organize the area west of Missouri and Iowa into a Nebraska Territory. The seemingly innocuous bill was immediately sent ... More

On December 14, Iowa's Democratic Senator Augustus Dodge introduced a bill to organize the area west of Missouri and Iowa into a Nebraska Territory. The seemingly innocuous bill was immediately sent to the Senate's Committee on Territories, which Stephen A. Douglas chaired. What Douglas and others, including Whigs and Free Soilers, did with that measure helped transform American political life and propel the Whig party to its grave. The reaction to the Nebraska bill and the eruption of Know Nothingism together produced smashing Democratic defeats, derailed the Union party movement, and permanently eclipsed the Whig party. Many southern Whigs' support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act in the spring of 1854 reopened and deepened the sectional chasm in the national party. This chapter deals with the framing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its initial impact on the Whig party prior to the adjournment of Congress in August 1854.Less

“Leave Us of the North to Fight the Great Battle”: Party Punishments and Purges

Michael Todd Landis

in Northern Men with Southern Loyalties: The Democratic Party and the Sectional Crisis

This chapter examines the consequences of the Kansas–Nebraska Act for the Northern Democratic Party. The passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act produced dramatic shifts in Northern public opinion and ... More

This chapter examines the consequences of the Kansas–Nebraska Act for the Northern Democratic Party. The passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act produced dramatic shifts in Northern public opinion and adversely affected Northern Democrats. Free state voters were appalled at the bravado of the Slave Power and the blatant disregard by Democrats for Northern antislavery sentiment. A majority of Northerners suddenly became “anti-Nebraska,” that is, opposed to the repeal of the 1820 Line and the spread of slavery into Kansas. This chapter discusses the Northern backlash caused by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, including the emergence of two new antislavery, anti-Democratic political parties: the Know-Nothings, or American Party, and the Republican Party. It considers how the Whig Party, Know-Nothings, and Republicans often worked together to defeat Democrats in the 1854 and 1855 elections. It also explores the crisis in Kansas and how it further strengthened the Republicans and concludes by looking at the 1856 Democratic nomination.Less

Down to the Crossroads

Michael E. Woods

in Arguing until Doomsday: Stephen Douglas, Jefferson Davis, and the Struggle for American Democracy

Southern Democrats wielded tremendous power over national policy in the mid-1850s, and Stephen Douglas’s efforts to harness his them to his program of northwestern development resulted in disaster. ... More

Southern Democrats wielded tremendous power over national policy in the mid-1850s, and Stephen Douglas’s efforts to harness his them to his program of northwestern development resulted in disaster. This chapter first reinterprets Jefferson Davis’s service as secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce (1853-1857), focusing on his use of camels for military transportation in the southwest. Far from a whimsical frontier tale, the camel episode became entwined with a shadowy network of slave traders and proslavery expansionists whose late antebellum schemes reveal the chilling consequences of slaveholders’ federal clout. This context elucidates Douglas’s infamous Kansas-Nebraska Act. Striving to align powerful southern Democrats behind his efforts to promote the Greater Northwest, Douglas pushed the Act through Congress—and unleashed a political cyclone that devastated the Democratic Party’s northern wing. By 1856, violence in Bleeding Kansas made a mockery of popular sovereignty and thwarted Douglas’s presidential ambitions, while Davis anticipated returning to his role as a proslavery sentinel in the Senate.Less

The Nebraska Outrage and the Advent of the Republican Party, 1853–1855

Corey M. Brooks

in Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics

This chapter re-examines the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act and the founding of the Republican Party. This chapter highlights how Free Soil politicians like Salmon Chase and Charles Sumner shaped the terms ... More

This chapter re-examines the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act and the founding of the Republican Party. This chapter highlights how Free Soil politicians like Salmon Chase and Charles Sumner shaped the terms of congressional and public debates over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, including through their “Appeal of the Independent Democrats,” to help make the Nebraska issue the basis for a new anti-Slave Power party that might aspire to majority status across the North. Amidst the partisan disarray of the mid-1850s, however, political abolitionists faced a formidable challenge from nativist efforts to replace the disintegrating Whig Party with a new American Party. The chapter shows that despite Know Nothings’ (as American partisans were called) initial success, political abolitionists remained confident that continued emphasis on the Slave Power would ensure the anti-Nebraska Republican Party’s ultimate triumph once national contests forced the nativist party to establish its position on slavery. Over the course of 1855, rising sectional tensions among Know Nothings seemed to confirm the predictions of political abolitionists, who anticipated the upcoming election for Speaker of the House as an opportunity to force the majority of Northerners into the Republican coalition.Less

James Buchanan, Dred Scott, and the Whisper of Conspiracy

PAUL FINKELMAN

in James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War

Buchanan publicly offered support, in his inaugural address, for the outcome in Dred Scott before the Supreme Court issued its decision. Buchanan gave this preemptive endorsement after corresponding ... More

Buchanan publicly offered support, in his inaugural address, for the outcome in Dred Scott before the Supreme Court issued its decision. Buchanan gave this preemptive endorsement after corresponding with Justices John Catron and Robert Grier, from whom he learned of the court’s impending decision. Buchanan’s cynical attempt to influence public opinion in the case undermined his own administration and made the decision even less palatable to most northerners.Less

Conspiracy

Alice Elizabeth Malavasic

in The F Street Mess: How Southern Senators Rewrote the Kansas-Nebraska Act

The chapter begins with a discussion of the arrest of Robert M.T. Hunter and other key members of the Confederacy in conjunction with the investigation into Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The ... More

The chapter begins with a discussion of the arrest of Robert M.T. Hunter and other key members of the Confederacy in conjunction with the investigation into Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The chapter also discusses Lincoln and the Republican Party’s rhetorical use of the slave power conspiracy thesis. It concludes with a historiographical overview of the thesis and the role played by the F Street Mess in the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.Less

Politics and Conscience

Paul C. Gutjahr

in Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy

Chapter forty-eight examines Hodge’s politics and his tripartite commitment to God’s sovereignty, property rights and the need for religion to be tied to political action for the good of the nation. ... More

Chapter forty-eight examines Hodge’s politics and his tripartite commitment to God’s sovereignty, property rights and the need for religion to be tied to political action for the good of the nation. Through an examination of Hodge’s Repertory review of Moses Stuart’s Conscience and the Constitution, one finds that Hodge had a firm commitment to believing that humanity’s common moral sense would bind the nation together. This belief was unsettled by the Civil War. Hodge also shifted political party allegiances during this life from the Whig party to the Republican party, but he always considered himself a Federalist at heart.Less

Storm over Kansas: Slavery Expansion and the Problem of Violence

Adam I. P. Smith

in The Stormy Present: Conservatism and the Problem of Slavery in Northern Politics, 1846-1865

This chapter describes the impact of the Kansas Nebraska Act on Northerner’s political assumptions. The violence in the Kansas Territory that resulted from the imposition of popular sovereignty drove ... More

This chapter describes the impact of the Kansas Nebraska Act on Northerner’s political assumptions. The violence in the Kansas Territory that resulted from the imposition of popular sovereignty drove Northerners to make difficult choices about the best path to securing political stability. The 1856 presidential election was therefore essentially a contest among candidates each of whom posed as a conservative.Less

The Slippery Slope

in The Constitution in Congress: Descent into the Maelstrom, 1829-1861

Popular conventions in Mississippi and Georgia rejected secession and agreed to respect the new compromise, and Mississippi went so far as to deny the right to secede. The Kansas–Nebraska Act ... More

Popular conventions in Mississippi and Georgia rejected secession and agreed to respect the new compromise, and Mississippi went so far as to deny the right to secede. The Kansas–Nebraska Act effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had banned slavery in parts of the Louisiana Purchase outside Missouri and north of its southern border. A bill was introduced to organize the Nebraska Territory, west of Iowa and Missouri, as early as 1844. Missouri Senator David Atchison made clear he would oppose it so long as the Missouri Compromise made slavery impossible there. After a series of amendments that were progressively more explicit as to the fate of the compromise line, the bill as enacted created two territories rather than one, promising them both statehood “with or without slavery” as their people might decide, just as Congress had provided for Utah and New Mexico in 1850.Less

“Pandora’s Box”: Northern Democrats in Command

Michael Todd Landis

in Northern Men with Southern Loyalties: The Democratic Party and the Sectional Crisis

This chapter examines how Northern Democrats, led by President Franklin Pierce, achieved legislative victory for the Slave Power. Pierce faced a host of formidable challenges as he tried to craft a ... More

This chapter examines how Northern Democrats, led by President Franklin Pierce, achieved legislative victory for the Slave Power. Pierce faced a host of formidable challenges as he tried to craft a domestic and diplomatic program that would please the Slave Power and distract Americans from divisions over slavery. While he owed his nomination and election to the South, Pierce would have to somehow bring about an expansion of slavery if he hoped for continuing support from that section. This chapter first considers Pierce's activist foreign policy before discussing the role of Attorney General Caleb Cushing in implementing Pierce's domestic policies, including the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. It then describes a bill in Congress aimed to permit the expansion of slavery into the then-free western territories, as well as the Northern Democrats' development of a policy called “popular sovereignty.” Finally, it provides an overview of the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854.Less

Shooting Star in Washington: Secretary of State and Senator

Matthew Mason

in Apostle of Union: A Political Biography of Edward Everett

This chapter covers Everett’s time as Daniel Webster’s replacement in the State Department and his brief service as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. It shows that 1852 and most of 1853 were a time of ... More

This chapter covers Everett’s time as Daniel Webster’s replacement in the State Department and his brief service as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. It shows that 1852 and most of 1853 were a time of great optimism and prominence for his political fortunes, thriving in an atmosphere of relative sectional peace. His nationalist statements on issues such as the future of Cuba also helped his popularity. But then the Kansas-Nebraska Act shattered that peace and derailed Everett’s political rise. His effort to forge a conservatively antislavery reaction to Kansas-Nebraska failed to win the support of the Free Soilers and others who would go on to found the Republican Party. And missing the Senate vote on the Act, together with his failing health, spelled the end of his term in the Senate.Less

The State of the Country and the Church

Paul C. Gutjahr

in Charles Hodge: Guardian of American Orthodoxy

Chapter forty-nine examines Hodge’s early engagement in the events surround the beginning of the Civil War. Hodge was strongly pro-Union, and wrote early about the need to keep the Union intact. In ... More

Chapter forty-nine examines Hodge’s early engagement in the events surround the beginning of the Civil War. Hodge was strongly pro-Union, and wrote early about the need to keep the Union intact. In this effort, he wrote one of his most famous and widely read Repertory articles: “The State of the Country.” Once it became clear that Lincoln’s election would lead to succession, Hodge attempted to keep Southern and Northern Old School Presbyterians united. This effort also failed as James Thornwell and Benjamin Morgan Palmer led Southern Old School Presbyterians to form their own denomination. Hodge had little sympathy for the South, who he saw unlawfully seceding as it turned its back on the Constitution, but he worked hard to attempt to avoid the breakup of the Union.Less

Hating the Zeal to Spread Slavery, 1854

William F. Moore and Jane Ann Moore

in Collaborators for Emancipation: Abraham Lincoln and Owen Lovejoy

This chapter examines how Abraham Lincoln and Owen Lovejoy were brought together by a common vision to end slavery. Lincoln, a Springfield lawyer, and Lovejoy, a Princeton pastor, met for the first ... More

This chapter examines how Abraham Lincoln and Owen Lovejoy were brought together by a common vision to end slavery. Lincoln, a Springfield lawyer, and Lovejoy, a Princeton pastor, met for the first time at the Springfield State Fair in Illinois on October 4, 1854. At that time, both Lincoln and Lovejoy were angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act championed by Illinois Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln wanted the Whigs and Lovejoy wanted the Republican Party to lead the “fusion” movement uniting all those opposed to Douglas's law and advocating the restoration of the Missouri Compromise. In a speech, Lincoln declared, “This...real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate.” Lovejoy, one of those in attendance, identified with Lincoln's emotion and conviction, as his brother, Elijah, was murdered by a pro-slavery mob. This chapter first discusses the beginning of the Republican Party in Illinois before turning to his and Lincoln's election to the Illinois House of Representatives on November 7, 1854.Less

Two Transformative Decades: 1848–1868

Frank Cicero Jr.

in Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois, 1778-1870

Chapter 5 summarizes important events in Illinois between 1848 and 1868, including population growth in the Chicago area and a shift in the state’s demographics. The major political debate, both ... More

Chapter 5 summarizes important events in Illinois between 1848 and 1868, including population growth in the Chicago area and a shift in the state’s demographics. The major political debate, both locally and nationally, focused on the question of enslaved blacks. Senator Stephen Douglas supported popular sovereignty through the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which roused Abraham Lincoln to return to politics in opposition to slavery. The emergent Republican Party proved ascendant in the state’s 1856 elections, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates of the 1858 senate campaign brought to the fore Lincoln and his stand against slavery but not necessarily for equality. These political shifts, including Lincoln’s election as president in 1860, can be traced to popular support in northern Illinois, the counties created through the Pope amendment in 1818.Less

The Destiny of the Colored People: African American History between Compromise and Jubilee, 1850–1863

Stephen G. Hall

in A Faithful Account of the Race: African American Historical Writing in Nineteenth-Century America

This chapter discusses the advent of a uniquely American-centered historical discourse framed around self-elevation and destiny, and reflected through the lens of the American and Haitian ... More

This chapter discusses the advent of a uniquely American-centered historical discourse framed around self-elevation and destiny, and reflected through the lens of the American and Haitian Revolutions. Not only had issues of slavery and freedom reached boiling point by the 1850s but this moment represented great possibility for abolitionist forces even as restrictive legislation such as the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision became law. Black writers integrated themselves more fully into the language of nationhood, a project that began in the early republic, in which they affirmed their belief in the core civil and human rights to which all members of a nation were entitled. As the nation invoked the memory of the American Revolution, black people argued for their centrality in the founding drama.Less

Whitman: From Sayer-Doer to Sayer-Copyist

Michael T. Gilmore

in The War on Words: Slavery, Race, and Free Speech in American Literature

Free soil, free speech, free verse: though Leaves of Grass appeared under the shadow of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, it was the legislation that returned Lincoln to politics and Thoreau to public ... More

Free soil, free speech, free verse: though Leaves of Grass appeared under the shadow of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, it was the legislation that returned Lincoln to politics and Thoreau to public polemic. This chapter reviews Walt Whitman's poetic masterpiece and the battle over free speech, which was a key ingredient in the making of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. A reawakened belief in the might of words informs Whitman's outpouring, which simultaneously prophesies and brings into textual being its vision of an egalitarian republic. But despite the imaginative inclusiveness of 1855, Whitman, no abolitionist, harbored misgivings about agitation that ultimately resurfaced, and his conception of song as action did not outlast the Civil War. His ideological retreat—he evolved into a foe of black rights and a supporter of Andrew Johnson—played itself out on the level of language, subtly in Leaves of Grass, more obviously in prose pieces written during and after Reconstruction.Less

The Most Immoral and Corrupt Place in the Union: Vice, Violence, and the Caning of Charles Sumner

Rachel A. Shelden

in Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War

This describes how debate in Congress mirrored much of the tension in Kansas itself; Sumner was one of many antislavery congressmen to voice disapproval. Sumner's speech, however, stuck out primarily ... More

This describes how debate in Congress mirrored much of the tension in Kansas itself; Sumner was one of many antislavery congressmen to voice disapproval. Sumner's speech, however, stuck out primarily for his shocking choice of language; the Massachusetts senator invoked imagery of rape and prostitution to describe the spread of slavery into Kansas. Sumner also accused several prominent Democrats of crimes against the territory, including the architect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, President Franklin Pierce, and Brooks's cousin, Andrew P. Butler. Elderly and sick, Butler had returned home to South Carolina for a few days and was not in the chamber during the speech. Nonetheless, in Sumner's closing remarks, the Massachusetts senator questioned Butler's honesty—“he cannot open his mouth but out there flies a blunder”—and he ridiculed South Carolina's prominence in the history of the United States.Less

Personal Loss and Franklin Pierce’s Presidency

Michael F. Holt

in When Life Strikes the President: Scandal, Death, and Illness in the White House

The last living son of Franklin Pierce was decapitated in a train wreck just weeks before his inauguration in March 1853. His fragile wife, who had previously suffered the loss of their other two ... More

The last living son of Franklin Pierce was decapitated in a train wreck just weeks before his inauguration in March 1853. His fragile wife, who had previously suffered the loss of their other two children, almost came undone. Little Ben’s death probably affected his father’s presidency. For the Pierces developed a close relationship with Secretary of War Jefferson Davis in part because the young Davis children became surrogate children for the bereft couple in the White House. That relationship became all important; it was Davis who persuaded the president to cooperate with Stephen Douglas and a group of Southern congressmen in January1854 in a crucial revision of the disastrous Kansas-Nebraska act, which, in turn, helped to spark the formation of the Republican Party. Pierce’s solicitude of Davis and his concern for his wife played their role in ruining Pierce’s presidency and pushing the United States down the road to Civil War.Less