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Aug 6, 2003 The collapse of the Jacksonian party system played a very real part in bringing about the Civil War. But why did the system collapse? During the 1850s a political crisis occurred because of a string of events that took place. These events eventually brought about the fall of the second American party system. In its place arose a third American party system that would be very different than its predecessor. The Compromise of 1850 was seen as the death knell for slavery as a political issue. This was just the first in a series of events that eliminated conflict between the Whig party and the Democratic party. When conflict ceases, the system will die because the American system is built on conflict and compromise. One by one the issues that had divided the parties no longer caused conflict. The Democrats had traditionally welcomed foreigners while Whigs shunned them, but in 1852 the Whigs dropped the Nativist side of their platform so now both parties had open arms to immigrants. Then there was the tariff issue, in 1852 the Whigs dropped their traditional support for a tariff because the government had a surplus. The Democrats had always been against a tariff. As far as the banking issue, it was now written into state constitutions that the people would decide this issue. Once again an issue was eliminated from contention. It now seemed that both parties agreed on everything. The American people had believed that their government was working as long as there was conflict. The parties needed to be on opposite sides of the issues for the public to participate in the political process. It was conflict that had driven American politics. Now that conflict was gone, the people began to feel uneasiness and anxiety. They felt like their problems were not being addressed. When the voters lost faith, the Whig party collapsed and Americans began to gravitate to new political movements that could identify concrete problems to be solved. The second American party system was dead. A new party arose called the American party, or Know Nothings. This party proclaimed hostility to Catholics and Immigrants. They felt that because Protestantism defined American society and that both sections of the country could hate immigrants, the Know Nothings might be the next major party to take the place of the Whigs. By 1856, there were a large number of political movements vying for the public's support with the Know Nothings at the forefront. This would change as many Northerners began to feel that the slave power in the South was a huge threat to their freedom. The events in Kansas had enraged the North as slaveholders resorted to intimidation and fraud in order to gain control of the legislature formed there. In the spring of 1856, pro-slavery forces rode into Lawrence, Kansas where free soil leaders were and burned the town. In Congress, Representative Charles Sumner of Mass. was savagely beaten by South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks because Sumner had made a comment about South Carolina. These events increased Northern fears of the slaveocracy and many Northern Know Nothings left to join the recently formed Republican party. The Republican party had been born in 1854 with anti-slavery extension as one of the main points of its platform. With recent events looming large, the Republican party became very attractive to many Northerners. Bleeding Kansas and bleeding Sumner had breathed life into the Republican party which now appeared poised and ready to emerge as a major party. The election of 1856 saw the emergence of the third American party system. Unlike the second party system whose main feature was national party divisions, the third party system was characterized by sectional divisions. In the North, there was a weak Democratic party so that alternate views were still being offered. Because of this Americans still had faith in the system in the North. In the middle states there was still competition going on as well. But, in the Deep South, there was now no political competition, only one party existed, the Democratic party. As a result, the people there lost faith that the system could address their problems. They felt that the "black Republicans", as they referred to them, were attacking their freedom. The two main parties in the country were now polarized in different sections of the country. This sectional conflict characterized the third American party system and meant that Civil War was a virtual inevitability. ------------ Email Craig Hutchison: cehceh@peoplepc.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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