Rise of the Republican Party The Demise of the Whigs Rise of the Republican Party

PLEASE TURN IN YOUR HOMEWORK AT THIS TIME PLEASE TURN IN YOUR HOMEWORK AT THIS TIME...LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Killing Me Softly Pg. 275 - “Whatever remained of the Southern Whigs withered away after the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Whigs had always been a party tied to the American system but unwilling to take a stand on the major moral issue of the day, and that was its downfall”. Write a short essay in response to this question: What was this “major moral issue” that the Whigs did not address and why was this the cause of their downfall?

I Know Nothing “A new political party, the American Party, arose out of negative reaction to an influx of Irish and German Catholic immigrants. The American Party tapped into the anti- immigrant perceptions that still burned within large segments of the country. Based largely in local lodges, where secrecy was the by-word, the party became known as the Know-Nothings for the members’ reply when asked about their organization, ‘I know nothing’”.

“The fatal weakness of the Know-Nothing Party was that it alienated the very immigrants who were staunchly opposed to slavery, and thus, rather than creating a new alliance, fragmented already collapsing Whig coalitions”.

The Elephant in the Room Pg. 276 - “A second party…sought to unite people of all stripes who opposed slavery under a single standard. Originally called the Anti-Nebraska Party, the new Republican Party bore in like a laser on the issue of slavery in the territories...and the new party’s rapid growth far outstripped earlier variants like the Liberty Party”. .

“Republicans recognized that every other issue in some way touched on slavery, and rather than ignore it or straddle it - as both the Democrats and Whigs had done - they would attack it head on, elevating it to the top of their masthead”. “At their convention in 1856, the Republicans ignored William H. Seward...in favor of John C. Fremont, the Mexican War personality”. John Fremont

Last Chance for the Union Pg. 276 - “Southerners quickly recognized the dangers Fremont’s candidacy posed. ‘The election of Fremont,’ Robert Toombs wrote in July 1856, ‘would be the end of the Union’. The eventual Democratic candidate, James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, chimed in: ‘Should Fremont be elected...the consequences will be immediate and inevitable’”. James Buchanan

“Buchanan continued to see slavery as a sectional issue subject to political compromise rather than, as the Republicans saw it, a moral issue over which compromise was impossible. Then there was Fillmore, whose own Whig Party had rejected him. Instead, he had moved into the American Party - the Know-Nothings - and hoped to win just enough electoral votes to throw the election into the House”. Millard Fillmore