*Not related to
Harry Turtledove
book of same
Most important parties
are Democratic
Republican, Federalist,
Democratic and Whig.
George Washington hoped that their
new country would have unity and be
motivated by common purpose. It washttp://edsitement.neh.gov/lessonnot to be.
plan/first-american-party-system-uspolitical-parties-principle-legitimateopposition
The Federalists (of
which George
Washington was
one) were led by
Alexander Hamilton
and supported
giving more power
to the federal
government. They
www.coloradohumanities.org
also loosely
The DemocraticRepublicans were
led by Thomas
Jefferson and felt
that minimum
federal
interference in
state affairs was
the best policy.
They used a strict
interpretation of
the constitution to
http://faculty.poly
technic.org/gfeld
meth/chart.feddr.
pdf
Like today’s Democrats
Like today’s Republicans
The DemocraticThe Federalists
Republican party split in
weakened after
1824 over whether to
1808 and became
support Andrew Jackson or
unpopular due to
John Quincy Adams. The
opposing the war of
Democratic party and the
1812. The party died
New Republican party
during the 1820s
formed as a result of the
because the things it
split. The New Republicans
supported ( national
would soon become the
bank, commerce)
Whigs.
were not popular
with many of the
regular citizens.
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historyby-era/early-republic/timelineterms/democratic-republican-party
http://www.history.com/topics/federali
st-party
Important parties are
the democrats, the
Whigs, the free soilers
and the republicans.
http://nkogan.wordpress.com/2012/01/
07/political-party-timeline-anoutstanding-example-of-informationreorganization/
The increasing
controversy of slavery
led to factions of the
Whig party ( which
was the alternative to
democrats) splitting off
and becoming the
Free Soil party. They
were one of many
parties formed to
advocate the
abolition of slavery.
The free soilers,
elements of the
Whigs and the
nativist knownothing party
formed the
modern
Republican
party.
The green is
Breckinridge, the
southern democrat
canidate.
The 1860
presidential
election saw the
southern
democrats split
from the main
democratic
party ( and
secure Lincoln's
election
ironically) The
result of Lincoln’s
victory was
secession and
civil war.
The rapid formation and dissolution of
political parties can seen as just one
part of a larger regional struggle, one
which until 1860 was largely a cold
war between the agricultural
southern states and the industrial
northern states that dated back to
the founding of the republic. The
exact phase of the “ real “ cold war
that this corresponds closest to is the
Détente period of the 1970s
The regional cold war
was brutal, leading to
www.smithsonianmag.com intense shouting
matches, fighting in the
capitol building and
www.dipity.com
eventually, a civil war.
The origin can be found
in the different visions
that the federalists and
DemocraticRepublicans had for the
country. The Federalists
dreamed of a
commercial empire for
the young republic,
while the D-Rs believed
in the notion of the
citizen farmer being the
ideal person for the
nation.
The regions mirrored the split in
thinking, with the northern states
developing into industrial areas ( and
supporting the federalists though the
middle states defected to the D-Rs)
while the rural, agricultural southern
states supported the D-Rs.
www.symonsez.wordpress.com
Slavery led to
the states
polarizing along
2 axes: slave
and free.
They wanted a constant
balance in numbers of
states so that their
power would not be
diminished.
Thus every time a new
state was added,
another state had to be
created to
counterbalance it. Map
from Wikipedia.
The Missouri
Compromise
was the first
compromise
attempt, splitting
the new
territories into 2
parts: open to
slavery and
closed to slavery
along 36
degrees north.
http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/tuck
er/strusky_m/webquests/VUS6_madison
monroe/MissouriCompromise.html
Henry Clay
negotiated a
compromise
that added the
fugitive slave
act, abolished
the Washington
D.C. slave trade
and let
California in. The
Fugitive slave
act enraged
many
northerners and
only increased
the tension.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ou
rdocs/Compromise1850.html
California’s
request to enter
the union as a
free state
caused a crises
( because it
upset the
delicate
balance and
showed the
unsustainibility
of their
attempts at
regional
détente .
www.ushistory.org
Only 4 years after the
Compromise of 1850, the
Kansas-Nebraska Act was
passed and virtually
repealed the earlier act.
Stephen Douglas ( D-Il)
wanted to build a
transcontinental railroad
in Chicago but had to
organize the Nebraska
territory to do it. He
added popular
sovereignty to get
southern votes.
While the 1850 compromise banned
slavery in the Kansas-Nebraska area, the
1854 compromise mandated popular
sovereignty to solve the issue of slavery
in the territories
http://www.milestonedocuments.com/
It would have several
documents/view/kansas-nebraska-act
unforeseen
The northerners
started it but a
To try to
Sharps rifles
rumor
that
stated
influence
became known as
about 20 times the
the vote,
Beecher’s Bibles
actual
number
pro- and
after a minister
were
coming
sent
antiwho provided
southerners rushing
slavery
them.
to
Kansas,
which
people
caused a
poured into
cascade of
Kansas.
movement.
Many northerners wanted
Pro-slavery forces won the
land and hated slavery
election and set up a
because of the large
legislature, but northerners
plantations. To that end,
set up their own
they banned blacks from
legislature in Topeka.
Kansas.
Now 2 governments
claimed jurisdiction over
Kansas.
Scattered
violence had
occurred, but it
would escalate
due to one attack.
Pro slavery men
burned a hotel
and ransacked
homes. John
Brown retaliated
by killing 5 pro
The fighting was
slave people.
increasing and
would spread
to congress.
Pro slave senator Preston
Brooks beat abolitionist
senator Charles Sumner
with a cane.
A new territorial governor
restored order. 55 people
had died.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4
p2952.html
The radicalism of the
The abolitionists grew
abolitionists, spurred on
as a movement and
by Uncle Tom’s Cabin
became more radical,
led to the slavers
gradual elimination of
becoming more firm in
slavery wasn’t good
their demands. The
enough, it had to be
country was polarized
soon. This view
and congressional
alienated people in
actions weren’t helping.
the north as well as the
south. Many mill
In 1857, the rates on tariffs went down
owners depended on
by a congressional action. The south
slave cotton and
loved it, the north hated it. While
farmers worried about
previously, compromise had
the effect that millions
happened by common interest, both
of freed blacks would
side’s interests were starting to diverge
take up the land that
and some groups were considering
they felt should be
secession.
awarded tohttp://www.civilfree
whites.
war.net/pages/timeline.asp
www.socialstudiesforkids.com
More free states were joining and in 1859,
John Brown made his ill-fated raid on
Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. He was captured
and hung. In the south he was viewed as a
dangerous maniac but in the north, some
viewed him as a martyr. This particular
northern view deeply worried the
southerners as they perceived an
increasingly hostile environment.
Picture from Wikipedia
Also in 1857 was the
Dred Scott Decision.
This Supreme court
ruling found that
blacks weren’t citizens
and slaves could be
taken into free
territory and remain
slaves. It was very
controversial.
The election of 1860
in many ways,
foreshadowed what
was to come. The
southerners split
from the Democrats
and formed the
Southern
Democrats. They
ignored perhaps
rule # 1 of elections:
never split voters.
Lincoln won the election
(despite not being on the
ballot in most southern states)
and many southerners,
dreading the consequences of
a Lincoln victory for slavery,
prepared to secede.
April 12, 1861, LT. Henry Farley sat by
his mortar. It was aimed at Fort
Sumter and when fired, would serve
as a signal to the other guns to start
firing. In other words, it would
become the first shot of the
American Civil War, a culmination of
events dating back to the founding
of the country, a war that would
cause immense devastation and
suffering.
He fired.