Political Realignment of the 1850s
History 103
Nov. 23, 1998
"Young America"
Quest for Cuba
Ostend Manifesto (1854) and controversy
Gadsden Purchase (1853-54)
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Douglas’s desire to organize Nebraska territory
Concessions to southerners
Repeal of Missouri Compromise
Division of territory into Kansas and Nebraska
Status of slavery to be decided by popular sovereignty
Controversy over Kansas-Nebraska bill
Passage (1854)
Collapse of Second Party System
Competing explanations of Whig Party’s demise
Rise of the Republican Party
Rise of the American Party (Know-Nothings)
State election results, 1854-55
"Bleeding Kansas"
Test of popular sovereignty
Competing territorial legislatures established (1855)
Lecompton (proslavery)
Topeka (antislavery)
Federal government leans toward Lecompton government
Charles Sumner’s speech on "The Crime Against Kansas" (1856)
"Bleeding Sumner"
John Brown and the Pottawatomie Massacre (1856)
Guerrilla warfare
Election of 1856
American Party divides
Southern wing nominates Millard Fillmore
Northern wing moves toward Republican Party
Democratic Party nominates James Buchanan and defends Kansas-Nebraska Act
Republican Party nominates John C. Frémont
Buchanan wins
Changing role of party politics