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A House Dividing: 1840–1861
Deepening of the Sectional Crisis
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The Sectional Crisis Deepens

Increasing sectional polarization pushed most Americans into two distinct political camps on the eve of the 1860 presidential election.

Learning Objective

  • Discuss some of the consequences of increased sectionalism prior to the Civil War


Key Points

    • The Republicans became the party of the North, promoting industry and business while also attracting antislavery factions by opposing the expansion of slavery into new territories.
    • The Democrats were split between North and South, with separate election tickets in 1860.
    • Northern Democrats hoped for a long-term compromise between slave and free states in new territories, while Southern Democrats demanded federal protections of slavery and threatened secession if Congress did not meet their demands.

Terms

  • Republican Party

    One of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. It was founded in 1854 following the dissolution of the Whig and Free Labor Parties.

  • Southern Democrats

    Members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the American South. In the nineteenth century, they were the definitive proslavery wing of the party, opposed to both the antislavery Republicans (GOP) and the more liberal Northern Democrats.

  • Northern Democrats

    An unofficial faction within the larger Democratic Party. The party supported nominee Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. presidential election of 1864.


Full Text

In the middle of the nineteenth century, politics had become a part of mass culture, fueled by elections, rallies, campaign parades, public speeches, and the media. Between 1854 and 1856 alone, an abundance of new political parties and organizations emerged, including the Republicans, the People's Party, Anti-Nebraskans, Fusionists, Know-Nothings, the Temperance Movement, Hard Shell Democrats, Rum Democrats, and Silver Gray Whigs. Yet the abundance of political parties and organizations was eventually whittled down due to increasing sectionalism between the North and the South.

Sectionalism

Sectionalism refers to the different economies, social structure, customs, and political values of the North and the South. Sectionalism increased steadily between 1800 and 1860 as the North (which phased slavery out of existence) industrialized, urbanized, and built prosperous farms, while the deep South concentrated on plantation agriculture based on slave labor together with subsistence farming for the poor white families. During this time, the South aimed to expand into rich new lands in the Southwest.

Distinct Political Divisions

The debates between slave-state and free-state interests raged in Congress; many people in the North and the South began to polarize along similar fault lines, and various disparate political organizations began to coalesce into distinct camps. The Republicans became the party of the North, promoting industry and business while also attracting antislavery factions. The core platform of the Republican Party was opposition to the expansion of slavery into new territories in order to protect the interests of yeoman farmers and industrialists seeking new land and investments. The Democrats were split between the North and the South with separate election tickets in 1860. Northern Democrats hoped for a long-term compromise between slave and free states in new territories, while Southern Democrats demanded federal protections of slavery and threatened secession if Congress refused to meet their demands.

By the election of 1860, these political camps were firmly aligned with Northern and Southern interests, with Southern states whipping up public support for state conventions to vote on secession if Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans won the presidency. The antebellum era of short-term compromise and evasion between the political camps was heading toward an end.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican president of the United States following a period of increased sectional conflict among and within existing American political parties.

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