1776 to 2015 The Road to a One Party System Part Two
The Third Two Party System: Republicans vs Democrats
In 1828, Andrew Jackson became the first President from a new party, the Democrats, the true party “of the people." With the exception of one term when the Whigs (a party whose name more clearly identified itself as the party of privilege than the Democratic-Republicans whom they replaced) won the Presidency, the Democrats held the White House until 1860.
Democrats: Split at its 1860 Convention in Charleston, South Carolina when a platform defending slavery was defeated and Deep South delegates walked out.
Northern Democrates - Stephen Douglas was nominated as presidential candidate on a platform opposing any Congressional interference with slavery.
Southern Democrats met and nominated John Breckenridge of Kentucky as a candidate on a pro-slavery platform.
The Republicans: Founded by anti-slavery activists and members of the Whig Party in 1854, dominate politics nationally for most of 1860 to 1932, Opposed to slavery draw in most northerners with a platform favoring a homestead act, a protective tariff, and transportation improvements.Oppose the extension of slavery but defended the right of states to control their own "domestic institutions recognizing the right of slavery in the South but no where else" Moderates, like Lincoln, could oppose slavery on "moral" grounds as wrong, while admitting that slavery had a "right" to exist where the Constitution originally allowed it to exist. This allowed them to weld together the differing viewpoints in a coalition both anti-slavery and pro-union. Lincoln is nominated presidential candidate on the third ballot.
Civil War Era follows
In 1828, Andrew Jackson became the first President from a new party, the Democrats, the true party “of the people." With the exception of one term when the Whigs (a party whose name more clearly identified itself as the party of privilege than the Democratic-Republicans whom they replaced) won the Presidency, the Democrats held the White House until 1860.
Democrats: Split at its 1860 Convention in Charleston, South Carolina when a platform defending slavery was defeated and Deep South delegates walked out.
Northern Democrates - Stephen Douglas was nominated as presidential candidate on a platform opposing any Congressional interference with slavery.
Southern Democrats met and nominated John Breckenridge of Kentucky as a candidate on a pro-slavery platform.
The Republicans: Founded by anti-slavery activists and members of the Whig Party in 1854, dominate politics nationally for most of 1860 to 1932, Opposed to slavery draw in most northerners with a platform favoring a homestead act, a protective tariff, and transportation improvements.Oppose the extension of slavery but defended the right of states to control their own "domestic institutions recognizing the right of slavery in the South but no where else" Moderates, like Lincoln, could oppose slavery on "moral" grounds as wrong, while admitting that slavery had a "right" to exist where the Constitution originally allowed it to exist. This allowed them to weld together the differing viewpoints in a coalition both anti-slavery and pro-union. Lincoln is nominated presidential candidate on the third ballot.
Civil War Era follows
