Emergence of Republican Essay Plan

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

• Followed 1850 Compromise
• Republicans established
• Whigs collapsed
• P1: Slave Power Conspiracy
• P2: Kansas Nebraska Act
• P3: Collapse of Whigs

Question 2

P1: Slave Power Conspiracy

Answer 2

Explain what slave power was:
Southern Political Power:
- 1856 5/9 of Supreme Court were southern.
- Democrats had controlled Presidency for last 50 years
Northern Views on Slavery:
- Didn’t want expansion of slavery
- Thought it was restricting southern economy
- Northern Democrats sought alternative than southern dominated party

H:
- Gienapp, takes the view that the Republicans had united in opposition to the ‘slave power’.
- Farmer, idea of ‘Slave Power’ was an article of faith for Republicans

Question 3

P2: Kansas Nebraska Act

Answer 3

The act:
- Overruled previous 1820 compromise, suggested slavery could expand
- Douglas’s repeal caused outrage in N, forming groups.
Bleeding Kansas:
- Sack of Lawrence, Slavery attack on Kansas town, media blew out of proportion
- John Brown Raid, 3 sons killed 5 pro slavery
- Raids over vote, fear in North leading to Republicans

H:
- Tulloch, Republicans occurred in aftermath of the Kansas Nebraska Act controversy. Republicans attracted those opposing southern slavery.
- Farmer, most northerners were both anti-immigrant and anti-slavery: they hated the Slave Power and the Democrat Party.

Question 4

P3: Collapse of Whigs

Answer 4

-The Whigs began to collapse leaving spaces for Republicans
- Whigs left the North looking for a sectional party that would represent them against South
- Whigs collapsed due to northern fears of slave power, which Kansas Nebraska act was a catalyst for

H:
- Farmer, anti-slavery would dominate the political agenda. The rise of the Republican Party was thus far from inevitable.
- McPherson, Kansas-Nebraska finished off the Whig party and gave birth to a new, entirely northern Republican party.