Classmate 1 The Rise of the Republican Party The Republican Party was formed due to a split in the Whig Party. The anti-slavery “Conscience Whigs” split from the pro-slavery “Cotton Whigs”. Some anti-slavery Whigs joined the American “Know-Nothing” Party, while the remainder joined with independent Democrats and Free-Soilers to form a new party, the Republicans. The initial members stood for one principle: the exclusion of slavery from the western territories (Shi, p. 462). Knowing the Republicans ideology, we will look at how the events leading up to the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to greater political division that eventually caused the formation of the Republican Party and it’s rise to the presidency in 1860. In the 1850’s, America was becoming increasingly divided between those for and against slavery. The Compromise of 1850 had temporarily appeased both sides by admitting California as a free state, allowing no slavery restrictions in New Mexico and Utah, paying Texas, abolishing slave trade but no slavery in the District of Columbia, establishing the Fugitive Slave Act, and denying congress authority to interfere with interstate slave trade (Shi, p. 457). This Fugitive Slave Act was highly contested, although very few slaves were returned to the south under this Act. In fact, it ended up uniting anti-slavery people, more than aiding the South. It was during this time that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written, selling more than a million copies worldwide and detailing the harsh brutality of slavery (Shi, p. 460-461). In the mid-1850’s, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. The main reason for it was to the settle the vast territory west of Missouri and Iowa, and to create a transcontinental railroad to capitalize on Asian markets and goods. New territories brought up questions of whether slavery would be allowed, with many supporting “popular sovereignty” where voters chose whether they would have slavery or not. The issue here was that the 1820 Missouri Compromise had said there would be no new slavery above the 36th parallel (Shi, p. 462). In order to past the new Act, they repealed the Missouri Compromise and pushed the Act through Congress, passing by outvoting the anti-slavery Whigs. The dispute over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, ended up causing the breakdown of the new Republican party. One of the first to join the party was a young Illinois congressman, Abraham Lincoln. He believed the the north must mobilize to stop pro-slavery southerners or the Union was endangered (Shi, p.463). Nebraska voted against slavery, but Kansas became the hotbed of the Union. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups both set up governments and held elections, voting opposite of each other on slavery. Violence broke out between supporters of the groups, and about 200 people were killed in conflicts that became referred to as “Bleeding Kansas” (Shi, p. 463). Even members of the Congres.

1. Classmate 1
The Rise of the Republican Party
The Republican Party was formed due to a split in the Whig
Party. The anti-slavery
“Conscience Whigs” split from the pro-slavery “Cotton Whigs”.
Some anti-slavery Whigs joined
the American “Know-Nothing” Party, while the remainder
joined with independent Democrats
and Free-Soilers to form a new party, the Republicans. The
initial members stood for one
principle: the exclusion of slavery from the western territories
(Shi, p. 462). Knowing the
Republicans ideology, we will look at how the events leading up
to the Kansas-Nebraska Act led
to greater political division that eventually caused the formation
of the Republican Party and it’s
rise to the presidency in 1860.
In the 1850’s, America was becoming increasingly divided
between those for and against
slavery. The Compromise of 1850 had temporarily appeased

2. both sides by admitting California
as a free state, allowing no slavery restrictions in New Mexico
and Utah, paying Texas,
abolishing slave trade but no slavery in the District of
Columbia, establishing the Fugitive Slave
Act, and denying congress authority to interfere with interstate
slave trade (Shi, p. 457). This
Fugitive Slave Act was highly contested, although very few
slaves were returned to the south
under this Act. In fact, it ended up uniting anti-slavery people,
more than aiding the South. It was
during this time that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written, selling
more than a million copies
worldwide and detailing the harsh brutality of slavery (Shi, p.
460-461).
In the mid-1850’s, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed.
The main reason for it was to the
settle the vast territory west of Missouri and Iowa, and to create
a transcontinental railroad to
capitalize on Asian markets and goods. New territories brought
up questions of whether slavery
would be allowed, with many supporting “popular sovereignty”
where voters chose whether they
would have slavery or not. The issue here was that the 1820

3. Missouri Compromise had said there
would be no new slavery above the 36th parallel (Shi, p. 462).
In order to past the new Act, they
repealed the Missouri Compromise and pushed the Act through
Congress, passing by outvoting
the anti-slavery Whigs. The dispute over the Kansas-Nebraska
Act, ended up causing the
breakdown of the new Republican party.
One of the first to join the party was a young Illinois
congressman, Abraham Lincoln. He
believed the the north must mobilize to stop pro-slavery
southerners or the Union was
endangered (Shi, p.463). Nebraska voted against slavery, but
Kansas became the hotbed of the
Union. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups both set up
governments and held elections, voting
opposite of each other on slavery. Violence broke out between
supporters of the groups, and
about 200 people were killed in conflicts that became referred
to as “Bleeding Kansas” (Shi, p.
463). Even members of the Congress broke out into fights, with
Congressman Brooks beating
Senator Sumner with a cane due to a speech he gave (Shi, p.
465).

4. In 1858, the Republicans selected Abraham Lincoln to run
against Democrat Stephen
Douglas for the Senate. Lincoln did not win, but through a
series of public debates became well
known. The Lincoln-Douglas debates helped Lincoln and his
stand against slavery be well
known (Shi, p. 470). With Minnesota and Oregon joining the
Union in 1858 and 1859, and free
states now outnumbered slavery states. By 1860, Democrats
were not united and selected 2
separate Presidential candidates, aiding the Republicans. In
1860, Abraham Lincoln won the
Republican nomination over William Seward, to much
celebration. The nomination of Lincoln
cemented the parties stand against the expansion of slavery. In
the election of 1860, Lincoln won
all 18 free states and none of the slavery states (Shi, p. 474).
Combating pro-slavery supporters attempts to expand
slavery was the primary basis for
formation of the Republican Party. Conflicts leading up to and
during the Kansas-Nebraska Act

5. set off a chain of events where more people supported stopping
the spread of slavery into new
territories. Despite several politicians efforts for compromise,
the divisions between the groups
strengthened the support for anti-slavery Republicans and
helped Abraham Lincoln get elected
President in 1860.
Shi, David Emory. America: The Essential Learning Edition,
2nd Edition. New York: W.W.
Classmate 2
Benjamin Roberts
Politics of slavery played an important role the westward
expansion. As the United States began
acquiring new territories such as Texas and the Mexican
territories, a majority of the Northern
States wanted to ban slavery in these new territories. This
posed a problem for the Southern
states, as most of them were slave owners. If the new territories
did not allow slavery and began

6. having voting power within Congress, then the South feared that
the majority would make
slavery illegal throughout the nation, even in the south. The
South did not want to be told what to
do by the North and westward expansion was a problem if they
could not expand slavery as well.
The North also feared the power of the South and if slavery
expanded west then the South’s
power would expand as well. “…Northerners were jealous of the
power of the South and did not
want any new states joining the slave-state alliance”(Shi, pg.
451). There was definitely a
struggle for power and disagreements upon slavery were the
biggest debate between and
Northern and Southern states. Although a Civil War would more
than likely occurred without
westward expansion, the expansion did escalate the likelihood
and timing for it to occur. A civil
war was inevitable as a decision had to be made if slavery was
going to be allowed as a nation or
not. The nation could not be split on what was allowed
especially as it was expanding. The
South’s secession occurred partially as a result of the events
that took place during the expansion

7. and the Civil War began.