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The Crisis of the American Republic c.1840-1877

The Republican party and the Dred Scott decision

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 2 and A2 Unit 4

Overview

Republican party's central position on slavery, know-Nothing or American party and idea of the Slave Power.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

When and why was the Republican party formed?

Key term

Why did the Know-Nothings decline so quickly?

Numbers

Who was the first Republican candidate for the presidency, and how did he do?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    When and why was the Republican party formed?

    Model answer

    In 1854, out of the anger at the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as a coalition of anti-Nebraska Democrats, Free Soilers and northern Whigs opposed to the extension of slavery.

  2. 2

    State the Republican party's central position on slavery.

    Model answer

    It sought to prevent slavery spreading into the territories, not to abolish it in the states where it already existed.

  3. 3

    Why was the Republican party a purely sectional party?

    Model answer

    It had no organisation and won virtually no votes in the slave states, so it could win the presidency on northern votes alone, which is precisely what alarmed the South.

  4. 4

    Describe the Know-Nothing or American party.

    Model answer

    A nativist movement hostile to Irish and German Catholic immigration which grew rapidly in the mid-1850s and briefly looked more likely than the Republicans to replace the Whigs.

  5. 5

    Why did the Know-Nothings decline so quickly?

    Model answer

    They too split over slavery, and once the territorial question dominated, northern nativists moved to the Republicans.

  6. 6

    Who was the first Republican candidate for the presidency, and how did he do?

    Model answer

    John C. Frémont in 1856, who carried eleven northern states and lost to James Buchanan, a remarkable showing for a party two years old.

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AUniversal male suffrage was kept.
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