1852-1856: The Origins Of The Republican Party

TIMELINE Date / Name of document | Historian | Summary | 1852-1856 “The Origins of the Republican Party” | William Gienapp | Ethnocultural issues and nativism played key role in ushering in the disintegration of the party system 1850s. “less a product of antislavery fervor than of a sustained competition with the Know-Nothing Party over ethnic and cultural issues”*** Principle reasons for the start of the War = (1) challenge of slavery (2) US land expansion (3) “free labor ideal” | 1860 | Herbert Donalds | Heavily stressed the role of political tensions / Ethnocultural Points out those politicians were incompetent and carried out limited democracyMainly political viewpoint | 1872-1877 “History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power” | Henry Wilson | Wilson had the perspective that the South was responsible for causing the Civil War. “A conflict that arose because of the militant immorality of slave society…”Northerners were perceived as saviors of the Union. Labeled the South’s intentions as “aggressive designs”. |
“If negro had not been brought to America, the Civil War could not have occurred”Thus, argues that different perspectives on slavery from North and South made the War inevitable | 1927 | Charles and Mary Beard | Did not believe the issue of slavery was in neither the realms of politics nor social. Rather – ECONOMICAnalyzes : North vs. South as Industrialists vs. Planters. Perceived tensions between North and South over slavery… their conflicts = manifestation of their desire to control the fed gov. Why? Economic interests!