Month: November 2016

Antebellum by Last Best Hope of EarthNovember 25, 2016November 25, 2016

A Supreme Court Tragedy: Dred Scott v. Sandford

In 1857, the United States Supreme Court decided one of the most controversial cases in the history of the country. Just days after James Buchanan began his term as president, Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the opinion for the Court, ruling that neither slaves nor freedmen could be citizens of the United States. The implications […]

Antebellum by Last Best Hope of EarthNovember 16, 2016November 15, 2016

The Evolving Political Parties of the 1850s

The Democratic Party and Whig Party were the dominant political parties from the early 1830s up until the mid-1850s. Both were institutions in national politics despite not having a coherent national organization by cobbling together a diverse group of states to win elections. While the Democrats had a more populist agenda, the Whigs were more […]

Antebellum by Last Best Hope of EarthNovember 2, 2016October 31, 2016

Bleeding Kansas

After the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, William Seward proclaimed to the Senate that “[w]e will engage in competition for the virgin soil of Kansas, and God give the victory to the side which is stronger in numbers as it is in right.” Congressional Globe, 33 Cong., 1 sess., appendix, 769. Rather than settling the issue […]