Last Best Hope of Earth

Tag: Free Soil Movement

  • The Evolving Political Parties of the 1850s

    panoramic-view-of-washington-city-e-sachse-and-co-1856
    Panoramic View of Washington, DC in 1856. Courtesy: E. Sachse & Co.

    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 focused on pursuing industrialization and development of the country. See David Potter, The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861, 226. While the Democratic Party would survive to the present day, the Whig Party would not survive the mid-1850s, not as a result of its own ineptness but because of the changing political landscape of that era. (more…)

  • The Role of Slavery in Splitting America

    underground_railroad
    The Underground Railroad. By: Charles T. Webber.

    Since the outbreak of the Civil War and continuing to the present day, the role of slavery in splitting America has been hotly debated. One may wonder whether there was merely a correlation between slavery and the Civil War or whether slavery was the cause. Investigating the nuances of the issue of slavery reveals that the Civil War resulted from sectionalism and slavery, which were practically synonymous.

    (more…)