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- Anyhow, Pierce’s total support for the compromise aggravated much of the North [esp. his enforcement ofthe FSA, for ex. the case of Anthony Burns] and radicalized the situation big-time even among formerconservatives. Juries stopped convicting abolitionists [ex. ones that stormed courthouse in Burns case] andstates passed personal-liberty laws to stop federal enforcement.- As a sidenote, sectional conflict also managed to derail [OK, bad joke] plans for a transcontinental RRDand mess up annexation negotiations w/Hawaii and Cuba.*The Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the Destruction of the Party System*- The next big problem began when Douglas [the C1850 guy] decided to introduce a bill about the Kansasand Nebraska Territories. Douglas felt the slavery thing would be no big deal – all he wanted was somemore $ for his home state of Illinois [transcontinental RRD thing].- Boy did he pick the wrong topic – as soon as he mentioned the thing, the whole differing interpretations ofpopular sovereignty deal exploded. To make matters worse, K&N were on the non-slavery side of theMissouri line, so using PS there would invalidate the whole Missouri Compromise too!- Naturally, Southern Congressmen demanded a repeal of the MC, which Douglas actually gave them,thinking the climate of the area wouldn’t allow for slavery anyway. Then by May 1854 [e/t opposition wasextremely strong from the anti-slavery people] the bill passed, opening a ton of formerly anti-slave land up!- The results of the K&N Acts…again [like C1850] the new laws acted like catalysts for anti-slavery forces[many more states passed personal-liberty laws, resisted the FSA]. Most importantly, though, the K&N Actssplit the dying Whig party once and for all into Northern and Southern wings, lowered support for theDemocratic Party, and led to the creation of a new political party, the Republican Party.*The Politics of Sectionalism: Republicans and Democrats*- Basically, in the summer and fall of 1854, the Republican Party was formed from the antislavery Whigsand Democrats, the Free-Soilers and various other groups. They had a spectacular rise in the North[east]and managed to get most of the Northern House seats on their first appearance on the ballot in 1854.- The only party that was still nat’l by this time was the Democratic Party, except for a short period where theAmerican Party [a.k.a. the Know-Nothings] also competed at that level [but they were mostly successful inthe North]. The KN’s were anti-Catholic/anti-immigrant, but only lasted until 1856.- So, besides the obvious, what were the new Republican and Democratic parties all about? Republicans were for the exclusion of slavery from the territories, new protective tariffs andmore federal funding for RRDs/infrastructure, and for a free homestead act that would providefor parcels of land [not large enough for plantations, though]. Their ideology represented thenew, industrial North – the key was the importance of work and opportunity [South isbackwards] and the idea of the liberty to find work on new land. Important to note that someRepublicans were not necessary anti-slavery in itself, many were even racist! Democrats were *no kidding* for the extension of slavery into the territories. E/t mostSouthern Democrats were not slaveowners, the party’s appeal to racism [basic idea = if blacksare not enslaved, this is bad for whites in general] won over many of the yeoman farmers.Another element was the idea that restrictions on slavery were inherently against constitutionalprinciples. Both these ideas helped blur the class lines in the South.- Things only intensified with time…*Bleeding Kansas and the Election of 1856*- In Kansas, both abolitionists and Southerners began sending in forces to support their side and influencethe decision, which was to be made through popular sovereignty. As conflicts became increasingly violent,the nation’s attention focused more and more on Bleeding Kansas.- During elections for the territorial legislature, Border Ruffians [i.e. proslavery Missourians] screwed up thevoting and caused the pro-slavery side to win. This led to the Free-Soilers creating their own gov’t, a proslaveryposse killing some of them in 1856, and the whole John Brown rebellion/revolution scheme. Eventhe Senate was losing it [SC Representative Preston Brooks hit MA Senator Sumner w/cane].- The polarization continued into the Presidential Election of 1856, where Democrat James Buchanan[chosen b/c uninvolved in controversies] beat out the Republican candidate, John C. Frémont.*The Dred Scott Case*- The whole Dred Scott deal started when a Missouri slave named *wow what a surprise* Dred Scott suedhis owner for his freedom b/c his owner took him in a free state. In 1857, the case reached the SC.Normally, the SC liked to stay out of slavery controversies [1851 decision – state courts decide].35