NORTH AND SOUTH POLITICAL PARTIES

As cotton became more important in the South, so did the slavery. Northerners feared that slavery would spread over more and more of the country. North and South grew apart in other ways besides slavery. The North had more industry. The South was mostly farms. There were more large cities in the North, and more and more immigrants settled there. The two sections were becoming less and less alike.

In 1850, after the Mexican War, Congress had to decide whether slavery would be allowed in the new lands or not. Some southerners were even saying their states would leave the Union if the new lands were not open to slavery. Congress accepted the plan, which was called the Compromise - each state was to choose whether its territory would be slave or free. Fighting went on in some places. Slavery became an important question in elections, as voters wanted to elect a person who felt the same way they did.

In 1854 a group of men had decided to start a new political party around the idea that slavery must not be allowed in the territories. They called it the Republican Party. Democrats could not agree about slavery. Southern Democrats wanted to allow slavery in all the territories. Northern Democrats thought that the people of each territory should decide about the slavery for themselves. In the election of 1860, the Republicans named Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860. He was not an abolitionist, he did not plan to end slavery in the South, but he was determined that slavery would not spread to the territories and was also eager to save the Union, as he did not believe the southern states had a right to secede.

Soon after Lincoln was elected, seven southern states left the Union. Later, four others joined them. These eleven states called themselves the Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. They explained that they considered slaves as property, and they felt themselves no longer protected by the Constitution.

1. What was the conflict between the North and the South about?

2. What was the Compromise intended to do?

3. When and why was the Republican Party set up?

4. Who won the election of 1860 and what were the political views of new President?

5. Who were the abolitionists?

6. What were the southern states' reasons for leaving the Union? What was the name of the states which decided to secede?

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 914