The Slavery Issue and the Rise of the Republican Party in the U.S.

In this paper, how the slavery issue could be prevented from arising as a controversial issue in the second party system was explained first. Next, this paper described how the slavery extension issue could become a national issue during the political and sectional crisis in the 1850s, finally leading to the birth of the Republican party in the North. In this process, strategy of anti-slavery free soil politicians to politicize the slavery extension issue, combined with the drifting second party system, paved the way for a political environment favorable for the slavery issue evolution. In this paper, rational choice perspective was taken to trace the process of the party dealignment and realignment in the 1850s. The anti-slavery politicians defected from their previous parties when they thought staying there would not give anymore electoral benefits amid widespread voter defection from the Democratic party and the Whig party. They took up the issue of slavery extension to bolster the support of the party of their own creation, at the same time weakening the power of the Know Nothing party by taking a slightly restrictive position on immigration issue. The thrust of this paper’s argument does not deny the importance of the Free Soil idea and free labor ideology in the party realignment process and the emergence of the Republican party. Rather, it argues that without strategic party politicians, the slavery issue would not have been easily politicized.