Question

I need help someone, ill give a medal to the first person to answer my question.
Q: List and describe two reasons the Whig party lost power and influence in the 1850s.

Answer 1

The Republican Party, while it also attracted many anti-slavery Democrats, drew off so many Whigs that they effectively killed the Whig party. The Whigs were also badly hurt by the short-lived Native American or Know-Nothing party, which was primarily anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic. This party was strong in urban areas, which had also been a Whig stronghold.

Answer 2

By 1854 there was a move on to stop slavery from spreading. Congress was deciding on a route for the transcontinental railroad. Stephen Douglas of Illinois wanted it to start in Chicago. Douglas owned a lot of land in the area. The problem was that the railroad from Chicago would have to go through land that had been given to Native Americans. Douglas pushed a bill through Congress that organized the area into the kansas and Nebraska territories. To win Southern support his bill also repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which would have prevented slavery in the new territories. Instead it said the the people of Kansas and Nebraska should vote for themselves if they wanted slavery or not, this was called popular sovereignty. Nebraska did not have a push for slavery, but Kansas had major battles between antislavery and pro-slavery forces. This bill by Douglas is said to be the death knell of the Whig party, because the leaders of the Whigs took no action one way or the other over this very important issue of slavery in Kansas. In the 1856 election the Democrats won the presidency with Edgar Buchanan who had southern leanings. He was one of the people to hold the presidency that is considered to have been worthless at a very crucial time in American history. The Whigs ran John C. Fremont a former explorer who no one believed could do anything as president. The Whig party ended with this election.