The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Collapse of the Whig Party and the Rise of the Republican Party

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Collapse of the Whig Party and the Rise of the Republican Party The Kansas-Nebraska act did lead to the collapse of the Whig Party and the rise of the Republican Party; however there are other reasons that contributed to it as well. Firstly the Kansas-Nebraska act played a part in the downfall of the Whig Party. The Kansas-Nebraska act stated that the 36° 30 line would be abolished. It also said that Nebraska would be split up into two territories: Nebraska and Kansas this bill gets passed and popular sovereignty takes place in both territories. The “Border Ruffians” of Missouri (a slave state neighboring Kansas) took advantage of popular sovereignty and moved to Kansas just to vote for slavery. The “Border Ruffians” took over Lecompton, where the government was and forced the government to move to Topeka. This gave form to 2 governments, Lecompton which was pro-slavery and Topeka which was anti-slavery. The hostility between the two created a civil war known as Bleeding Kansas. The hostility between them was an embarrassment to the US federal government. This gave rise to the Republican Party who wanted to make the most of the scandal to sort it out and get a good name. Another reason that showed why the Whig Party collapsed was their choice of presidential candidate, Winfield Scott. First of all Scott had gone out of his way to flatter the Irish and German voters this annoyed Nativist Whigs and created disputes within the Whig Party. A divided party would be a weak party. Secondly, Scott died before he could complete his first term, the result of this was irritation between the Whig Party members and failure to win the second term, as it was under the banner of Winfield Scott. Between 1846 and 1855, the US had over 3 million people coming in as immigrants. This increase in immigration began the rise of the ‘Know Nothings.’ They started off as a secret society and got their name by saying ‘I know nothing’ whenever questioned about their rituals.

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