Between the Andrew Jackson & Abraham Lincoln Presidencies 1837-1861

The Nature of the Democratic Party

You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.

-(ABE LINCOLN) DECEMBER 22, 1860 LETTER TO ALEXANDER STEPHENS

By 1860, slavery is said to have been THE deciding factor in the election. It’d been outlawed in the North since 1803, so it is debatable as to what degree a Democratic Party member would have been “pro-slavery.” According to most accounts, it was certainly frowned upon. For instance, President Polk (Democratic) was a slave owner, and historians say that he had kept most of his slave profiting a secret, as the popular sentiment was definitely away from slavery – and to be – also away from the northern states in the literal sense; which is one of the reasons Polk very quietly moved his plantation southward. Democratics – the individual freedom party, in general, were those most associated with anti-slavery, and which is probably a counter to the counter – argument regarding Democrats vs. Republicans and racism as based on 19th-century stances on slavery. The Democratic Party was (and perhaps still is) about letting people make their own choices (like gay marriage for example). It was the people who needed to decide and to dictate when slavery would end by voting, but this is part of what made them less effective, in a fashion, at ending it, because of the southerners.

The Civil War Began At Fort Sumter

In 1861, due to ‘an apparent logistical misinterpretation,’ on the part of the North, having remained at Fort Sumter near Charleston South Carolina, (the south was robbing and destroying all of the incoming supply ships) – the South Carolina militia (pre-Confederate army) decided to attack Fort Sumter, where they were able to seize more assets like buildings, fortifications, and ammunition. With this very violent act, the south had then sealed the deal, and when word got back to the Northerners about the bombardment, president Lincoln, who had been inaugurated only months before, had no problem fulfilling his initial call for 75,000 volunteers (McPherson – Wikipedia). TURN PAGE