Democrats and the Whigs

[2-0-Sixx]

During the 1840's, there were two major parties: The Democrats and the Whigs. Both parties supported slavery.

During this period an anti-slave movement began, particulary with the Abolitionist Parties who demanded the immediate end to all forms of slavery across America. Even though the Abolitionists did not win any elections, they were responsible for major paradign shifts in the United States and their impact on northern culture and society is undeniable.

People used to say to Abolitionists supporters, "why waste your vote with the abolitionists? They'll never win." They were told not to vote for the "spoiler" party, and yes, even the "lesser of evil" mentality lived back then. "Vote for the party with the softest whips."

But by supporting these parties allowed the anti-slave movement to build and spread across the country.

You see, by supporting the lesser of evil we will never win. Real progress will never be gained. We must look at the big picture and not focus on the present. Sure, I agree; this is the most important election.......for the next four years! If you are anit-war, anti-big corporation, pro-environment, pro-civil rights, please don't vote for a party who is not any of those things.

The primary concern of the society was the denunciation of slavery as a moral evil; its members called for immediate action to free the slaves. In 1835 the society launched a massive propaganda campaign. It flooded the slave states with abolitionist literature, sent agents throughout the North to organize state and local antislavery societies, and poured petitions into Congress demanding the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.

The abolitionists were at first widely denounced and abused. Mobs attacked them in the North; Southerners burned antislavery pamphlets and in some areas excluded them from the mails; and Congress imposed the gag rule to avoid considering their petitions. These actions, and the murder of abolitionist editor Elijah P. Lovejoy in 1837, led many to fear for their constitutional rights. Abolitionists shrewdly exploited these fears and antislavery sentiment spread rapidly in the North. By 1838, more than 1,350 antislavery societies existed with almost 250,000 members, including many women.

An antislavery lobby was organized in 1842, and its influence grew under Weld's able direction. Abolitionists hoped to convert the South through the churches, until the withdrawal of Southern Methodists (1844) and Baptists (1845) from association with their Northern brethren. After the demise of the Liberty party, the political abolitionists supported the Free-Soil party in 1848 and 1852, and in 1856 they voted with the Republican party.

The passage of more stringent fugitive slave laws in 1850 increased abolitionist activity on the Underground Railroad. Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, became an effective piece of abolitionist propaganda, and the Kansas question further aroused both North and South. The culminating act of extreme abolitionism occurred in the raid of John Brown on Harpers Ferry. After the opening of the Civil War insistent abolitionist demands for immediate freeing of the slaves, supported by radical Republicans in Congress, pushed President Lincoln in his decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

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Very tired, I’ll add more tomorrow.

 

[MEXCOM]

If I could vote I'd vote for Lincoln's party. Even though I don't support either major American Political Party, I'm more of a Torie me self, I'd vote for Dubya.
(In California Republican vote = worthless)