The early republic in the United States in the years between 1780 and 1830 was characterized by a notable transition on the political front. The political elite had different ideologies and visions on how the country ought to be run. Two schools of thoughts emerged which also led to two major partisan factions. Alexander Hamilton and his allies favored a stable federal government while Thomas Jefferson and other like-minded leaders advocated for a stable state government. The former would be known as the Federalist Party while the others became Jeffersonian Republicans (Vorenberg, 2001) . Alexander Hamilton enjoyed the support of the wealthy and commercial entities both in the North and South. In the North, the wealthy elite was attracted by the ideals espoused by Hamilton while in the South the wealthy landowners believed that a stable federal government would increase and protect the agricultural market. Jefferson, on the other hand, was supported by new immigrants and ordinary farmers. The empowerment of state governments was deemed to be far responsive to the needs of the ordinary citizens rather than the federalism.
The second party system denotes the framework that characterized the US politics between the years 1837 and 1852. It was precipitated by the 1928 presidential elections with political discourse shifting toward more public interested. As such, many people turned out to participate in the electoral process. The era was dominated by two parties namely; the Whig Party and Democratic Party. The former was led Henry Clay while the latter was led by Andrew Jackson. The Whigs emerged out of opposition of President Jackson and the Democratic Party. The party felt that the Democrats led by Jackson favored agriculture over manufacturing and industry (Vorenberg, 2001) . The Whigs believed that the country ought to have appropriate infrastructure such as canals, railway, canals et cetera which would foster trade and industry in general. They deemed President Jackson as an individual who embodied aristocratic ideals such as those of a king. The Whigs were keen on having a national currency, a national bank, and corporate charters. They envisaged the United States to be better with an activist government in place which would see to it that the expansion of the economy is achieved. Historians denote that the Whigs as the core in the process of modernization of various government structures.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Unlike the Whigs, the Democrats held the notion that many Americans were simple farmers and therefore focused on enhancing the said sector. They supported state governments with less meddling from the federal government on the social and economic fronts. They opposed Protective Tariff and the establishment of a national bank (Vorenberg, 2001) . They believed the two stifled the state rights and expanded the federalism agenda in the United States. The Democratic Party led by President Jackson advocated a rapid territorial and external growth.
The civil war in the United States is deemed as one of the critical moments in history that changed the fate of the country politically, socially, and economically. The pro-slavery elements mostly in the South argued that slavery was a necessary evil in the maintenance of social order. They argued that counties with no slaves degraded and instability fueled by political radicalism. The pro-slavery voices advanced that the Southern economy would plummet as it relied on slavery. The collapse of agriculture would make the country and citizens suffer as a whole. The anti-slavery groups in the antebellum period argued that slavery was unchristian. It was immoral and sinful. The slave-owners were believed to go against the Christian doctrine in their effort to capitalize on human labor. The anti-slavery supporters also noted that slavery was inhumane and contradicted human rights as appreciated in natural law.
The antebellum period was also characterized by the western expansion. The expansion was controversial as it led to the extension of slavery to other territories. On entering into war with Mexico over the western territories, the issue of extending slavery was discussed in Congress. The North politicians supported a suggestion by David Wilmot the Pennsylvania Representative in regards to prohibiting the extension of slavery into newly acquired territories. They argued that "slavery was not an institution which ought to stretch beyond the boundaries” (Vorenberg, 2001). The south politicians opposed this proposal citing that it was unconstitutional. They blocked its passage in the Congress thus creating tensions. With new territories westward, compromises were made which tended to favor the Southerners more than the Northerners. The Kansas controversy brought about by the statehood pursuit saw tensions simmer between the North and Southern elements. The violence took place in the west and would soon spread to the eastern parts of the country. The fighting in the Kansas region foreshadowed the great civil war. This is because the compromises made in the process of expansion served to postpone the conflict but not resolve any tensions.
The election of Abraham Lincoln as the United States President saw the clamor for the abolition of slavery. He won with no single Southern electoral vote. This signaled the reduced influence by the South leadership on the national politics. He was faced by claims of secession by the southern states. The Lincoln administration sought to strike compromises such as the Corwin Amendment which would later be opposed as it protected slavery in the southern states. The 1861 Peace Conference was another legislative attempt to achieve common ground on various issues between the North and South (Vorenberg, 2001) . The Democratic leadership advanced secession, but the Lincoln administration backed by the Republican Party asserted that the union would not be dismantled.
References
Vorenberg, M. (2001). Final Freedom: The Civil War, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Thirteenth Amendment . Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
