failings of politicians and leading officials Flashcards
(5 cards)
topic sentence
Some historians such as Alan Farmer argue that the failings of politicians and leading officials were the most important reason for the breakdown of the two-party system.
evidence - buchnan and lecompton constitution
For example, Democrat President, James Buchanan’s failure to deal with the Lecompton Territorial Government (pro-slavery) in Kansas lost him significant Northern support. Kansas was a majority anti-slavery state; however, the results of their elections did not reflect this. When elections for a new territorial legislature were held in October 1857, pro-slavers were able to pervert the democratic process to ensure that the Lecompton Constitution was maintained. For example, one village with 30 eligible voters returned more than 1600 pro-slavery votes, highlighting the extent of their efforts to make Kansas a Slave state. Despite the results of these elections being overturned, a pro-slavery, Lecompton Constitution was still drafted. While Buchanan was warned by Kansas Governer Robert Walker that the Lecompton Constitution did not fulfill the promise of popular sovereignty, he refused to do anything which lost him masses of support.
analysis
This therefore led to the breakdown of the two-party system because through Buchanans determination to maintain Southern support, he alienated the Northern states as he supported an undemocratic system of voting. He also angered Northern Democrats like Stephen A Douglass as they were committed to popular sovereignty and the Lecompton Constitution clearly didn’t demonstrate that. In turn, this contributed to a loss of Democratic support in the North and a sectional divide between Democrats. It gave ammunition to the Republican party, who were able to bounce of this loss for the Democrats and gain support from Northerners because of their anti-slavery campaign.
evaluation
To evaluate, the failings of politicians and leading officials were significant to the breakdown of the two-party system, as Alan Farmer argues, “Buchanans decision to support the actions of the Lecompton convention was a colossal blunder”, suggesting that Buchanan contributed to the breakdwon of the two-party system through his determination to maintain Southern support.
Counter analysis
However, eventually in August 1858, a fairly conducted election was held in Kansas which resulted in a free-state victory with them gaining 11, 300 votes compared to 1788. Buchanan therefore accepted he had made a mistake and supported it, which made his campaign more attractive to Northerners as in the end, they achieved the result they had wanted.
