Encore: Political Parties | The Turbulent 1850s | 3

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2020

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The United States won the The Mexican–American War in the 1840s, and with it vast new stretches of western land. But in the 1850s, the question of what to do with this land – and whether to allow slavery in the new territories or not – became a redning issue for politicians of all stripes.

While the Whig Party collapsed over the issue, Democrats split into Northern and Southern factions, and a new Republican Party tried to bind the Union with an appeal to old Jeffersonian values. But in the houses of Congress and across the nation, negotiations fail, compromise is abandoned; and the issue of slavery will overshadow all else, leading to Civil War.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:08.0	This is a special encore presentation of our series on political parties in the United
0:12.4	States.
0:13.4	As we head into November and face a contentious and consequential election, it seems
0:17.3	a ripe time to revisit how we got here in the first place.
0:20.4	It wasn't always Democrats and Republicans.
0:22.8	And if you'd like even more insight into our American political process, search for and
0:27.0	subscribe to another one of my podcasts, American Elections Wicked Game.
0:31.1	It chronicles every single presidential election from 1789 to 2020.
0:36.1	Both in this series and in that podcast, you'll find our current strife isn't so new,
0:40.7	and certainly not any worse than it has been.
0:42.9	Hopefully, that's a comfort.
0:44.9	Imagine it's April 17th, 1850.
0:58.6	You're an aide to Democratic Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.
1:03.3	You and another aide are by his side today in the Senate Chamber, as lawmakers attempt
1:07.4	to hammer out a contentious issue.
1:09.8	What to do with a new Western land, one from Mexico?
1:13.5	It's an issue that immediately brings up slavery.
1:17.1	Right now, the union has an even number of slave and free states, but permitting slavery
1:21.9	in any of the new territories could upset that delicate balance.
1:25.4	A committee has been formed to draft a compromise bill, but it's running into trouble.
	...

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