Another reason that showed why the Whig Party collapsed was their choice of presidential candidate, Winfield Scott. First of all Scott had gone out of his way to flatter the Irish and German voters this annoyed Nativist Whigs and created disputes within the Whig Party. A divided party would be a weak party. Secondly, Scott died before he could complete his first term, the result of this was irritation between the Whig Party members and failure to win the second term, as it was under the banner of Winfield Scott.
Between 1846 and 1855, the US had over 3 million people coming in as immigrants. This increase in immigration began the rise of the ‘Know Nothings.’ They started off as a secret society and got their name by saying ‘I know nothing’ whenever questioned about their rituals. They hated immigrants and held them responsible for crime, dirty habits, drinking, and corruption. They started to publish their views on immigrants, criticising and judging them. The ‘Know Nothings’ attracted a large number of Protestant supporters as they were Anti-Catholic. One group mistakenly thought that Nothingism would make the Whigs popular to those who didn’t support the ‘Know Nothings.’ Another group thought that there would be a merge between the Whigs and the ‘Know Nothings’ but it didn’t actually happen. The successes of the ‘Know Nothings’ diverted attention away from the Whig Party their lack of supporters made its downfall inevitable.
In 1856, an event called ‘Bleeding Sumner’ occurred. Charles Sumner delivered 2 speeches on ‘The crime against Kansas’ showing personal abuse to the Senator of South Carolina, Andrew Butler. Preston Brooks, who was a congressman as well as Sumner’s nephew, attacked him with a cane. Brooks became a hero for the southerners. Northerners were shocked and outraged by this incident. The Republicans cleverly linked the attack to the Kansas act and denounced the ‘Know Nothings’ as they supported the Kansas-Nebraska act.
Many northerners began to feel that the slave power in the south was a huge threat to their freedom. So people started to support the republicans anti slavery ideologies rather than the ‘Know Nothings’ anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic ideas, as their freedom was more important.
The Kansas-Nebraska act was a key reason to the rise of the Republicans and the downfall of the Whigs, but it was not the only reason, as there were some events, such as their poor presidential candidate and the rise of the ‘Know Nothings’ that gave the Whigs a bad reputation, forcing them to decline. Reasons such as Bleeding Sumner and slave power in the south showed how the Republicans were able to rise and become popular. The Kansas-Nebraska act on its own would not have had the same impact on the two parties, if it were not for the extra reasons.
