The Democrat party formed in opposition to the Missouri compromise (1820).
- That compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
- It also prohibited slavery in the new Louisiana Purchase territory north of the parallel 36°30′ north
democrats “...objected to any bill that imposed federal restrictions on slavery and believed that it was a state issue, as settled by the Constitution.”
It took them a long time, but eventually they managed to pass the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854.
That allowed the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to VOTE on if they would be free or slave states.
That ushered in a very violent period in Kansas as both sides sought to gain power to win the issue for the State - and thus for the country by swinging the balance of power.
The Republican party formed in 1854 in direct opposition to Douglas (a top democrat) Kansas-Nebraska act.
That was the root issue in the contention between the two political parties from 1854 to 1860.
In 1860, sitting Vice President John C. Breckenridge split the democrat party into two factions. Douglas led the original rump party. Breckenridge took the splitters.
Had the party remained together and campaigned together, perhaps they could have retained the House and the Presidency.
Imagine how history would have been different had the democrats chosen to remain?
They still controlled the Senate by one vote 30D-29R-1No Nothing. So they should have been able to ‘stone-wall’ most changes for four years. Plus they controlled the Judiciary.
The Republican rise was meteoric. In the House
............Dem..Rep..Whig..KnowNothing
1852-1853...150....0....68.....0...
1854-1855....83...13....54....51...
1856-1857...132...90.....0....14...
1858-1859....83...113....4....14...
1860-1861....44...106....0.....0...(31 Unionist)
They could not. In the 1860 election Lincoln won 15 states with absolute majorities for a total of 173 of his 180 electoral votes. Only 152 were needed to win.