The Rise of the Republican Party.-Events of terrible significance，swiftly following，drove the country like a ship before a gale straight into civil war.The Kansas-Nebraska Bill rent the old parties asunder and called into being the Re-publican party.While that bill was pending in Congress，many Northern Whigs and Democrats had come to the conclusion that a new party dedicated to free-dom in the territories must follow the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.Sev-eral places claim to be the original home of the Republican party；but historians generally yield it to Wisconsin.At Ripon in that state，a mass meeting of Whigs and Democrats assembled in February，1854，and resolved to form a new party if the Kansas-Nebraska Bill should pass.At a second meeting a fusion commit-Slave and Free Soil on Eve of Civil Wartee representing Whigs，Free Soilers，and Democrats was formed and the name Republican-the name of Jefferson's old party-was selected.All over the coun-try similar meetings were held and political committees were organized.
When the presidential campaign of 1856began the Republicans entered the contest.After a preliminary conference in Pittsburgh in February，they held a convention in Philadelphia at which was drawn up a platform opposing the extension of slavery to the territories.John C.Frémont，the distinguished explorer，was named for the presidency.The results of the election were astounding as compared with the Free-soil failure of the preceding election.Prominent men like Longfellow，Washington Irving，William Cullen Bryant，Ralph Waldo Emerson，and George William Curtis went over to the new party and 1，341，264votes were rolled up for "free labor，free speech，free men，free Kansas，and Frémont."Nevertheless the victory of the Democrats was decisive.Their candidate，James Buchanan of Pennsylvania，was elected by a majority of 174to 114electoral votes.
The Dred Scott Decision （1857）.-In his inaugural，Buchanan vaguely hinted that in a forthcoming decision the Supreme Court would settle one of the vital questions of the day.This was a reference to the Dred Scott case then pending.Scott was a slave who had been taken by his master into the upper Louisiana territory，where freedom had been established by the Missouri Com-promise，and then carried back into his old state of Missouri.He brought suit for his liberty on the ground that his residence in the free territory made him free.This raised the question whether the law of Congress prohibiting slavery north of 36°30'was authorized by the federal Constitution or not.The Court might have avoided answering it by saying that even though Scott was free in the territory，he became a slave again in Missouri by virtue of the law of that state.The Court，however，faced the issue squarely.It held that Scott had not been free anywhere and that，besides，the Missouri Compromise violated the Constitution and was null and void.
The decision was a triumph for the South.It meant that Congress after all had no power to abolish slavery in the territories.Under the decree of the highest court in the land，that could be done only by an amendment to the Constitution which required a two-thirds vote in Congress and the approval of three-fourths of the states.Such an amendment was obviously impossible-the Southern states were too numerous；but the Republicans were not daunted."We know，"said Lincoln，"the Court that made it has often overruled its own decisions and we shall do what we can to have it overrule this."Legislatures of Northern states passed resolutions condemning the decision and the Republican platform of 1860characterized the dogma that the Constitutioncarried slavery into the territories as "a dangerous political heresy at variance with the explicit provisions of that instrument itself ...with legislative and judicial precedent ...revolutionary in tendency and subversive of the peace and harmony of the country."
The Panic of 1857.In the midst of the acrimonious dispute over the Dred Scott decision，came one of the worst business panics which ever afflicted the country.In the spring and summer of 1857，fourteen railroad corporations，in-cluding the Erie，Michigan Central，and the Illinois Central，failed to meet their obligations；banks and insurance companies，some of them the largest and strongest institutions in the North，closed their doors；stocks and bonds came down in a crash on the markets；manufacturing was paralyzed；tens of thou-sands of working people were thrown out of employment；"hunger meetings"of idle men were held in the cities and banners bearing the inion，"We want bread，"were flung out.In New York，working men threatened to invade the Council Chamber to demand "work or bread，"and the frightened mayor called for the police and soldiers.For this distressing state of affairs many remedies were offered；none with more zeal and persistence than the proposal for a higher tariff to take the place of the law of March，1857，a Democratic measure making drastic reductions in the rates of duty.In the manufacturing districts of the North，the panic was ascribed to the "Democratic assault on business."So an old issue was again vigorously advanced，preparatory to the next presidential campaign.
