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1860 was also the first year of a brand new two-party system. The previous decade was unilateral Democrat rule while the Whigs died and Constitutionalists, Know
by hannasanarion 8y ago
1860 was also the first year of a brand new two-party system. The previous decade was unilateral Democrat rule while the Whigs died and Constitutionalists, Know-Nothings, and Republicans fought over the scraps. It was an unusual time.
- bilbo0s 8y agoYep. 1860 is more accurately characterized as the first year of the two party system. And the people only wanted another party because of the slavery issue. Literally, the only time we dealt with extremists, was when we first started the two party system. So it's disingenuous to say that 1860 was like today. It wasn't. At all. There is no new, powerful, upstart party that people can vote for to get away from the extremists today. There is no overriding issue that people can legitimately claim to be at once barbaric and deleterious to the republic. There is none of that. We just have two parties... who choose to be extreme for dubious reasons. So it hasn't been as polarized as it is today, ever really during the two party era. Today is way outside the norm. We haven't seen anything like this before. Of course, we've never had anything like our current leaders either. But that's a whole other issue. (A related issue though.)