The Whig Party's decline in the 1850s led to the rise of two different movements which attracted similar constituencies. Antislavery men such as Seward and Lincoln had hoped to turn the Whig Party into a antislavery party opposed to further expansion of slavery. After the Kansas-Nebraska fiasco, antislavery rage in the North eventually burst into the creation of the Republican Party.
The other movement was of course the Know-Nothings, officially called the American Party which was elevated by popular fears of the country being overwhelmed by Catholic immigrants. They believed that Catholicism was contrary to republican values, and sought to curb immigration and their influence. One big difference between the two is that the Know-Nothings were not sectional (while the GOP was obviously confined to the North), and commitment to the 'Union' was paramount, and like the former Whigs wanted the slavery issue solved by compromise. The antislavery men and nativists also shared constituencies. The same rural Protestant Northern antislavery men were likewise not to favorable to the hard-drinking immigrants from Ireland.
After Kansas-Nebraska put the slavery issue to the forefront however, the Know-Nothings, like the country, proved unable to compromise on the slavery issue. Southern Know-Nothings ran Millard Fillmore while Northern Know-Nothings endorsed Fremont. With immigration a secondary issue, the nativists were largely forced to go with the Republicans, who under men like Lincoln and Seward nativism was certainly not predominant.
So what if this was reversed? Say instead of OTL's Kansas Nebraska Act, could there be some sort of event to make the Know-Nothing movement eclipse the antislavery movement? Maybe without the Kansas-Nebraska act there might be an attempt made at Cuba, which would mean war with Catholic Spain, creating anti-Catholic riots even worse than OTL.
If something like this happens, with slavery and it's expansion put on the shelf temporarily, I figure the Civil War would at least be postponed (although once the immigration issue dies down I figure it will be top on everybody's list again).
The other movement was of course the Know-Nothings, officially called the American Party which was elevated by popular fears of the country being overwhelmed by Catholic immigrants. They believed that Catholicism was contrary to republican values, and sought to curb immigration and their influence. One big difference between the two is that the Know-Nothings were not sectional (while the GOP was obviously confined to the North), and commitment to the 'Union' was paramount, and like the former Whigs wanted the slavery issue solved by compromise. The antislavery men and nativists also shared constituencies. The same rural Protestant Northern antislavery men were likewise not to favorable to the hard-drinking immigrants from Ireland.
After Kansas-Nebraska put the slavery issue to the forefront however, the Know-Nothings, like the country, proved unable to compromise on the slavery issue. Southern Know-Nothings ran Millard Fillmore while Northern Know-Nothings endorsed Fremont. With immigration a secondary issue, the nativists were largely forced to go with the Republicans, who under men like Lincoln and Seward nativism was certainly not predominant.
So what if this was reversed? Say instead of OTL's Kansas Nebraska Act, could there be some sort of event to make the Know-Nothing movement eclipse the antislavery movement? Maybe without the Kansas-Nebraska act there might be an attempt made at Cuba, which would mean war with Catholic Spain, creating anti-Catholic riots even worse than OTL.
If something like this happens, with slavery and it's expansion put on the shelf temporarily, I figure the Civil War would at least be postponed (although once the immigration issue dies down I figure it will be top on everybody's list again).