Overview -- The Second American Party System

Political Parties
The Democratic Party

The National Republican Party

The Antimasonic Party

The Whig Party

Nativist and Antislavery Third Parties

The Republican Party

The Know Nothing Party

The American System and Whig Political-Economy

The Political-Economy of the Democratic Party

Pivotal Events
The Presidential Election of 1840

The Mexican War

The Wilmot Proviso

The Compromise of 1850

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Bleeding Kansas

The Dred Scott Decision

The Presidential Election of 1860

Political Culture -- Social Groups, Movements and Political Ideas
States' Rights

Abolitionism

Slavery and Slavery Extension

Free Blacks and American Racial Attitudes in Politics

Nativism

Women in Politics