Political developments in USA, 1854-56

The Emergence and Development of the Republican Party The Know-Nothing movement enjoyed astonishing growth (Farmer p. 84-86: Reasons). Native-born Protestant artisans and small businessmen in particular flocked to join it. In the 1854 elections Know Nothingism won striking local successes everywhere from New Hampshire to Texas (p. 86) and claimed 104 Congressional seats out of a total of 234. However, this should not be taken to mean that anti-foreignism and the Know-Nothings were proving more effective than antislavery and …

…support in the North, and the Kansas dispute was likely to be the last major issue of western expansion. Although tensions were running high in 1856, and each section was seeing the extremists increase their influence as their claims became more believable, the Republicans depended for their support on northerners continuing to believe in the threat of slavery expansion from the South. If Buchanan could defuse the tensions, then the Republicans would be without an issue.