ABSTRACT
America's Second Party System began and ended amidst political tumult. It started with John Quincy Adams allegedly stealing the presidency from Andrew Jackson in 1824-25 and ended on the eve of the Civil War. Overshadowing all other issues during the antebellum era was the debate over slavery and the consequent drift toward Civil War. By 1824, only the Democratic-Republicans existed as a viable national party. But without Federalist opposition to keep them united, Democratic-Republicans began to factionalize. Although the American electorate in 1828 still was majority Anglo-Saxon, candidates understood that there were sufficient numbers of Scots-Irish and Catholic Irish voters who would punish anyone at the polls whom they perceived as overly pro-British. In the mid-nineteenth century, Catholics in Ireland strongly favored the repeal of the Act of Union of 1800. Irish Americans feared the slavery stance of the Republican Party would lead the country into a devastating war.
