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The Constitutional Union party was a short-lived American political party created in 1860 to avoid the slavery problem and prevent the conflicts that led to the Civil War. Composed of conservative Whigs and Know-Nothings, it aimed to return to constitutional purity. The party became obsolete as Southern states seceded, and its goals hindered progress towards civil rights. Today, it is part of a turbulent period in antebellum American politics.
The Constitutional Union party is a historic American political party with a relatively short history. Created in 1860, the party had already become irrelevant in the following years as the country moved towards civil war. This political party emerged primarily as an attempt to avoid the slavery problem and prevent the conflicts that started the American Civil War.
The Constitutional Union party has also been called the Bell-Everett Party, after its presidential and vice presidential candidates. The party was largely made up of conservative Whigs and another group called the Know-Nothings. These groups promoted this party as a return to constitutional purity, where other issues such as slavery were to be avoided at the federal level. The party, according to its identifiers, was to “recognize no political principle…” other than the constitution.
As Southern states began to secede from the union, the Constitutional Union party’s goals became obsolete. Party members swung towards the Union or the Confederacy depending on their position and views on the abolition of slavery. Interestingly, in the final years before the American Civil War, this political party posed one of the last major challenges to the two-party system of Republican and Democratic candidates that has lasted for more than a century in the modern era.
Political analysts who identify the modern two-party system in different ways often focus on the challenges to the two dominant parties. Although third parties such as the Green Party and the Libertarian Party have challenged the two main parties at the local government level in recent years, the national electoral process has remained the responsibility of the Republican and Democratic parties. Some grassroots supporters of today’s thirds might look back on the history of parties like the Constitutional Union party to see how historical thirds have operated.
Historians also note that, as a product of their time, the Constitutional Union party’s goals hindered the progress toward civil rights that is now commonly preserved in modern American governments. For civil rights activists, this party’s doctrines represent insidious efforts to check the emergence of greater civil rights for minorities in America. Just like other political ideas of its era, this party’s ideals are still fraught with potential controversy. Today, the Constitutional Union party is basically part of a turbulent period in antebellum American politics.
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