US and Virginia History SOL Practice Test 2026 - Free History SOL Practice Questions and Study Guide

Fights over slavery in new territories showed that the existing political parties weren’t providing a united stance on the most divisive issue. When the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed residents to decide slavery by popular vote, Kansas became a battleground between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces, a period known as Bleeding Kansas. To answer the clash, anti-slavery activists from different backgrounds—former Whigs, Free-Soilers, and anti-slavery Democrats—joined together to form a new party focused on stopping the expansion of slavery into new territories and states. This coalition gave birth to the Republican Party around 1854, which quickly rose as the main Northern opposition to the Democrats and played a central role in the politics leading up to the Civil War.