Answer:
The Democratic Party was split in two over the issue of slavery in the 1860s.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the years before 1860, due to the divided nature of their opponents and the consistent exploitation of certain features of the Constitution, the Democrats managed to control the federal government, although only a minority of voters supported them. Before the Civil War, the party faced an ordeal because of the slave question. During the presidential election in 1860, it split and sent different candidates in the race for the presidency in the north and south. When the Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected because of this disagreement, this triggered the Civil War. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the Republicans dominated the south and initially also parts of the north, because many who had worked with the Confederacy were deprived of their right to vote during Reconstruction. Only with the end of the Reconstruction did the Democrats play an important role again at the national level. Their bastion of power was mainly in the south (Solid South), but also in the big cities of the north, where it found support among workers, immigrants and Catholics.