Final answer:
The realigning event between 1800 and 1860 was the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. This event led to the secession of southern states and the Civil War, which aimed to preserve the Union and address slavery.
Step-by-step explanation:
Realigning Events between 1800 and 1860
The period of 1800-1860 was marked by several realigning events that shaped the political, social, and economic landscape of the United States. The most significant of these events was the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, which represented a turning point in the nation's history.
The Republican Party, committed to preventing the expansion of slavery, won the presidency, causing shockwaves through the southern states. This election catalyzed the secession of eleven southern states, leading to the formation of the Confederate States of America and the onset of the Civil War, a conflict that sought to preserve the Union and address the contentious issue of slavery.
Earlier, the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century had sharpened political differences and led to schisms within major Protestant churches, which mirrored the growing sectional divide. Additionally, the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and the subsequent violent events in Kansas laid the groundwork for the Republicans to supersede the Whigs in the two-party system. Furthermore, the Readjuster movement in Virginia during the 1880s, although outside of the specified timeframe, can also be seen as a later response to the unresolved tensions and factionalism that these earlier realignments caused.
Through strife and turmoil, the period leading up to the Civil War was rife with sectional tensions, with disputes over state debts, taxation, and especially the expansion of slavery all acting as realignments that redefined and foreshadowed the fractures that would soon erupt into war.