The election of 1852 marked the final collapse of The Whigs. The deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster that year severely weakened the party, and the Compromise of 1850 fractured the Whigs along pro- and anti-slavery lines.
The Republican party actually rose out of a split in both the Whig and Democratic parties. Northern Dems and Northern Whigs became anti-slavery Republicans while Southerners became pro-slavery Democrats.
