Political Issues which divide campaigns are most commonly known as Wedge Issues. Wedge Issues most often occur within one political party (resulting in party divisions) but in rare cases they can signify an issue difference between two opposing parties. In the election of 1800 the wedge Issue seemed to be Slavery. The Slavery issue in 1800 divided the Republican Party, in that it pitted Republican leaders like Thomas Jefferson (who believed that a little Rebellion was good every once and a while) against Republicans who believed that the rightful order of the land must be preserved and slave uprising like Gabriel Prosser’s must be squashed. Another Wedge Issue in 1800 occurred on the part of the Federalist Party. A portion of the Federalist Party in 1800 wanted to go war with France, for a variety of reasons, but their Federalist leader at the time President John Adams was adamantly opposed to any war with France. This Wedge Issue of war pitted (coupled with other things) Federalist leaders like John Adams against Federalist Leaders like Alexander Hamilton. In 2008 parallels can be drawn as far as party divisions based on wedge issues. The wedge issue in 2008 for the Republican Party seems to be Immigration. During the primary stages of the campaign (where there were several candidates vying for the nomination) candidates like Rudy Giuliani advocated for bans against drivers licenses for illegal immigrates, http://blogs.trb.com/news/politics/blog/2007/11/immigration_the_wedge_issue_of.htmlwhere John McCain advocates for temporary worker Programs http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/12/02/mccain_immigration_views_have_hurt_him/8174/. Wedge Issues can be found across party lines as well with the Democrats advocating for a troop withdraw from Iraq, and a majority of Republican’s advocating a “maintain the course attitude”. As previously mentioned wedge issues have divided political campaigns for over 200 years, and will continue to do so for the next 200.
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