Factor 1: Who decides to run for office and what advantages candidates have over one another.
Factor 2: Incumbency. Usually the incumbent (the person already serving in the office) has a large advantage over challengers, unless negative events have the voters wanting to get rid of incumbents.
Factor 3: The way congressional districts are drawn. There have been court cases recently about "gerrymandering" -- attempts by a party in power to draw district boundaries in ways that will serve to perpetuate that party's power.
The U.S was made when the 13 colonies declared their independence in 1776
At the Battle of Gettysburg, It was a crushing blow to rebel morale. Their nearly undefeated hero, general Lee, had been defeated. Of course, it was a huge morale boost for the Union, who had been grumbling about the war in the East because of the invincible Lee. In addition, after the Battle of Gettysburg, two great speeches were given, one by the president himself. He showed how the Union needed to keep fighting this war to keep the greatest nation from leaving the earth and so that the country could truly be one where all men (or people) could be equal. At Vicksburg, it was more of a military advantage. In addition to being a highly defensible location to put things of high importance in, it also completed the final piece of the Mississippi River. With the Union controlling all of the river, the Union could split the enemy in 2. This completed part of the Anaconda Plan.The Union could also use the river as a platform for transportation of troops, supplies, and as an artillery platform with their new ironclads. I think that the Battle of Gettysburg would have been more important. There was already low morale in the Union army. They were asking thrmselves why they were fighting a war to get people back into out country that didn't want to be here. Already, nearly 200 thousand casualties had taken place. They thought this was far too much to end slavery. If Lee had not finally been defeated, Vicksburg would never have happened, and the outcome of the civil war could have been very different.
