The new Republican Party became a national organization in 1856.
Former Senator Simon Cameron was in the Know Nothing organization but was smarting under his long and bitter contest for Senator in 1855, when he was defeated by former Governor William Bigler.
Colonel John W. Forney was chairman of Democratic State Committee and had absolute charge of the battle that was fought for the election of James Buchanan, to whom he was romantically attached.
In the event of Buchanan’s election Forney was assured the editorship of the Washington Union, the organ of the administration, and the Senate printing. There were subsequent developments which led the President to assent to the sacrifice of Forney, and when tendered a cabinet position, the President was forced to recall it.
President Buchanan then turned to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, which was still Democratic, and asked that Colonel Forney be elected United States Senator.
The Democratic Party was demoralized in 1856, when many of its most distinguished members supported Fremont, and in this condition, the party lines were rather closely drawn. The Senate stood fifteen Democrats to eighteen opposition, and the House had fifty-three Democrats to forty-seven opposition, giving the Democrats three majority on joint ballot.
The nomination of Forney was not cordially supported by those who were smarting under the defeat he had given them in October, but there were very few who were favorable to Cameron, and certainly not one-fourth of the members would have preferred him as a candidate.
But Cameron, with his exceptional shrewdness as a political manager, saw that he could depend upon the resentments against Forney among the opposition members to support him if he could assure them of his ability to defeat Forney.
Cameron was most fortunate in having in the Senate as one of his earnest friends Charles B. Penrose, of Philadelphia, a former Senator, and a man of ripe experience and great political sagacity. He was quite as earnest in his desire to punish Forney as he was to promote his friend, General Cameron.
Cameron was not nominated in the caucus, but had the assurance from Representatives Lebo, Manear and Wagonseller, all Democrats, that they would vote for him if their votes could elect him.