A History of the Republican Party

by George Washington Platt

Another event had occurred to strengthen the adoption of the name Republican for the new party. On the morning after the final passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, a meeting of the Anti-Nebraska members of Congress was held in Washington, and the general political situation and its hopelessness was fully discussed. At this meeting the feasibility of the new party was talked over, and the members present decided to lend their aid to such a movement, and the name Republican was discussed and adopted.

In point of time, Michigan has the honor of being the first State to hold a Convention and formally adopt a platform containing the principles of the new party and using the name Republican. Late in May, and throughout June, 1854, a call was published and copies circulated for signing among the voters of Michigan, in which all citizens, "without reference to former political association," were called to assemble in Mass Convention on Thursday, July 6th, at 1 p. m., at Jackson, Michigan, "there to take such measures as shall be thought best to concentrate the popular sentiment in this State against the aggressions of the Slave Power." The meeting was overflowing in numbers and most enthusiastic and earnest in sentiment. A long and outspoken platform was unanimously adopted, setting forth something of the history of slavery, and denouncing it as a great moral, social and political wrong. The platform condemned the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; pledged the party to opposition to slavery extension; demanded the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and demanded an Act to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; spoke words of cheer to those who might settle in Kansas, and concluded:

"Resolved, That, in view of the necessity of battling for the first principles of Republican Government and against the schemes of aristocracy, the most revolting and oppressive with which the earth was ever cursed or man debased, we will co-operate and be known as Republicans until the contest be terminated."

The State Central Committee was chosen and the first Republican State Ticket in the United States was nominated, headed by Kinsley S. Bingham for Governor. One week later, on July 13th, chosen as the anniversary of the day on which the Ordinance of 1787 was adopted, State Conventions of the Anti-Nebraska members of all parties were held in Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana and Vermont. In Wisconsin and Vermont the name Republican was distinctly adopted, and in these two States, as well as in the others mentioned, platforms similar in sentiment to that of Michigan were agreed on. In Massachusetts the Convention met on July 20th and adopted the name Republican and an Anti-Nebraska platform, and nominated Henry Wilson for Governor, but the peculiar political situation in this State led to the election of the Know-Nothing candidates, but as far as opposition to slavery was concerned, the Know-Nothings in Massachusetts were Republican in sentiment, for they selected Henry Wilson for United States Senator.

Ohio was the first State to suggest a State Convention of the Anti-Nebraska sentiment; a preliminary meeting was held at Columbus March 22d, and was attended by Whigs, Free-Soilers and Democrats. The political situation was thoroughly discussed, and afterwards, as the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill became assured, a call was issued for a State Convention to be held on July 13th. At this Convention the name Republican was not formally adopted, but throughout the State in the Congressional Districts that name was common. In New York the Whigs refused to give up their party organization, but an Anti-Nebraska platform was adopted and the Whig candidate was elected on it. New York joined the Republican party in 1855, and Mr. Seward took his place as a leader of the party in that State. Maine was engrossed with local issues, and did not adopt the Republican organization in 1854, but returned Anti-Nebraska Congressmen. Pennsylvania also held to her old organizations, but returned Anti-Nebraska Congressmen, and the same situation occurred in Illinois. In Iowa the situation was peculiar, but nevertheless emphatic for the new organization. The Whigs held their Convention in that State on February 22d, before the Nebraska Bill had passed the Senate, and before the sentiment in the North had reached an acute stage. But before the election in August the Whig candidate, John W. Grimes, declared himself in favor of the Republican platform and name, and he was practically elected as a Republican Governor, the first in the United States. The South, of course, was solid for the Democratic Party, and no attempt at a Republican organization was made in the Southern States. In the other Northern States not already mentioned the sentiment gradually, but with some slowness, solidified in favor of the new party.

The presence of the American, or Know-Nothing Party, which had come into politics in 1852 as a secret organization, with the prevailing principle of "America for Americans," and which obtained its popular name of "Know-Nothing" because of the invariable answer of its members that they "knew nothing" of the organization, confused the political situation in 1854 and 1855, and makes it difficult to correctly analyze and state the political situation.

It is seen that the Republican Party was strong in the States which had been organized out of the Northwest Territory, but that the East and New England, while fully endorsing the platforms of the new party, entered reluctantly into the movement to adopt its name and organization. In the East there were four distinct parties, the Whigs, Democrats, Know-Nothings and Republicans, but in the West there were but two, the Democratic and Republican. There can be no question, however, that the sentiment of the Know-Nothing Party, which controlled many of the elections in the East during 1854 and 1855, was strongly Anti-Nebraska, and the success of that party in the North may safely be counted as expressing the sentiment of the new party.

The close of 1855 found the Republican Party well organized in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York and Indiana. In the several other States not mentioned it was rapidly gaining strength, and the prospects for the presidential campaign of 1856 looked fairly bright, and if the remnants of the Whig Party would retire from the field, and if the Anti-Nebraska Know-Nothings would vote with the new party, the chances for victory were exceedingly good. The struggle in Kansas between the free settlers from the North and the pro-slavery citizens from Missouri was now growing in bitterness, and reports of violence and blood-shed, which came from the scene of the conflict, set the North on fire with indignation and tended materially to solidify sentiment in favor of the Republican Party.

[Illustration: Schoolhouse at Ripon, Wisconsin, where the Republican Party was born.]

The Thirty-fourth Congress, which had been elected the preceding year, convened December 3, 1855, and the extent of the great political revolution which had taken place in the North was seen more clearly. The proud Democratic majority of 89 in the preceding House had been swept away, and the Thirty-fourth Congress, as near as it could be classified, which was indeed difficult, was made up of one hundred and seventeen Anti-Nebraska members, seventy-nine Democrats, and thirty-seven Pro-Slavery Whigs and Know-Nothings. After a contest of nine weeks, Nathaniel P. Banks, of Massachusetts, was chosen Speaker over the Southern candidate, and although during this first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress the opponents of slavery were without a party name or organization, the election of Banks was clearly a victory for the young party. Altogether the progress of the party in a period of less than two years had been most satisfactory, and if a strong presidential candidate could be obtained, and if great party leaders would appear, it was evident that the new party would stand an even chance of succeeding in the presidential election of 1856, and early preparations were made for the first great national political contest over the slavery question; a contest certain to be exciting and bitter in its events and portentous in results.