Section #1 - The Life of Abraham Lincoln
Chapter 46: Turmoil Surrounding Kansas Spawns the Birth of the Republican Party
1856
(See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
As the 1856 presidential race approaches, the search is underway in the North for a new party capable of defeating the Democrats and the Slavocracy. Grass roots gatherings begin in Ripon, Wisconsin and various other towns in the Midwest and New England. They soon coalesce into the Republican Party.
Members include a fusion of Wilmot men and Free Soilers. The vast majority want Whites to have exclusive ownership over the western territories, and are virulent racists seeking to “cleanse” America of all blacks. The minority includes Abolitionists, morally opposed to the expansion of slavery and residual, moderate Whigs, like Lincoln, who mainly seek compromises to save the Union.
As improbable as this mix is, they all share opposition to the Southern dominated Democrats and unite under the Republican banner.
Their first presidential nominee is John C. Fremont, famous as The Pathfinder for his early mapping expedition of the west, and for his part in the Bear Flag Rebellion in California during the Mexican War. But the party proves unable to organize an effective national campaign, and James Buchanan sweeps to victory based on Electoral College votes in the South.