All the way from the 1770s to the 1850s, Americans had plenty of political disagreements, but nothing ever seriously disrupted the machinery of state until abolitionists and planters began forcing the slavery issue. Prior to the election of 1856, some much-needed rearrangement occurred in politics. In 1856, the newly-minted Republican Party lost on the back of John C. Frémont, but they gained crucial insight out of the election. The Republicans realized that they could take over the White House without a single vote from the Southern states. In 1860, along came an ambitious Republican from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, who used the trail blazed by early libertarians.

How did the Republican Party arise? What happened to the Free Soilers and Whigs in response to the birth of the Republican party? Who was the New American Party? Who were the “Know-Nothings”? Was there a Loco-Foco Party?

Further Reading:

James Buchanan: Campaigns and Elections, written by William Cooper

United States presidential election of 1856, written by Richard Pallardy

Gienapp, William. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856. New York: Oxford University Press. 1987.

Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995.

Music by Kai Engel

Related Content:

There’s No Excuse for Slavery (Updated), Liberty Chronicles Episode

Whiggery’s Last Gasp, Liberty Chronicles Episode

Free Soil After Van Buren, Liberty Chronicles Episode

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