Antebellum America: The Birth of the Republican Party
Many people consider March 20, 1854 to be the date of birth of the Republican Party. It was on that day, at a meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin, that a group of anti-slavery activists held what is considered by many as the first public meeting of the party. In the course of the debate over the Nebraska bill, a man named Alvan Earl Bovay (pictured below) wrote to Horace Greeley on February 26, 1854, urging Greeley to use his newspaper, the New York Tribune, to call together every opponent of the Nebraska bill and unite them under the name Republican. A preliminary meeting was called by Bovay on March 1st, 1854 and it was resolved that if the Nebraska bill passed, a new party opposed to the principles of the bill should be formed. Greeley responded offering some support for the idea, but did not mention it in his paper.
Bovay was born in Adams, Jefferson County, New York, on July 12, 1818. he was graduated from Norwich University in Vermont at age 23 and began a career as a teacher in New York state. He later became Professor of Languages in the Bristol Military Academy before reading law and teaching school in new York City. It was there that he became secretary of the National Reform Association. He met and became a friend of Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune. Bovay was admitted to the bar in Utica, N. Y., in 1846. In late 1850, he he moved to Wisconsin and settled in Ripon where he began the practice of law. He became a member of the Whig Party, but could see the writing on the wall which predicted that party's disintegration.
During the National Whig Convention in 1852, Bovay was visiting in New York City, where he met Greeley for lunch in the Lovejoy Hotel. Bovay correctly predicted that General Winfield Scott would be chosen as the Whig Party's presidential nominee, even though at the time Scott was not in the lead. Greeley felt confident of a Whig victory in the next election, while Bovay correctly predicted the defeat of the Whig party. The issue of slavery had become as much of a political as of a moral issue, and Bovay told Greeley that it was time for the formation of a new party that would bring together all of the anti-slavery elements of all of the other parties. When asked by Greeley what name he would give to the new party, Bovay suggested the name "Republican."
Bovay returned to Wisconsin and continued to support the Whig party. His prediction about the defeat of General Scott came true, and after the presidential election of 1852 the Whig party disintegrated. Many of the old party members joined the new American or "Know-Nothing" party that had just been organized. This was a time of intense polarization and unrest throughout the country and a time when people seemed to be losing confidence in their political leaders.
During the Congressional session of 1853-54, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois introduced the "Kansas- Nebraska Bill". The bill caused a storm of indignation from the anti-slavery factions in the North. Bovay and his followers were convinced that the time had come to take some form of action. On February 26, 1854, when the Nebraska Bill was before the senate, Bovay wrote to Greeley explaining how- strong the feeling was in his area against the Nebraska Bill. He told Greeley that since the New York Tribune was the leading paper in the country, he urged him to mount a call for unity among the bill's opponents. Bovay told Greeley that these groups should band them together under the name Republican
Bovay called for a meeting in Ripon. The meeting's notice read: "NEBRASKA. A meeting wall be held at 6:30 o'clock this Wednesday evening at the Congregational Church in the Village of Ripon to remonstrate against the Nebraska swindle." This meeting was held on Wednesday, March 1, 1854. At the meeting a resolution was adopted, which read as follows:
"Resolved, That of all the outrages hitherto perpetrated or attempted upon the North and freedom by the slave leaders and their natural allies, not one com¬ pares in bold and impudent audacity, treachery and meanness with this, the Nebraska Bill; as to the sum of all its villainies it adds the repudiation of a solemn compact held as sacred as the constitution itself for a period of thirty- four years."
A resolution was also adopted which stated that if the Nebraska Bill, then pending in the senate, should pass, they would cast off their old party organizations and form a new party directly opposed to the principles of the Nebraska Bill. On March 3 the Nebraska Bill passed the Senate. Bovay decided to call a second meeting for more definite action and to attempt to create a new party. Greeley's letter in reply, dated March 7, agreed with the plan of organizing a party if there was sufficient public support, but Greeley did not make any mention of the idea in the Tribune.
The second meeting was held in the school-house of district No. 2 on Monday evening, March 20, 1854. Bovay personally went from house to house and from business to business. He even stopped men on the street to get their names for the meeting. Out of the 100 voters in Ripon, 54 showed up to the meeting, composed mainly of Whigs, Democrats and Free-Soil party members. They met at 6:30 p. m., filling the school-house. After length deliberation, a formal vote was held and committees of the Free-Soil and Whig parties were dissolved and a the committee of the new party was formed.
The Nebraska Bill passed the House on May 22, 1854. The next day about thirty anti-slavery members of the House of Representatives from both of the major parties held a meeting and discussed organizing a new party under the name "Republican". President Franklin Pierce signed the bill into law on May 30, 1854.
On June 7, 1854, a state convention was held in Strong, Maine for prohibitionists and anti-slavery Democrats. At this meeting C. J. Talbot, the presiding officer, delivered an address calling for a combination of these two parties with the old-line Whigs under the name of "The Republican Party." This suggestion had considerable support. Today Maine Republicans claim that this was the first time that the name Republican Party was used in a public assembly, though this in contradicted by the reports of Bovay's gathering in Wisconsin. A convention was held in Strong on August 7, 1854, and the name Republican was adopted for the party.
On June 12 Bovay once again wrote to Greeley urging him to put forth the name Republican into his publication. On June 24, an article appeared in the Weekly Tribune, entitled "Party Names and Public Duty," in which the editor recommended the name Republican, previously suggested to him by Mr. Bovay, to designate those who had united to pursue the goals of anti-slavery. Greeley learned that a convention had been called in Michigan to protest the Nebraska Bill and he wrote to Mr. Jacob M. Howard, suggesting that the convention adopt the name Republican for the party that he thought was about to be formed. The Anti-Nebraska convention in Michigan met at Jackson on July 6 and gave the name Republican to the party.
Several other state conventions followed uniting opposition to the Nebraska bill. At such conventions, both Wisconsin and Vermont chose the name Republican. In July Asher N. Cole, editor of an Alleghany County New York newspaper, called a mass meeting of anti-slavery voters at Friendship in that county. It also adopted the name Republican Party and for years afterward in western New York, Cole was referred to as the "Father of the Republican Party." A convention of anti-slavery men was held in New York state on August 16, and another on .September 27. A convention was also held in Massachusetts on September 7. The anti-slavery state conventions which were held during the summer and fall of 1854 resulted in an electoral changes in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Fifteen states showed anti-slavery pluralities in the House and eleven Senators were either elected as Republicans voted with the new party.
An informal convention for the purpose of creating a national organization was held in Pittsburgh, on February 22, 1856. This convention met in response to a call issued by the chairmen of the Republican state committees of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. Twenty-four delegates were present and the name Republican was adopted for the national party. Delegates declared that the object and purpose of the new party was its opposition to the extension of slavery into free territory. Present at this convention were Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln. At this convention a Republican National Committee was formed.
The first national delegate convention met in Philadelphia on June 17, 1856, selected because it was the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The convention nominated John C. Fremont of California for President and William L. Dayton of New Jersey for Vice-President. Meanwhile, opposition to the Nebraska Bill was growing within the Democratic Party also. Opponents included Salmon Chase of Ohio, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Edward Wade of Ohio, Gerrit Smith of New York, and Preston King also of New York. Chase and Sumner had been considered as presidential candidates for the new party, but each requested that his name be withdrawn from nomination.
Although Fremont lost the election of 1856, it was clear that his position was the prevailing one in the free states and that slavery had become an intensely polarizing issue. In the free states, there was a three-way campaign, which Frémont won with 45.2% of the vote to 41.5% for Democrat James Buchanan and 13.3% for Know-Nothing candidate Millard Fillmore. In these states, Frémont received 114 electoral votes to 62 for Buchanan. In the slave states, however, Fremont was shut out. Buchanan won 56.1% of the vote to 43.8% for Fillmore and 0.1% for Frémont. Buchanan won 112 electoral votes, compared to 8 for Fillmore. Nationwide, Buchanan won 174 electoral votes, enough for a majority. Frémont received no votes in ten of the fourteen slave states with a popular vote. He received votes in only four slave states: 306 in Delaware, 285 in Maryland, 283 in Virginia, and 314 in Kentucky.
Bovay was born in Adams, Jefferson County, New York, on July 12, 1818. he was graduated from Norwich University in Vermont at age 23 and began a career as a teacher in New York state. He later became Professor of Languages in the Bristol Military Academy before reading law and teaching school in new York City. It was there that he became secretary of the National Reform Association. He met and became a friend of Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune. Bovay was admitted to the bar in Utica, N. Y., in 1846. In late 1850, he he moved to Wisconsin and settled in Ripon where he began the practice of law. He became a member of the Whig Party, but could see the writing on the wall which predicted that party's disintegration.
During the National Whig Convention in 1852, Bovay was visiting in New York City, where he met Greeley for lunch in the Lovejoy Hotel. Bovay correctly predicted that General Winfield Scott would be chosen as the Whig Party's presidential nominee, even though at the time Scott was not in the lead. Greeley felt confident of a Whig victory in the next election, while Bovay correctly predicted the defeat of the Whig party. The issue of slavery had become as much of a political as of a moral issue, and Bovay told Greeley that it was time for the formation of a new party that would bring together all of the anti-slavery elements of all of the other parties. When asked by Greeley what name he would give to the new party, Bovay suggested the name "Republican."
Bovay returned to Wisconsin and continued to support the Whig party. His prediction about the defeat of General Scott came true, and after the presidential election of 1852 the Whig party disintegrated. Many of the old party members joined the new American or "Know-Nothing" party that had just been organized. This was a time of intense polarization and unrest throughout the country and a time when people seemed to be losing confidence in their political leaders.
During the Congressional session of 1853-54, Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois introduced the "Kansas- Nebraska Bill". The bill caused a storm of indignation from the anti-slavery factions in the North. Bovay and his followers were convinced that the time had come to take some form of action. On February 26, 1854, when the Nebraska Bill was before the senate, Bovay wrote to Greeley explaining how- strong the feeling was in his area against the Nebraska Bill. He told Greeley that since the New York Tribune was the leading paper in the country, he urged him to mount a call for unity among the bill's opponents. Bovay told Greeley that these groups should band them together under the name Republican
Bovay called for a meeting in Ripon. The meeting's notice read: "NEBRASKA. A meeting wall be held at 6:30 o'clock this Wednesday evening at the Congregational Church in the Village of Ripon to remonstrate against the Nebraska swindle." This meeting was held on Wednesday, March 1, 1854. At the meeting a resolution was adopted, which read as follows:
"Resolved, That of all the outrages hitherto perpetrated or attempted upon the North and freedom by the slave leaders and their natural allies, not one com¬ pares in bold and impudent audacity, treachery and meanness with this, the Nebraska Bill; as to the sum of all its villainies it adds the repudiation of a solemn compact held as sacred as the constitution itself for a period of thirty- four years."
A resolution was also adopted which stated that if the Nebraska Bill, then pending in the senate, should pass, they would cast off their old party organizations and form a new party directly opposed to the principles of the Nebraska Bill. On March 3 the Nebraska Bill passed the Senate. Bovay decided to call a second meeting for more definite action and to attempt to create a new party. Greeley's letter in reply, dated March 7, agreed with the plan of organizing a party if there was sufficient public support, but Greeley did not make any mention of the idea in the Tribune.
The second meeting was held in the school-house of district No. 2 on Monday evening, March 20, 1854. Bovay personally went from house to house and from business to business. He even stopped men on the street to get their names for the meeting. Out of the 100 voters in Ripon, 54 showed up to the meeting, composed mainly of Whigs, Democrats and Free-Soil party members. They met at 6:30 p. m., filling the school-house. After length deliberation, a formal vote was held and committees of the Free-Soil and Whig parties were dissolved and a the committee of the new party was formed.
The Nebraska Bill passed the House on May 22, 1854. The next day about thirty anti-slavery members of the House of Representatives from both of the major parties held a meeting and discussed organizing a new party under the name "Republican". President Franklin Pierce signed the bill into law on May 30, 1854.
On June 7, 1854, a state convention was held in Strong, Maine for prohibitionists and anti-slavery Democrats. At this meeting C. J. Talbot, the presiding officer, delivered an address calling for a combination of these two parties with the old-line Whigs under the name of "The Republican Party." This suggestion had considerable support. Today Maine Republicans claim that this was the first time that the name Republican Party was used in a public assembly, though this in contradicted by the reports of Bovay's gathering in Wisconsin. A convention was held in Strong on August 7, 1854, and the name Republican was adopted for the party.
On June 12 Bovay once again wrote to Greeley urging him to put forth the name Republican into his publication. On June 24, an article appeared in the Weekly Tribune, entitled "Party Names and Public Duty," in which the editor recommended the name Republican, previously suggested to him by Mr. Bovay, to designate those who had united to pursue the goals of anti-slavery. Greeley learned that a convention had been called in Michigan to protest the Nebraska Bill and he wrote to Mr. Jacob M. Howard, suggesting that the convention adopt the name Republican for the party that he thought was about to be formed. The Anti-Nebraska convention in Michigan met at Jackson on July 6 and gave the name Republican to the party.
Several other state conventions followed uniting opposition to the Nebraska bill. At such conventions, both Wisconsin and Vermont chose the name Republican. In July Asher N. Cole, editor of an Alleghany County New York newspaper, called a mass meeting of anti-slavery voters at Friendship in that county. It also adopted the name Republican Party and for years afterward in western New York, Cole was referred to as the "Father of the Republican Party." A convention of anti-slavery men was held in New York state on August 16, and another on .September 27. A convention was also held in Massachusetts on September 7. The anti-slavery state conventions which were held during the summer and fall of 1854 resulted in an electoral changes in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Fifteen states showed anti-slavery pluralities in the House and eleven Senators were either elected as Republicans voted with the new party.
An informal convention for the purpose of creating a national organization was held in Pittsburgh, on February 22, 1856. This convention met in response to a call issued by the chairmen of the Republican state committees of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. Twenty-four delegates were present and the name Republican was adopted for the national party. Delegates declared that the object and purpose of the new party was its opposition to the extension of slavery into free territory. Present at this convention were Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln. At this convention a Republican National Committee was formed.
The first national delegate convention met in Philadelphia on June 17, 1856, selected because it was the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The convention nominated John C. Fremont of California for President and William L. Dayton of New Jersey for Vice-President. Meanwhile, opposition to the Nebraska Bill was growing within the Democratic Party also. Opponents included Salmon Chase of Ohio, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Edward Wade of Ohio, Gerrit Smith of New York, and Preston King also of New York. Chase and Sumner had been considered as presidential candidates for the new party, but each requested that his name be withdrawn from nomination.
Although Fremont lost the election of 1856, it was clear that his position was the prevailing one in the free states and that slavery had become an intensely polarizing issue. In the free states, there was a three-way campaign, which Frémont won with 45.2% of the vote to 41.5% for Democrat James Buchanan and 13.3% for Know-Nothing candidate Millard Fillmore. In these states, Frémont received 114 electoral votes to 62 for Buchanan. In the slave states, however, Fremont was shut out. Buchanan won 56.1% of the vote to 43.8% for Fillmore and 0.1% for Frémont. Buchanan won 112 electoral votes, compared to 8 for Fillmore. Nationwide, Buchanan won 174 electoral votes, enough for a majority. Frémont received no votes in ten of the fourteen slave states with a popular vote. He received votes in only four slave states: 306 in Delaware, 285 in Maryland, 283 in Virginia, and 314 in Kentucky.