Abraham Lincoln Republican – Before he Joined the Party

From the early 1830s, Lincoln was a steadfast Whig and professed to friends in 1861 to be “an old line Whig, a disciple of Henry Clay”.

The party, including Lincoln, favored economic modernization in banking, tariffs to fund internal improvements including railroads, and urbanization.

Drawing on the antislavery portion of the Whig Party, and combining Free Soil, Liberty, and antislavery Democratic Party members, the new Republican Party formed as a northern party dedicated to antislavery.

Lincoln resisted early recruiting attempts, fearing that it would serve as a platform for extreme abolitionists.

In the 1854 elections, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature but declined to take his seat. As the 1856 elections approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans.

Abraham Lincoln Republican

He attended the May 1856 Bloomington Convention, which formally established the Illinois Republican Party.

The convention platform asserted that Congress had the right to regulate slavery in the territories and called for the immediate admission of Kansas as a free state.

Lincoln gave the final speech of the convention, in which he endorsed the party platform. He also called for the preservation of the Union.

At the June 1856 Republican National Convention, Lincoln received significant support to run for vice president, though the party nominated William Dayton to run with John C. Frémont. Lincoln supported the Republican ticket, campaigning throughout Illinois.

The Democrats nominated former Ambassador James Buchanan, who had been out of the country since 1853. Later he had avoided the slavery debate, while the Know Nothings nominated former Whig President Millard Fillmore.

Buchanan defeated both his challengers. Republican William Henry Bissell won election as Governor of Illinois. Lincoln’s vigorous campaigning had made him the leading Republican in Illinois.

Though he lacked the broad support of Republican Senator William H. Seward of New York, Lincoln believed that he could emerge as the Republican presidential nominee at the convention after multiple ballots.

Lincoln spent much of 1859 and 1860 building support for his candidacy. His Cooper Union speech was well-received by eastern elites.

Lincoln carried all but one Northern state to win an Electoral College majority. He won 180 votes to 72 for Breckinridge, 39 for Bell, and 12 for Douglas. Nationwide, Lincoln took 39.8% of the popular vote, while Douglas won 29.5% of the popular vote, Breckenridge won 18.1%, and Bell won 12.6%.