Entry from
May 23, 2005
Republican Party (1854)
(Oxford English Dictionary)
In U.S. politics (with capital) as the distinguishing epithet of a special party, its principles, measures, etc.
Originally applied to the Anti-Federal party which latterly became the DEMOCRATIC; but subsequently a party opposed to this (formed in 1854 to resist the extension of slave territory), which favoured liberal interpretation of the constitution, extension of the central power, and a protective tariff.
The Republican party formed in 1854 is now a predominantly conservative party, favouring agricultural, commercial, and financial interests and a limited central government (see M. M. Mathews Dict. Americanisms, 1951, and Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Polit. Terms, 1962, for further details of the development of this sense).
1806 TALLMADGE in M. Cutler's Life, etc. (1888) II. 326 Our exclusive republican Brethren, those dear Lovers of the people. 1839 [see FEDERAL a. 3]. 1854 A. E. BOVAY Let. 26 Feb. in F. Curtis Republican Party (1904) I. vi. 177 Urge them..to band together under the name I suggested to you at Lovejoy's Hotel in 1852. I mean the name 'Republican'. 1856 Porter's Spirit of Times 4 Oct. 71/1 New Jersey..[was] discovered by the late Republican Convention, in their explorations for a candidate for Vice President. 1862 J. M. LUDLOW Hist. U.S. 61 The other party, then [1793] called the Republican party (a name, you must observe, which has entirely changed in modern days, and is now applied to a party the true successor of the old Federal one). 1866 Chambers' Encycl. s.v., The Federalist, National Republican, Whig, and Republican party has been essentially the same.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h141.html
The founding event of the Republican Party is a matter of some dispute. Some point to a mass meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin in March 1854; others cite a later gathering in Jackson, Michigan. In any event, there appeared to be a spontaneous outpouring of anger following passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Large public meetings were held in numerous Northern communities, some of which used the term "Republican."
The ranks of the emerging Republican Party were filled by the following:
Northern Whigs united in their opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, but leaderless following the deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, both in 1852
The Free-Soil Party, which had played a spoiler role in several presidential elections, but now was bereft of effective leadership
The Know-Nothing movement, whose roots lay in the fear of immigrants in general and Roman Catholics in particular
Northern Democrats who deserted their Southern cousins over the slavery issue.
15 July 1854, Janesville (WI) Daily Gazette, pg. 6?, col. 2:
On the re-assembling of the convention, speeches were made by Messrs. J. A. Sleeper, Dunn, Stebbins, McKee, Johnson, J. S. Mills, Both, &c., and the speaking continued until 10 o'clock when the convention adjourned with three times three cheers for the "Republican Party."
In U.S. politics (with capital) as the distinguishing epithet of a special party, its principles, measures, etc.
Originally applied to the Anti-Federal party which latterly became the DEMOCRATIC; but subsequently a party opposed to this (formed in 1854 to resist the extension of slave territory), which favoured liberal interpretation of the constitution, extension of the central power, and a protective tariff.
The Republican party formed in 1854 is now a predominantly conservative party, favouring agricultural, commercial, and financial interests and a limited central government (see M. M. Mathews Dict. Americanisms, 1951, and Sperber & Trittschuh Amer. Polit. Terms, 1962, for further details of the development of this sense).
1806 TALLMADGE in M. Cutler's Life, etc. (1888) II. 326 Our exclusive republican Brethren, those dear Lovers of the people. 1839 [see FEDERAL a. 3]. 1854 A. E. BOVAY Let. 26 Feb. in F. Curtis Republican Party (1904) I. vi. 177 Urge them..to band together under the name I suggested to you at Lovejoy's Hotel in 1852. I mean the name 'Republican'. 1856 Porter's Spirit of Times 4 Oct. 71/1 New Jersey..[was] discovered by the late Republican Convention, in their explorations for a candidate for Vice President. 1862 J. M. LUDLOW Hist. U.S. 61 The other party, then [1793] called the Republican party (a name, you must observe, which has entirely changed in modern days, and is now applied to a party the true successor of the old Federal one). 1866 Chambers' Encycl. s.v., The Federalist, National Republican, Whig, and Republican party has been essentially the same.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h141.html
The founding event of the Republican Party is a matter of some dispute. Some point to a mass meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin in March 1854; others cite a later gathering in Jackson, Michigan. In any event, there appeared to be a spontaneous outpouring of anger following passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Large public meetings were held in numerous Northern communities, some of which used the term "Republican."
The ranks of the emerging Republican Party were filled by the following:
Northern Whigs united in their opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, but leaderless following the deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, both in 1852
The Free-Soil Party, which had played a spoiler role in several presidential elections, but now was bereft of effective leadership
The Know-Nothing movement, whose roots lay in the fear of immigrants in general and Roman Catholics in particular
Northern Democrats who deserted their Southern cousins over the slavery issue.
15 July 1854, Janesville (WI) Daily Gazette, pg. 6?, col. 2:
On the re-assembling of the convention, speeches were made by Messrs. J. A. Sleeper, Dunn, Stebbins, McKee, Johnson, J. S. Mills, Both, &c., and the speaking continued until 10 o'clock when the convention adjourned with three times three cheers for the "Republican Party."