Adrian & The Republican Party

Adrian and The Republican Party. . , Entering the 1850s, the Democratic Party was the nation's leading political party. The party identified with both state and individual rights, making it very popular in the South where whites feared that the North might use the federal government against their institution of slavery. The other main political party of this time period was the Whig Party. The Whigs were concerned with helping commerce and industry, and were also more sympathetic toward social issues than the Democrats. Unfortunately for the Whigs, the party fell apart in the 1850s. A smaller third party at this time was the Free Soil Pary, whose main purpose was to oppose slavery in the new territories and work to remove laws that discriminated against freed African Americans. In the summer of 1854, a large number of former Whigs and Free Soilers met in Jackson, MI new political organization to create a new political organization Republican Party. The political platform of the Republicans was free soil, free labor, and free men. Being the third largest city in Michigan at the time, Adrian's contingency played a significant role l at the new party's gathering “under the oaks” on July 6th. Adrian attorney (and future U.S. Congressman) Fernando Beaman led the Adrian delegation and served as vice-president of the Jackson convention. Additionally, a twenty-nine-year-old Adrian lawyer (and future Governor of Michigan) named Charles Croswell, served as one of the clerks at this first official Republican convention, Michigan's Republican Party was organized at the Jackson convention and would win control of state government in the fall election of 1854. In 1856, there was enough interest throughout the North for the Republicans to begin organizing a national party. Two years later, the Republicans controlled nearly all of the northern states, and by 1860 the Republican Party came to national power with the election of President Abraham Lincoln.