Birthplace of Republican Party

Birthplace of Republican Party. . In 1852 Alvan Earle Bovay of Ripon met with Horace Greeley in New York and advocated dissolution of the Whig Party and formation of a new party to fuse together anti-slavery elements. At the same time he suggested the name "Republican" because he felt "it was a good name.....with charm and prestige." , The opportunity to act came in January 1854 when Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which permitted the extension of slavery beyond the limits of the earlier Missouri Compromise. Three months' debate on the bill created upheavals in all the existing political parties. , When the bill passed the Senate on March 3, 1854, Bovay promptly called a meeting of 53 voters in the little white schoolhouse to organize a new party. Years later Bovay recalled: "We went into the little meeting, Whigs, Free Soilers, and Democrats. We came out Republicans, and we were the first Republicans in the Union." , On February 22, 1856 a convention was held at Pittsburgh to establish a national organization and the name "Republican" was adopted for the new party. Among those present were Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln.