Editing Kansas–Nebraska Act (section)

=== Destruction of the Whig party ===
{{Main|History of the Republican Party (United States)#Beginnings: 1854–1860}}

From a political standpoint, the Whig Party had been in decline in the South because of the effectiveness with which it had been hammered by the Democratic Party over slavery. The Southern Whigs hoped that by seizing the initiative on this issue, they would be identified as strong defenders of slavery. Many Northern Whigs broke with them in the Act.<ref>Cooper p. 350</ref> 

The American party system had been dominated by Whigs and Democrats for decades leading up to the Civil War. But the Whig party's increasing internal divisions had made it a party of strange bedfellows by the 1850s. An ascendant anti-slavery wing clashed with a traditionalist and increasingly pro-slavery Southern wing. These divisions came to a head in the [[1852 United States presidential election|1852 election]], where Whig candidate [[Winfield Scott]] was trounced by [[Franklin Pierce]]. Southern Whigs, who had supported the prior Whig president [[Zachary Taylor]], had been burned by Taylor and were unwilling to support another Whig. Taylor, who despite being a slave owner, had proved notably anti-slave despite campaigning neutrally on the issue. With the loss of Southern Whig support and the loss of votes in the North to the [[Free Soil Party]], Whigs seemed doomed. So they were, as they would never again contest a presidential election.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=117–119}}

The Kansas–Nebraska Act was the final nail in the Whig coffin. It was also the spark that began the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], which would take in both Whigs and Free Soilers (as well as sympathetic northern Democrats like [[John C. Frémont|Frémont]]) to fill the anti-slavery void that the Whig Party had never seemed willing to fill.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=117–119}} The changes in the act were viewed by anti-slavery Northerners as an aggressive, expansionist maneuver by the slave-owning South. Opponents of the Act were intensely motivated and began forming a new party. The party began as a coalition of anti-slavery [[Conscience Whigs]] such as [[Zachariah Chandler]] and [[Free Soil Party|Free Soilers]] such as [[Salmon P. Chase]].<ref>Paul Finkelman, and Peter Wallenstein, eds. ''The encyclopedia of American political history'' (2001) p. 226.</ref><ref name="Eric Foner 1970">Eric Foner, ''Free soil, free labor, free men: the ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War'' (1970). {{ISBN?}} {{page?|date=May 2023}}</ref>

The first [[Anti-Nebraska movement|anti-Nebraska]] local meeting where "Republican" was suggested as a name for a new anti-slavery party was held in a [[Ripon, Wisconsin]] schoolhouse on March 20, 1854.<ref>A.F. Gilman, ''The origin of the Republican Party'' (1914). [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=137 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624003914/https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=137 |date=2021-06-24 }}</ref> The first statewide convention that formed a platform and nominated candidates under the Republican name was held near [[Jackson, Michigan]], on July 6, 1854. At that convention, the party opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories and selected a statewide slate of candidates.<ref>William Stocking, ed. ''Under the Oaks: Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Republican Party, at Jackson, Michigan, July 6, 1854'' (1904) [https://books.google.com/books?id=9VniAAAAMAAJ&dq=Jackson+Michigan++republican+party+1854&pg=PA9 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505140031/https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=lang_en&id=9VniAAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=Jackson+Michigan++republican+party+1854&ots=wP9Wk94j1M&sig=E529yUR9YESEQfYO4xMzi-obxSI |date=2021-05-05 }}</ref> The [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] took the lead in forming state Republican Party tickets; apart from [[St. Louis]] and a few areas adjacent to free states, there were no efforts to organize the Party in the Southern states.<ref>Allan Nevins, ''. The ordeal of the Union: A house dividing, 1852–1857. Vol. 2'' (1947) pp. 316–323.</ref><ref>William E.  Gienapp, ''The origins of the Republican Party, 1852–1856'' (1987) pp. 189–223.</ref> So was born the Republican Party—campaigning on the popular, emotional issue of "free soil" in the frontier—which would capture the [[White House]] just six years later.{{Sfn|McPherson|1988|pp=117–119}}