Editing Abraham Lincoln (section)

==== 1856 campaign ====
[[Bleeding Kansas|Violent political confrontations in Kansas]] continued, and opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act remained strong throughout the North. As the [[1856 United States elections|1856 elections]] approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans and attended the [[Bloomington Convention]], where the [[Illinois Republican Party]] was established. The convention platform endorsed Congress's right to regulate slavery in the territories and backed the admission of Kansas as a free state. Lincoln gave the [[Lincoln's Lost Speech|final speech]] of the convention, calling for the preservation of the Union.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=216–221}} At the June [[1856 Republican National Convention]], Lincoln received support to run as vice president, but ultimately the party put forward a ticket of [[John C. Frémont]] and [[William Dayton]], which Lincoln supported throughout Illinois. The Democrats nominated [[James Buchanan]] and the Know Nothings nominated [[Millard Fillmore]].{{sfn|White|2009|pp=224–228}} Buchanan prevailed, while Republican [[William Henry Bissell]] won election as Governor of Illinois, and Lincoln became a leading Republican in Illinois.{{sfn|White|2009|pp=229–230}}{{efn|[[Eric Foner]] contrasts the abolitionists and anti-slavery Radical Republicans of the Northeast, who saw slavery as a sin, with the conservative Republicans, who thought it was bad because it hurt [[White people]] and blocked progress. Foner argues that Lincoln was in the middle, opposing slavery primarily because it violated the [[republicanism in the United States|republicanism principles]] of the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]], especially the equality of all men and democratic self-government as expressed in the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]].{{sfn|Foner|2010|pp=84–88}}}}