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Interesting US History
A Website Devoted to Interesting Events in U.S. History

 

 
 

 

ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY

July 6, 1854

The First Republican Party Convention is Held

On this day in 1854, the Republican Party's first convention was held in Jackson, Michigan. The party's first nomination for president in the 1856 election was John C. Fremont.

The party's 1860 nominee was Abraham Lincoln, who would become the first Republican president. Originally Lincoln was a member of the Whig party and was reluctant to leave it, however, the Whig party was split over the issue of slavery and Lincoln finally decided that the anti-slavery platform of the Republican party better represented his beliefs.