Ohio History Journal

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WILLIAM E

WILLIAM E. GIENAPP

 

Salmon P. Chase, Nativism,

and the Formation of the

Republican Party in Ohio

 

Accounts of the formation of the Republican party traditionally

emphasize the political upheaval of 1854. In this year the party first

took shape in Michigan and Wisconsin, and in several other states fu-

sion anti-Nebraska coalitions, which are often viewed as proto-

Republican organizations, contested the fall elections.1 Certainly the

momentous political events of that year unleashed forces that eventu-

ally culminated in the formation of the Republican party throughout

the North. Nonetheless, little was accomplished toward estab-

lishing a permanent party organization, and at the end of the year few

competent political observers believed that Republicanism would ei-

ther gain a substantial following in the free states or become a perma-

nent organization. The events of 1854 gave a boost to the Republican

movement, but the first significant steps to organize the party in key

northern states occurred the following year.

Political developments in Ohio in 1855 were particularly significant

in the Republican party's early history. As the nation's third most

populous state, Ohio exercised considerable power in national affairs,

and consequently its politics commanded widespread attention.

Moreover, the drive to launch the party established Salmon P.

Chase as head of the state organization, a development which cata-

pulted him to the front ranks of the Republican national leadership, a

position he occupied for the rest of his life. Under Chase's guidance,

Ohio Republicans would take the lead to organize a national party on

 

 

 

William E. Gienapp is Assistant Professor of History at The University of Wyoming.

Professor Gienapp is grateful to the Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund, Stanford,

California, for financial support that allowed him to complete much of the research for

this essay. The University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Wyoming pro-

vided essential computer funds. Finally, he would like to thank Stephen Maizlish for

many fruitful conversations concerning Ohio politics in this period.

 

1. A good example of this emphasis is Allan Nevins, The Ordeal of the Union (New

York, 8 vols., 1947-1971), v. 2, 316-46.