GOP controls House for 1st time, Nov. 3, 1858
On this day in 1858, the Republican Party, then only 4 years old, emerged on the national political scene as a major force.
For the first time, Republicans gained control of the House. The party’s candidates won seats in the wake of internal strife over the slavery issue among Democrats. They profited from the collapse of the Know Nothing movement, with its anti-immigration and anti-Catholic agenda.
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The Republicans gained six more seats in the 66-member Senate. With 38 seats, Democrats still retained control. But the Republican contingent grew to 26 seats. And it included such fresh converts as William Seward of New York, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts and Benjamin Wade of Ohio. Although Democrat Stephen Douglas of Illinois kept his seat, the campaign catapulted his Republican opponent, Abraham Lincoln, onto the national stage.
“There is always a lull after a tempest, and so the political world has subsided into an unwonted calm since the election,” The New York Times reported. “The Republicans are naturally … exultant over their sweeping victories.”
Until the 1850s, the nation’s political battles had been fought between Democrats and Whigs. As the decade dawned, however, the slavery issue splintered both parties. In those tumultuous times, a new political movement, with its local roots in Wisconsin and Michigan, spread across the north. It encompassed both former Whigs and northern Democrats, who organized themselves under a new party label: Republican.
Angry voters responded. But “superior leadership was [also] vital to the success of the Republican party,” wrote historian William Gienapp, “since the task of uniting such a disparate array of … factions was enormous.”
The election served as a precursor for 1860, when Republicans took control of the Senate, House and, with historic results, the presidency.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/this-day-in-politics-112422.html#ixzz3Hz5l4sPY
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