The Republican Party
Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Marker Inscription
On this site / The Republican Party / was first so named by / Hon. Amos Tuck / October 12 1853
The Story
In the churning politics of the early 1850s, the old party system was breaking apart under the strain of the slavery question, and anti-slavery men from rival factions were groping for common cause. According to local tradition, it was here in Exeter that Amos Tuck—a former Free Soil congressman—gathered such men and helped fix upon the name that a new coalition would carry. Within a few years that name belonged to a national party powerful enough to elect a president and reshape the country.
Why it matters
The naming of the Republican Party marks the birth of an organization that would soon carry Abraham Lincoln to the White House and steer the nation through emancipation and civil war. A quiet New Hampshire town thus lays claim to a founding moment in one of the most consequential political movements in American history.
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Related people
- · Amos Tuck
Related events
- · Naming of the Republican Party (1853)
Themes & tags
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