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Party platform · 1860

Republican Party Platform of 1860

Adopted at the Chicago convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, the platform declared that the normal condition of all U.S. territory is freedom, denied that Congress, a territorial legislature or any individuals could give slavery legal existence in a territory, and denounced threats of disunion, while affirming each state’s right to control its own domestic institutions. It also called for tariffs that would encourage American industry, a homestead law, a Pacific railroad and river and harbor improvements, and opposed any change to naturalization laws that would abridge the rights of immigrants.

PM·DOC·1860·022Official GOP Position1860 Republican Platform
Date
May 17, 1860
Author
Republican National Convention, Chicago
Type
Party platform
Held by
The American Presidency Project (UCSB)

Why it matters

Lincoln won the presidency on this platform in November 1860, and much of its economic program, including the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act, was enacted in 1862.

Read the full text at presidency.ucsb.edu
Official GOP Position1860 Republican Platform

What the Republican Party says, sourced directly to party platforms and official party documents. It records the party’s position and is not an independent conclusion.

Subjects

electionsparty platformsslaveryeconomyimmigration

From the library

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PM·DOC·1856·018Official GOP Position1856 Republican Platform

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Republican Party Platform of 1856

Presented at the party’s first national convention in Philadelphia, which nominated John C. Frémont for president, the platform declared it both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories “those twin relics of barbarism — Polygamy, and Slavery.” It condemned the violence and fraud in Kansas and called for its immediate admission as a free state, supported federal aid for a Pacific railroad and river and harbor improvements, and opposed legislation impairing liberty of conscience and equality of rights among citizens.

Held by The American Presidency Project (UCSB)Open archive
PM·DOC·1860·021Primary Source

Speech ·

Cooper Union Address

Speaking at the Cooper Institute in New York City, Lincoln showed through detailed research that at least 21 of the 39 men who signed the Constitution — a clear majority — had acted on the understanding that the federal government could control slavery in the federal territories. He denied that Republicans were sectional radicals, rejected any link between the party and John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, and urged Republicans to stand firm against the expansion of slavery.

Held by Miller Center (University of Virginia)Open archive
PM·DOC·1858·020Primary Source

Speech ·

“House Divided” Speech

Speaking to the Illinois Republican State Convention in Springfield, which had named him its choice for the U.S. Senate, Lincoln warned that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” and that the government could not endure permanently half slave and half free. He argued that the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott decision pointed toward making slavery lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South.

Held by National Park Service (Lincoln Home National Historic Site)Open archive