The Republican Party formed by who?

Answer 1

antislavery whigs and free soilers

Answer 2

In the 1820's, Andrew Jackson, a member of the Democratic Party, became President of the US. Under his leadership, that party started more strongly pushing policies that would cause the US to expand into the West ("Manifest Destiny"), and also favored increasing agriculture and foreign trade, while opposing increased industrialization. As part of this, the party became especially entrenched in the South, and became dominated by pro-slavery politicians.

The new Whig Party arose in the early 1830's to oppose Jackson's Democratic Party. The Whigs were more focused on advancing industry, modernization and "protectionism" (cutting foreign trade by raising tariffs). The Whigs also believed that Congress should be the foremost political power in the US, rather than the President- the term "Whig" comes from an old nickname for the Patriots who opposed King George III before and during the American Revolution. The Whigs were fairly successful in the 1840's, and even had a few Presidents, but by the 1850's, the party had begun splitting apart. There were internal disagreements about some issues, the biggest being slavery- some Whigs wanted to keep slavery in the US, others wanted to get rid of it, and still others didn't care either way.

Because the party was obviously starting to fall apart, many Whigs chose to quit the party. Some just quit politics altogether (including Abraham Lincoln, briefly), but others chose to join new political parties, like the "Know Nothings" and the Republicans. The Republicans initially were not much more than a group of people who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed slavery in certain territories even though the earlier Missouri Compromise had forbidden it. They called themselves "Republicans" because they believed that a free republic of free men was the best kind of country to live in, and a truly free republic could not have slavery. Many anti-slavery ex-Whigs joined up with the Republicans, and the party quickly became very popular in the North, were slavery was much rarer or even illegal.

The Republican party's first convention was held in February 1856; John C. Fremont was the first Republican candidate for President, in the 1856 elections (he lost to James Buchanan). Four years later, in November 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican elected President.

Even though President-elect Lincoln had promised not to try to end slavery, many politicians from states in the South, where slavery was legal and a big part of the economy, didn't believe him and decided to quit being a part of the US before Lincoln was inaugurated. After seceding from the US, these Southern states formed the Confederate States of America, and shortly thereafter, the US Civil War began. Since the Democrats were largely from the South, most of them left the Union too, leaving the Republicans to dominate the federal government through the Civil War and the post-war period called "Reconstruction".

Answer 3

the remains of the Northern Whigs, some Northern Democrats, and Free Soilers.

Answer 4

the 1820's