Abraham Lincoln: A Third Party Candidate?

[Rob Wick]

From Bill Moyers:

Abraham Lincoln — who ran as a Republican during the era of Whigs and Democrats — was America’s last third-party candidate to successfully win the presidency.

There is something about this that really bothers me. The Whig Party in America was, for all practical purposes, dead in 1856 (it started the death rattle in 1852), a full four years before Lincoln was elected. Lincoln, for all practical purposes, ceased to be a Whig in 1852. If any party was a third party, it was likely to be Whigs, or the Constitutional Union Party which it became in the north in 1860.

So is Moyers right? Were the Whigs enough of a political force in the 1860s to justify his comment that the Republicans were, in reality, a third party? I don't think so.

Best
Rob

[Thomas Thorne]

Dear Roger,you are right and Bill Moyers is wrong.

1856 Presidential Election
National Popular Vote Electoral Vote
Dem 45.3% 174
Rep 33.1% 114
Whig&American 21.6% 8

Party Divisions United States Congress 1855-1859
Senate 1855 House 1855
Dem 39 Dem 83
Rep 22 Rep 108
Other 1 Other 43

Senate 1857 House 1857
Dem 39 Dem 131
Rep 20 Rep 94
Other 5 Other 13


Senate 1859 House 1859
Dem 38 Dem 101
Rep 26 Rep 113
Other 2 Other 23

Note that after prolonged deadlocks, the House of Representatives chose Republicans as Speakers of the House by pluralities in the 34th[1855} and 36th {1859} congresses.
Tom

[Rob Wick]

Thanks Tom, that didn't seem right to me either.

Best
Rob

[Thomas Thorne]

Sorry,the table i prepared was much neater than the one that appears on the discussion group page.

Obviously Bill Moyers got the impression that the Republican party emerged in 1860 which would indicate a profoundly cursory knowledge of the antebellum period,
Tom

[Joe Di Cola]

From Bill Moyers:

Abraham Lincoln — who ran as a Republican during the era of Whigs and Democrats — was America’s last third-party candidate to successfully win the presidency.

There is something about this that really bothers me. The Whig Party in America was, for all practical purposes, dead in 1856 (it started the death rattle in 1852), a full four years before Lincoln was elected. Lincoln, for all practical purposes, ceased to be a Whig in 1852. If any party was a third party, it was likely to be Whigs, or the Constitutional Union Party which it became in the north in 1860.

So is Moyers right? Were the Whigs enough of a political force in the 1860s to justify his comment that the Republicans were, in reality, a third party? I don't think so.

Best
Rob

Rob,
The Whigs were essentially "dead" by 1856. This was partly due to their refusal to nominate Millard Fillmore to be their party standard in 1852--instead, nominating Winfield Scott. Fillmore was the last Whig president. Most Whigs ended up joining the Republican party. In 1856 the Republicans had their own presidential candidate in John C. Fremont, so it is fair to say that by 1860, the Republicans could hardly be deemed a third party. If anything in the 1860 election, the Consitutional Union party and its nominee John Bell were the 3rd party. This is at least my take on things.
What do you think about this?
Joe

[Rob Wick]

I have to agree with you on that, Joe.

I'm really not sure I understand how Moyers reached this conclusion. He used it to introduce a story on third party candidates in history, but in the slideshow doesn't mention Lincoln (at least not that I saw).

Best
Rob

[Craig Hipkins]

It might be that Moyers remembered reading somewhere that Lincoln was a former Whig. From this he might have concluded that the Whigs were still a viable party in 1860.

Craig