Similar patterns were evident across the Old Northwest states, but only in Ohio was the movement strong enough—and the Whigs and Democrats closely enough matched—to make repeal possible. Many of the architects of Reconstruction got their start in the antislavery politics of this era. Men such as John Hale, Henry Wilson, Charles Sumner, Joshua Giddings, and William Seward—whether they joined an antislavery third party or not—were in close discussion in these years.
