The Republican Party wielded formidable power from the start and was destined to become an unprecedented force in American politics. The party emerged from a core of Liberty and Free Soil partisans who drew together with former Whigs and disillusioned Democrats. To build a coalition capable of attracting mass support, leading Republicans emphasized the nonextension of slavery and the opening of the West to “free labor,” themes with potential to unite great swaths of northerners. Among the Republicans of 1856 were third-party stalwarts like Salmon Chase of Ohio as well as newcomers like Abraham
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