The Republican Party was born in the early 1850s by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands – such as California – to settlers free of charge. The very name Republican was chosen to allude to the party’s opposition to human enslavement and government tyranny, as well as a reminder to Thomas Jefferson’s own Democratic-Republican Party.
In 1856, the Republicans became a national party when they nominated John C. Fremont, one of the original US Senators from California, as their candidate for President. Four years later, the Republicans successfully elected their nominee, Abraham Lincoln, to the Presidency.
