[History] How the Republican Party Went From Lincoln to Trump

After the Civil War, Republicans fight for rights for black Americans Why did the Democratic Republicans split in 1860? As a result of disagreements over the issue of slavery, splinter parties formed. The Southern Democratic Party spun off from traditional Democrats to nominate John Breckenridge, an advocate of slavery in the West. Republican breakaways formed the Constitutional Union Party.     As the 1856 elections approached, Lincoln abandoned the defunct Whig Party in favor of the Republicans. He attended the May 1856 Bloomington Convention, which formally established the Illinois Republican Party. Lincoln won the Electoral College with less than 40…