In Ripon, a group of citizens under led by attorney Alvan E. Bovay met in a schoolhouse in support of the abolition of slavery. They adopted the name "Republicans"
Democrats James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge defeat Republicans John C. Fremont and William Dayton and American (Know-Nothing) Party candidates Millard Fillmore and Andrew Donelson
Republican Convention is held in Chicago, Illinois. William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois are the leading contenders from a field of 12 candidates. Lincoln wins on the third ballot. Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, an outspoken, long-time abolitionist is chosen for vice-president.
Republicans vote to ask for a reconstruction of Lincoln's cabinet. During the meeting, Secretary of State William Seward and his son, the Assistant Secretary of State, resign.
A small convention in Cleveland of Republican abolitionists unhappy with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and other things, nominates John C. Fremont for president.
Already passed in the U. S. House, the Senate approves the Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill 26-3 with 20 abstentions. Lincoln will pocket veto the bill. Radical Republicans had been unhappy with Reconstruction efforts in Louisiana and Arkansas requiring 10 per cent of previous voters approval to restore a state
To please Radical Republicans before the Election of 1864, Lincoln asks Montgomery Blair to resign as Postmaster General, which he does later in the day.
Republican Abraham Lincoln defeats Democrat George McClellan to serve a second term as President of the United States. Andrew Johnson, a unionist from Tennessee is his Vice President
James G. Blaine of Maine, a leading Republican and potential presidential candidate opposes granting amnesty to the 750 remaing Confederate leaders on the floor of the House.
The three-day Republican Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio (Hayes home state) shifted its support from front runner James Blaine to Rutherford B. Hayes on the second ballot.
Republican candidates Rutherford B. Hayes and William Wheeler defeat Democratic candidates Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas Hendricks, although the results will not be known until much later.