Fremont For President Letter

Autograph Letter Signed by B.S. Cowen, 1pp quarto, St. Clairsville, Ohio, August 4, 1856, addressed to John B. Ward, and reads in part: "...I have yours relative to a meeting in your town in favor of Col. Fremont. Our time is a good deal engaged. We have courts to attend - I can be in your place on the 18th. Saturday say one o'clock PM. We have a meeting on the same day for Flushing. Mr. Pennington will be there with another….The skies are brightening. Fremont appears fairer the more he is tried. Our cause is one which richest the hearts of the true friends of the country, the Union, the Constitution. When the cause in which we are engaged fails, the right of despotism will set in…" Very good condition. John C. Frémont was the first presidential nominee of the newly formed Republican Party in the 1856 election. Running on a platform opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories, while supporting free labor, free homesteads, and a transcontinental railroad, Frémont appealed primarily to Northern voters. His candidacy marked the emergence of the Republicans as a major national party, but strong Southern opposition and concerns that his election would threaten slavery limited his support. Frémont won 11 free states and 114 electoral votes, but lost to James Buchanan, who carried most of the South and several key Northern states to secure 174 electoral votes. Although defeated, Frémont's strong showing demonstrated the rapid rise of the Republican Party and set the stage for its victory with Abraham Lincoln four years later.