Republicans first call Abraham Lincoln "the Rail Splitter"

On this day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln acquired the nickname "the Rail Splitter."  The convention of the Illinois Republican Party, meeting at Decatur, began with a grand gesture.  At the invitation of the chairman, Governor Richard Oglesby, two childhood friends of Lincoln carried in two rails he was said to have split thirty years earlier.  Delegates then lifted Lincoln on their shoulders and carried him to the stage.  The Republican dubbed him "the Rail Splitter."  This nickname would highlight Lincoln's humble, working-class origins, in contrast to the elitist Democrat leadership.

This state convention, meeting just a week before the national convention, helped propel Lincoln to the presidential nomination.  Delegates voted to give him their unanimous support:

"Abraham Lincoln is the first choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the Presidency and their delegates are instructed to use every honorable means to secure his nomination, and to cast the vote of the state as a unit for him."

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country, showing office-holders, candidates and activists how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating our Party's heritage of civil rights achievement.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.  Each day, his Grand Old Partisan blog -- http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com -- celebrates 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.republicanbasics.com for more information.