In the House of Representatives which met in December, 1855, the
anti-Nebraska men were divided among themselves, and the
Know-Nothings held the balance of power. No candidate for the
speakership, however, was able to command a majority, and
finally, after it had been agreed that a plurality would be
sufficient, the contest closed, on the one hundred and
thirty-third ballot, with the election of a Republican, N. P.
Banks. Meanwhile in the South, the Whigs were rapidly leaving
the party, pausing a moment with the Know-Nothings, only to find
that their inevitable resting-place, under stress of sectional
feeling, was with the Democrats.
On Washington's birthday, 1856, the Know-Nothing national
convention met at Philadelphia. It promptly split upon the
subject of slavery, and a portion of its membership sent word
offering support to another convention which was sitting at
Pittsburgh, and which had been called to form a national
organization for the Republican party. A third assembly held on
this same day was composed of the newspaper editors of Illinois,
and may be looked upon as the organization of the Republican
party in that state. At the dinner following this informal
convention, Lincoln, who was one of the speakers, was toasted as
"the next United States Senator.
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