Reply #111: So did many Whigs in 1856..

[flaminbats]

In 1852 Whigs made a final attempt to win the White House by nominating General Winfield Scott. Democrats won the majority, Whigs won 44% of the vote, and the free-soil party..or Republicans won 5%. By 1856 Democrats won 45%, Republicans won 33%, and the Whigs only won 22%. In 1860 Republicans won 40%, Whigs won 18%, Southern Democrats won 18%, and Democrats won 29%.

Former Whigs split their votes for Lincoln and Bell, while Democrats were divided between Douglas and Breckenridge. But clearly former Whigs were wise to ditch their old party in favor of the Republicans.

The Whig party would still exist today if they had taken a firm stand against slavery, instead they made national unity and political compromise the central themes of a dead party. Progressives will not flock to another party just to win "some idealogical battle", this will happen only if Democrats remain a trivial force in shaping public policy.