Opposition Party in The South (c. 1858-1860)
In 1858, 19 candidates were elected to the 36th United States Congress as members of the Opposition Party from several states, including Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. After 1858, the party did not win seats in Congress and effectively ceased to exist.
To qualify as a third party by Kenneth C. Martis’ analysis, a political party must meet one of four criteria, including (a) run clearly identifiable congressional candidates, many times in three-way contests; and/or (b) they represent a clearly identifiable historical political movement or sentiment that is regional or national in scope. . Elements of the pro-Union American Party and the Whig Party in the south needed to organize a political party which could not be accused of disloyalty to Southern Institutions (slavery).
In March 1859 the Opposition party met in Tennessee convention to nominate a gubernatorial candidate and set up a state-wide party organization. It won 7 of the nine Congressional Districts (see chart below). Kentucky followed in February 1859, winning five of the ten districts. Georgia’s was July 1859, winning two of eight. In North Carolina, the anti-Democratic parties won four of the eight seats, and caucused with the Opposition party in the House. “These elections were the last gasp … in the South to stand up to the Democrats in the emerging sharp sectional” confrontation.
| “Opposition Party” in the 36th Congress, 1859–1861 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Georgia | Kentucky | North Carolina | Tennessee | Virginia |
| Representative, (Congressional District Number) | |||||
| 1. | Thomas Hardeman Jr. (3rd) | Francis M. Bristow (3rd) | William N. H. Smith (1st) | Thomas A.R. Nelson (1st) | Alexander R. Boteler (8th) |
| 2. | Joshua Hill (7th) | William C. Anderson (4th) | John A. Gilmer (5th) | Horace Maynard (2nd) | … |
| 3. | … | Green Adams (6th) | James Madison Leach (6th) | Reese B. Brabson (3rd) | … |
| 4. | … | Robert Mallory (7th) | Zebulon B. Vance (8th) | William B. Stokes (4th) | … |
| 5. | … | Laban T. Moore (9th) | … | Robert H. Hatton (5th) | … |
| 6. | … | … | … | James M. Quarles (8th) | … |
| 7. | … | … | … | Emerson Etheridge (9th) | … |
In North Carolina, a Republican organization did not develop until after the Civil War, and many former Whigs such as John Pool called themselves either the Whig Party or the Opposition Party through the election of 1860. This "new" Whig Party was actually just the state's affiliate of the American (Know-Nothing) Party with a new name, according to Folk and Shaw's W.W. Holden: a Political Biography. This party ceased to exist after the onset of the Civil War, but many of its members joined the loosely organized "Conservative Party" of Zebulon B. Vance.
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