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1. Thread of 1850s electoral tidbits from Eric Foner's "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men", which is a great book about the ideology of the pre-Civil War Republican Party. Everything in this thread is from his chapter on the Radical Republicans, 1856 Election map is from Wikipedia:
2. "In New England... the rural areas & small towns were the most radical. The cities, with their commercial ties to the South & large # of immigrants... gave Republican candidates substantially fewer votes... VT, a state almost entirely rural, was considered the most radical."
3. "Some of the upstate New England areas [of NY] had been strongly Whig before the advent of Republicanism, while some had been strongholds of locofoco Democracy. But all became centers of radical Republicanism in the 1850s." 1st map is the 1844 election in NY, 2nd map is 1856:
![3. "Some of the upstate New England areas [of NY] had been strongly Whig before the advent of Republicanism, while some had been strongholds of locofoco Democracy. But all became centers of radical Republicanism in the 1850s." 1st map is the 1844 election in NY, 2nd map is 1856:](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq7Z9eDUUAELp3x.png "3. \"Some of the upstate New England areas [of NY] had been strongly Whig before the advent of Republicanism, while some had been strongholds of locofoco Democracy. But all became centers of radical Republicanism in the 1850s.\" 1st map is the 1844 election in NY, 2nd map is 1856:")
![3. "Some of the upstate New England areas [of NY] had been strongly Whig before the advent of Republicanism, while some had been strongholds of locofoco Democracy. But all became centers of radical Republicanism in the 1850s." 1st map is the 1844 election in NY, 2nd map is 1856:](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq7aBSOUwAAmcgu.png "3. \"Some of the upstate New England areas [of NY] had been strongly Whig before the advent of Republicanism, while some had been strongholds of locofoco Democracy. But all became centers of radical Republicanism in the 1850s.\" 1st map is the 1844 election in NY, 2nd map is 1856:")
4. "The 'Northern Tier' counties of PA sent David Wilmot [author of the anti-slavery 'Wilmot Proviso'] & Galusha Grow to Congress. The area had been settled by New Englanders between 1810 & 1830, & in the 1850's it gave heavy majorities to Republican candidates." 1856 PA map:
![4. "The 'Northern Tier' counties of PA sent David Wilmot [author of the anti-slavery 'Wilmot Proviso'] & Galusha Grow to Congress. The area had been settled by New Englanders between 1810 & 1830, & in the 1850's it gave heavy majorities to Republican candidates." 1856 PA map:](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq7ekGlVEAAXEXs.jpg "4. \"The 'Northern Tier' counties of PA sent David Wilmot [author of the anti-slavery 'Wilmot Proviso'] & Galusha Grow to Congress. The area had been settled by New Englanders between 1810 & 1830, & in the 1850's it gave heavy majorities to Republican candidates.\" 1856 PA map:")
5. "The center of Ohio radicalism was the Western Reserve, which again was almost completely of New England extraction. The inhabitants, said Congressman Edward Wade, were 'a phalanx of emancipationists' & in 1856 the Reserve... gave Fremont [Republican] 67% of the vote."
![5. "The center of Ohio radicalism was the Western Reserve, which again was almost completely of New England extraction. The inhabitants, said Congressman Edward Wade, were 'a phalanx of emancipationists' & in 1856 the Reserve... gave Fremont [Republican] 67% of the vote."](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq7c8XuUwAEsWs8.png "5. \"The center of Ohio radicalism was the Western Reserve, which again was almost completely of New England extraction. The inhabitants, said Congressman Edward Wade, were 'a phalanx of emancipationists' & in 1856 the Reserve... gave Fremont [Republican] 67% of the vote.\"")
6. "In Illinois... 'the Northern one-third of the state is Fremont all over.' Again, this was an area settled almost exclusively by New Englanders. Fremont carried the 3 northernmost Congressional districts by better than 2 to 1, polling almost 90% in Winnebago & Boone counties."
7. "Finally, the rural areas of Wisconsin & Michigan were heavily Republican, & these states, where New England & New York migrants predominated in the population, were among the most radical in the North." 1856 map, note that the Democrats carried Milwaukee & Detroit:
