Political Parties During the Civil War There are many political parties in the U.S. to day. The republican and the Democratic Party are the main ones everybody knows about. But I'm going to talk about the Republican Party. Founded by a coalition in 1854, the coalition was composed of former members of the Whig, Free-Soil, and Know-Nothing parties, along with Northern Democrats who were dissatisfied with their party's conciliatory attitude on the slavery issue. The early Republicans were united in their opposition to extending slavery into the Western territories. In 1856 they nominated John Charles Frémont for the presidency. He