The Wigwam was a temporary two-story meeting hall built by Chicago's business leadersto house the 1860Republican National Convention. The Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln to be the president of the United Statesduring thismeeting at the Wigwam.

The Republican Party was born in the 1850s, whenfree laboradvocates joined together to oppose the spread of slavery to new territories in the west. Some wanted the abolition of slavery all-together; most believed that the extension of slavery into the west would limit theeconomicopportunitiesavailable tofree white men.

The Republicans at the Chicago convention discussed and made resolutions about several pressing issues, including slavery and the possibility of southern secession, immigrant rights, westward expansion, domestic industry, and expanding the U.S.' growing network of railroads.

Chicagoans continued to use the Wigwam for meetings into the early years of the Civil War. It wasused briefly asretail spacebut torndown sometime between 1867 and 1871. Since then, Chicago has been apopular location for politicalconventions. The Republican Party returned thirteen times after Lincoln's nomination, including in 1868 when the party nominated Ulysses S. Grant for president. The city has also hosted eleven Democrat national conventions, as well as one national meeting of the Progressive Party.

Karamanski, Theodore.Rally 'Round theFlag: Chicago and the Civil War. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006.

Karamanski, Theodore. "Wigwam."Encyclopedia of Chicago Online.Accessed July 2016.http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1355.html

Karamanski, Theodore and Eileen McMahon.Civil War Chicago: Eyewitness to History.Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2014. 

Sautter, R. Craig."Political Conventions."Encyclopedia of Chicago Online.Accessed July 2016.http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/986.html

Photograph by Alexander Hessler