text: " The new Republican Party was formed as a northern party dedicated to antislavery, drawing from the antislavery wing of the Whig Party and combining Free Soil, Liberty, and antislavery Democratic Party members, Lincoln resisted early Republican entreaties, fearing that the new party would become a platform for extreme abolitionists.Lincoln held out hope for rejuvenating the Whigs, though he lamented his party's growing closeness with the nativist Know Nothing movement.In 1854, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature but declined to take his seat.The year's elections showed the strong opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, and in the aftermath, Lincoln sought election to the United States Senate.At that time, senators were elected by the state legislature.After leading in the first six rounds of voting, he was unable to obtain a majority.Lincoln instructed his backers to vote for Lyman Trumbull.Trumbull was an antislavery Democrat, and had received few votes in the earlier ballots; his supporters, also antislavery Democrats, had vowed not to support any Whig.Lincoln's decision to withdraw enabled his Whig supporters and Trumbull's antislavery Democrats to combine and defeat the mainstream Democratic candidate, Joel Aldrich Matteson.1856 campaign Violent political confrontations in Kansas continued, and opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act remained strong throughout the North.As the 1856 elections approached, Lincoln joined the Republicans and attended the Bloomington Convention, which formally established the Illinois Republican Party.The convention platform endorsed Congress's right to regulate slavery in the territories and backed the admission of Kansas as a free state.Lincoln gave the final speech of the convention supporting the party platform and called for the preservation of the Union.At the June 1856 Republican National Convention, though Lincoln received support to run as vice president, John C.