Israel Washburn, Jr.
| Israel Washburn Jr. | |
|---|---|
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 5th district |
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In office March 4, 1853 – January 1, 1861 |
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| Preceded by | Ephraim K. Smart |
| Succeeded by | Stephen Coburn |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 6th district |
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In office March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853 |
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| Preceded by | Charles Stetson |
| Succeeded by | Thomas J. D. Fuller |
| 29th Governor of Maine | |
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In office January 2, 1861 – January 7, 1863 |
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| Preceded by | Lot M. Morrill |
| Succeeded by | Abner Coburn |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 6, 1813 Livermore, Massachusetts (now Maine) |
| Died | May 12, 1883 (aged 69) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Political party |
Whig Republican |
| Profession | Law |
| Religion | Universalist |
Israel Washburn Jr. (June 6, 1813 – May 12, 1883) was a United States political figure. Originally a member of the Whig Party, he later became a founding member of the Republican Party. In 1842, Washburn served in the Maine House of Representatives.
In 1854, angry over the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Washburn called a meeting of 30 members of the US House of Representatives to discuss forming what became the Republican Party. Republican gatherings had taken place in Wisconsin and Michigan earlier in the year, but Washburn's meeting was the first in the U.S. Capital, and among U.S. Congressmen. He was probably also the first politician of his rank to use the term "Republican", in a speech at Bangor, Maine on June 2, 1854. Washburn represented the district which included Bangor and the neighboring town of Orono, Maine, where he had his home and law office.
Born in 1813 in Livermore (in modern-day Maine, then a part of Massachusetts) to a prominent political family, Washburn organized the Maine Republican Party from 1854 onward. He was the 29th Governor of Maine from 1861 to 1863. During the American Civil War, he helped recruit Federal troops from Maine. In 1862, he attended the Loyal War Governors' Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which ultimately gave Abraham Lincoln support for his Emancipation Proclamation.
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