Amos Tuck

Tuck was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1842 as a member of the Democratic Party but broke with pro-slavery Democratic leaders in 1844 and was formally cast out of the party. He ran for Congress, anyway, and was elected as an Independent to the Thirtieth Congress.

In 1845 he called a convention to form an independent movement in favor of anti-slavery Congressional Candidate John P. Hale. This convention would later be identified as "the nucleus of the Republican Party."[3] During the months following the convention (which was described by Tuck as "respectable in numbers and unparalleled in spirit") Tuck worked tenaciously to grow his young party. His hard work and enthusiasm resulted in the successful election of Hale in 1846.

Tuck himself ran as a Free-Soil candidate to the Thirty-first Congress, and as a Whig to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1853). After three consecutive terms he returned to Exeter in 1853 and began a movement to unite the many minor political factions that existed in the state of New Hampshire.

Tuck organized a secret meeting, on October 12, 1853, at Major Blake's Hotel in Exeter of a group of anti-slavery men.[4] Tuck may have suggested they form a party to be called "Republicans" but nothing came of the meeting and no new party was formed.[4] The term "Republican party" had been widely used in New Hampshire politics since the 1790s. The dinner is commemorated by the tablet now affixed to the Squamscott House in Exeter. The participants campaigned for several parties in 1854 state elections, but not for any so-called "Republican" party. Two years later Tuck helped form the state Republican party in 1856 and was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1856 and 1860. Tuck was appointed a delegate to the peace convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war.

He was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, John Greenleaf Whittier and many other men prominent in his time. Tuck helped Lincoln win the Republican nomination in 1860.

• Sewell, Richard H. John P. Hale and the Politics of Abolition (1965)
• Marston, Philip W. Amos Tuck and the Beginning in New Hampshire of the Republican Party Historical New Hampshire (1960)
• Corning, Charles R[obert]. "Amos Tuck" . Exeter, N.H.: The News-letter Press, 1902.
• Dearborn, Jeremiah Wadleigh "Sketch of the life and character of Hon. Amos Tuck" read before the Maine Historical Society, December, 1888 . [Portland, Maine: Printed by B. Thurston & Co., 1888?]
• Page, Elwin L. "Abraham Lincoln in New Hampshire", Monitor Publishing Company, 2009.
• Gregg, Hugh. "Birth of the Republican Party : a summary of historical research on Amos Tuck and the birthplace of the Republican Party at Exeter, New Hampshire" . Compiled by Hugh Gregg and Georgi Hippauf. Nashua, N.H.: Resources of New Hampshire, 1995.