Changes

Wade won a special election to Ohio's Class I Senate seat in 1851<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=142492 OH US Senate Special Race - Mar 14, 1851]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref> when a coalition of Whigs and Free Soil Party members controlled the legislature.<ref name=encyclopedia.com/> When the Whig Party collapsed due to internal division over [[slavery]], he helped form the [[Republican Party]], which he joined.<ref name=battlefieldtrust/> Sen. Wade was re-elected in 1856<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=142494 OH US Senate Race - Nov 04, 1856]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref> and 1862.<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=142495 OH US Senate Race - Nov 00, 1862]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref>

Wade won a special election to Ohio's Class I Senate seat in 1851<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=142492 OH US Senate Special Race - Mar 14, 1851]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref> when a coalition of Whigs and Free Soil Party members controlled the legislature.<ref name=encyclopedia.com/> When the Whig Party collapsed due to internal division over [[slavery]], he helped form the [[Republican Party]], which he joined.<ref name=battlefieldtrust/> Sen. Wade was re-elected in 1856<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=142494 OH US Senate Race - Nov 04, 1856]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref> and 1862.<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=142495 OH US Senate Race - Nov 00, 1862]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref>

Joining GOP ranks as a Radical Republican, Wade was an ardent supporter of [[women's suffrage]] and trade unions.<ref name=battlefieldtrust/> He voiced heavy opposition towards the Fugitive Slave Act and the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], drawing the ire of Southerners. Along with U.S. representative Joshua R. Giddings, Wade helped the efforts of the [[Underground Railroad]] let slaves in the South escape to freedom in defiance of then-''status quo'' laws, particularly as forty percent came through Ohio.<ref>Clines, Francis X. (June 24, 2002). [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/24/us/slave-railroad-buffs-question-museum-site.html Slave 'Railroad' Buffs Question Museum Site]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref>

Joining GOP ranks as a Radical Republican, Wade was an ardent supporter of [[women's suffrage]] and trade unions.<ref name=battlefieldtrust/> He voiced heavy opposition towards the Fugitive Slave Act and the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], drawing the ire of Southerners. Along with U.S. representative Joshua R. Giddings, who he earlier formed a partnership with,<ref name=britannica>May 4, 1999. [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-F-Wade Benjamin F. Wade]. ''Britannica''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref> Wade helped the efforts of the [[Underground Railroad]] let slaves in the South escape to freedom in defiance of then-''status quo'' laws, particularly as forty percent came through Ohio.<ref>Clines, Francis X. (June 24, 2002). [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/24/us/slave-railroad-buffs-question-museum-site.html Slave 'Railroad' Buffs Question Museum Site]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved November 9, 2021.</ref>

[[File:Benjamin F. Wade 35th Congress LOC picture.png|thumb|left|220px|Wade during the 1857–59 congressional session.]]

[[File:Benjamin F. Wade 35th Congress LOC picture.png|thumb|left|220px|Wade during the 1857–59 congressional session.]]