Editing Wide Awakes (section)

{{short description|1860s Republican youth organization}}
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[[File:Abraham Lincoln's political career through 1860 (1860) (14594018200).jpg|right|thumb|400px|A Wide Awakes parade in [[Lower Manhattan]], one of a series of political rallies held in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, and Boston during the first week of October 1860.]]

The '''Wide Awakes''' were a [[youth organization]] and later a [[paramilitary organization]] cultivated by the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] during the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 presidential election]] in the [[United States]]. Using popular social events, an ethos of competitive fraternity, and even promotional [[comic books]], the organization introduced many to political participation and proclaimed itself as the newfound voice of younger voters. The structured militant Wide Awakes appealed to a generation which had been profoundly shaken by the partisan instability in the 1850s, and offered young northerners a much-needed political identity.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Grinspan| first= Jon| date=September 2009| title="Young Men for War:" The Wide Awakes and Lincoln's 1860 Presidential Campaign| url=http://archive.oah.org/special-issues/lincoln/contents/grinspan.html| journal=Journal of American History| volume=96| issue=2| pages=357–378| doi= 10.1093/jahist/96.2.357| access-date=April 1, 2017| url-access=subscription}}</ref>