Lincoln becomes the Republican presidential candidate, benefiting from a Democratic party split on the issue of slavery

The Liberals recover Mexico City and elect Benito Juarez as president

President Lincoln, in honouring the Union dead at Gettysburg, captures in three minutes the essence of American democracy

A committee to campaign for women's suffrage is formed in Manchester, the first of many in Britain

The Fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution (not ratified till 1868) assures equal rights as citizens to all born or naturalized in the USA

Britain's new Reform Act extends the franchise to working men in British towns

The US Congress passes Reconstruction Acts, dividing the defeated South into military districts and insisting on elections by universal male suffrage

The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution (ratified in 1870) makes it illegal to deny the right to vote on racial grounds

As the result of a plebiscite, Rome and the remaining papal states are included in the kingdom of Italy

The Ballot Act adds to the British electoral system the essential element of secrecy in voting

Charles Stewart Parnell takes his seat in the House of Commons at Westminster and immediately adds zest to the campaign for Home Rule

The Compromise of 1877 settles the disputed US presidential election but ends active Republican commitment to the cause of Reconstruction in the southern states

Romania achieves a new status as an internationally recognized independent nation

The Tynwald in the Isle of Man becomes the first parliament to give women the vote

Those in Britain's Liberal party opposing Home Rule for Ireland become a separate group under the name of Unionists

A new Populist Party, dedicated to democracy and welfare, begins a brief career of considerable political influence in the USA

Keir Hardie wins the London seat of West Ham, becoming the first Labour member of the House of Commons

The Independent Labour Party, later changing its name to the Labour Party, is founded in Britain by the trade unionist Keir Hardie

The faction founded in Bohemia by Tomas Masaryk becomes known as the Progressive party

Keir Hardie is returned to parliament for Merthyr Tydfil, beginning a long and close link between the Labour party and Wales.

The Irish Parliamentary Party, which split after the Parnell divorce case, reunites under the leadership of John Redmond

Lenin and comrades launch in Munich a radical newspaper, Iskra ('the spark')

In his pamphlet What is to be done? Lenin argues for early action to promote revolution

Irish politician Arthur Griffith launches Sinn Fein, as an organization campaigning for a strong and independent Ireland

Lenin's supporters become known as the Bolsheviks ('majority') as opposed to the Mensheviks ('minority') after a split at the party's Second Congress