Blair

Blair, U.S. family influential in 19th-century politics and the formation of the Republican Party. Francis Preston Blair (1791–1876) of Abington, Va. founded the Washington Globe and was a member of President Andrew Jackson's Kitchen Cabinet. He later helped to found the new Republican Party. His eldest son, Montgomery Blair (1813–83), was the lawyer who defended Dred Scott before the Supreme Court in 1857 and was postmaster general under Lincoln (1861–64). Another son, Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (1821–75), was instrumental in keeping Missouri from seceding when the Civil War broke out. He was a general in the Union army and was a senator from Missouri in 1871–73.

See also: Republican Party.