anti-slavery wing of the Whig Party, and campaigned for presidential nominees Henry Clay (1844), Zachary Taylor (1848), and Winfield Scott (1852). Convinced after the 1852 election that the Whig Party was no longer a viable organization for abolitionists, he helped draw up the platform of the first Republican Party convention, held in Jackson, Michigan, in 1854. According to several sources, it was Howard who chose the name "Republican" for the new party. Howard was the first Republican nominee for Michigan Attorney General. He was elected and served from 1855 to 1861. Howard was widely read in the classics, history, law, and literature, and published the memoirs of the Empress Joséphine after translating them from the original French. U.S. Senator Howard was elected as a Republican to the US Senate in 1861 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Kinsley S. Bingham. In November 1861, Abraham Lincoln nominated him to serve as Minister to Honduras, but he declined so he could continue to serve in the Senate. He was re-elected in 1865 and served from January 1862 to March 1871. He was chairman of the Committee on Pacific Railroads in the 38th through 41st congresses. In addition, he was an active member of the Judiciary, Military Affairs and Private Land Claims Committees. As a Senator, he was the chief sponsor of the False Claims Act, the "Lincoln Law", which permitted whistleblowers to file qui tam lawsuits against government contractors for fraud, with the incentive of receiving a monetary reward based on the recovery made by the federal government. Howard justified giving rewards to whistleblowers, many of whom had engaged in unethical activities themselves: I have based the [qui tam provision] upon the old-fashioned idea of holding out a temptation, and 'setting a rogue to catch a rogue,' which is the safest and most expeditious way I have ever discovered of bringing rogues to justice. Howard is credited with working closely with Abraham Lincoln in drafting and passing the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. In the Senate, he also served on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, which drafted the Fourteenth Amendment. In the Senate, Howard opposed presidential Reconstruction, arguing that Congress should play the lead role. He authored the final report on President Andrew Johnson's removal of Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War, which led to Johnson's impeachment. Speech on the proposed 14th Amendment During the debate over the