Massachusetts Republican Party
The Massachusetts Republican Party was founded in 1854. Drawing together abolitionist and nativist anti-Catholic elements, it quickly became the dominant political force in the state and a powerful arm of the national Republican Party. Significant founding figures include Senator Charles Sumner, formerly of the Free Soil Party, and Speaker of the House Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, formerly of the American Party. 
At the time of the Republican Party's founding in 1854, all of Massachusetts's congressional representatives but Sumner were members of the nativist Know-Nothing Party. However, Banks's role as chairman of the 1856 Republican National Convention, his active support for the Republican presidential nominee John C. Frémont in 1856 and his focus on anti-slavery legislation as Speaker put him at odds with his party. Following the Democratic victory in the 1856 elections and the Dred Scott case in 1857, the national American Party organization collapsed, and most Northern members joined the nascent Republicans. In 1857, Banks ran as a Republican against incumbent Know-Nothing Governor Henry J. Gardner and won a decisive victory.
New York Republican State Committee
The establishment of the Republican Party in New York in the 1850s was a difficult task. At the time, the nativist American Party, (a party evolved from the Know Nothing Party) was active. However, the committee presented nominees from a party with well-recognized members, a defined set of principles, stable, powerful, well-known leaders and a well established structure. The committees nominees were first successful in 1856.
Around 1894, when immigration was at its peak, the New York State Constitution created a clause which caused upstate New York to have reappointed districts so that there would be more votes per district. This gave native New Yorkers more votes than immigrants. It was not until 1974 that the US Supreme Court deemed this clause unconstitutional. This created a turmoil in the politics of New York because the Republican party lost its hold on the state legislature. Since 1959, Nelson Rockefeller (1959–73) and George Pataki (1995-2006) were the only two major Republican governors of New York.