It participated in the United States House of Representatives election of 1854, and continued to function until 1860, when it merged into the Republican Party.
[1] The party attracted former Democrats and Whigs who were opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which extended slavery in the United States.
Lane's influence over the older Whigs brought most into the People's Party, while abolitionists joined because of the anti-Kansas-Nebraska Act platform.
Lane also helped to convince many Democrats and Know-Nothings who were opposed to slavery extension to join the People's Party.
The People's Party resisted adopting the name "Republican" because of its association with the eastern abolition movement that many Hoosiers saw as too radical.