Right wing pro slavery free#

More: The US is grappling with its history of slavery. This effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had divided the country at the parallel 36 degrees 30 minutes north between the pro-slavery South and the anti-slavery North. To garner needed support from Southern Democrats, Douglas inserted a provision allowing residents of the new Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. The creation was spurred by the May 1854 passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Stephen A. Historians are clear that the Republican Party was founded, in large part, as an anti-slavery party. “It would be more accurate to say that Ripon is the birthplace of the name ‘Republican Party.’” The motivation “The Republican Party was founded by dissident Whigs and others in a decentralized process it had no single origin,” he said in an email. More: Slavery in America: Some historical sites try to show the horrors. They adopted a platform that said the group would “cooperate and be known as Republicans.” The GOP website says this is the first “mass gathering of the Republican Party.”Įncyclopedia Britannica also pointed to the Ripon and Jackson meetings as the key founding momentsĬharles Cohen, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, said calling Ripon the birthplace overreaches a bit though. Other key moments include a July 6, 1854, anti-slavery convention in Jackson, Michigan, where the first statewide candidates were selected by the new party. Bovay was friends with Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, who eventually published the term as a recommended label for the fledgling party, furthering the name’s eventual adoption. Gilman reports the meeting was organized by Alvan Bovay, a founder of what became Ripon College, who put forth the name Republican for the newly formed group.

Right wing pro slavery free#

Gilman said 54 of the 100 or so eligible voters in the area attended that meeting, a combination of Whigs (a party that was fading at the time), disillusioned Democrats and Free Soilers (a short-lived anti-slavery coalition). The exact origin of the Republican Party is a point of debate, but Ripon has a solid claim - at the very least - to playing a key role.Ī brief history page on the official GOP website describes Ripon as hosting the first Republican Party meeting, on March 20, 1854.Ī 1914 writeup on the origin of the party by Ripon College professor A.F. More: How well do you know America's history with slavery? Take our quiz The location We’ll examine the location and motivation claims one at a time. Is it correct to say the Republican Party started in Ripon “to counter the Democrats’ plans to expand slavery”?

There is, of course, an underlying assertion here is that the parties have changed so little in 150-plus years that their 19th century policies should be factored into present voting decisions.īut we’ll set that aside to focus on where and why the party started. EVERY American should REMEMBER this important bit of American history on election day!”

PURPOSE: To counter the Democrats’ plans to expand slavery in America.

“The Republican Party of the United States of America was founded in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. So it’s hardly a surprise that a recent Facebook post highlighting Wisconsin’s role launching the Republican Party was built on a critique of the Democrats of old.Ī post shared more than 9,000 times after being posted in the “Educate-A-Liberal” Facebook group described it this way: Political polarization hasn’t exactly diminished in the face of a worldwide pandemic.

Claim: The Republican Party started in Ripon, Wisconsin, “to counter the Democrats’ plans to expand slavery.”