The founding event of the Republican Party is a matter of some dispute.
Some point to a mass meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin in March 1854; others
cite a later gathering in Jackson, Michigan. In any event, there appeared
to be a spontaneous outpouring of anger following passage of the Kansas-
Nebraska Act. Large public meetings were held in numerous Northern
communities, some of which used the term “Republican.”
The ranks of the emerging Republican Party were filled by the following:
Repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska Act—the Republican opposition to the
extension of slavery was based more on economic concerns than moral
ones
Support of the central route for the construction of the transcontinental
railroad
Support of a Homestead Act, which would ease the process for settlers to
own western lands
Support of high protective tariffs and liberal immigration laws—both were
attractive to Northern manufacturers.
Importantly, the Republicans were the party of free working white men;
they were opposed to the spread of slavery because they did not want to
compete against unpaid labor in the lands opening in the West. They were
no particular friends of the blacks, slave or free. Further, the Republicans
were purely a sectional party; they did not attempt to run candidates in the
slave states. Their plan was to gain complete political control in the North;
if they did, they would have sufficient electoral strength to elect a
president.
Blacks Rethink Democratic Party
Black Folks and The Republican Party
Black History and The Effects of Reconstruction
Brief History of North Carolina Republican Party
National Black Republican Associations (NBRA) History Test
Grand Old Party: Blacks might be surprised to compare Republican history
with the Democrats’
Some point to a mass meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin in March 1854; others
cite a later gathering in Jackson, Michigan. In any event, there appeared
to be a spontaneous outpouring of anger following passage of the Kansas-
Nebraska Act. Large public meetings were held in numerous Northern
communities, some of which used the term “Republican.”
The ranks of the emerging Republican Party were filled by the following:
- Northern Whigs united in their opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska
Act, but leaderless following the deaths of Henry Clay and Daniel
Webster, both in 1852.
- The Free-Soil Party, which had played a spoiler role in several
presidential elections, but now was bereft of effective leadership
- The Know-Nothing movement, whose roots lay in the fear of
immigrants in general and Roman Catholics in particular Northern
Democrats who deserted their Southern cousins over the slavery
issue.
- The new party experienced almost overnight success, winning
control of the House of Representatives in the fall of 1854. Issues
that brought the Republicans together included:
Repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska Act—the Republican opposition to the
extension of slavery was based more on economic concerns than moral
ones
Support of the central route for the construction of the transcontinental
railroad
Support of a Homestead Act, which would ease the process for settlers to
own western lands
Support of high protective tariffs and liberal immigration laws—both were
attractive to Northern manufacturers.
Importantly, the Republicans were the party of free working white men;
they were opposed to the spread of slavery because they did not want to
compete against unpaid labor in the lands opening in the West. They were
no particular friends of the blacks, slave or free. Further, the Republicans
were purely a sectional party; they did not attempt to run candidates in the
slave states. Their plan was to gain complete political control in the North;
if they did, they would have sufficient electoral strength to elect a
president.
Blacks Rethink Democratic Party
Black Folks and The Republican Party
Black History and The Effects of Reconstruction
Brief History of North Carolina Republican Party
National Black Republican Associations (NBRA) History Test
Grand Old Party: Blacks might be surprised to compare Republican history
with the Democrats’
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The
Frederick Douglass Foundation
Frederick Douglass Foundation
| Universities Started By Republicans Shaw University 1865 Raleigh, NC Fisk University 1866 Nashville, TN Atlanta University 1867 Atlanta, GA Howard University 1867 Washington, DC Meharry Medical College 1867 Nashville, TN Morgan College 1867 Baltimore, MD Morehouse College 1867 Atlanta, GA Talladega College 1867 Talladega, AL Straight University 1869 New Orleans, LA Clark University 1870 Atlanta, GA New Orleans University 1873 New Orleans LA Spelman College 1881 Atlanta, GA Philander Smith College 1883 Little Rock AR Rust College 1883 Holy Spring MS Virginia Union University 1899 Richmond, VA Samuel Houston College 1900 Austin, TX |
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one
class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them,
neither persons nor property will be safe." Frederick Douglass
class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them,
neither persons nor property will be safe." Frederick Douglass
| Copyright 2010. All content and rights are reserved by The Frederick Douglass Foundation, Inc. |