Colon either overlooks, or is ignorant to, the fact that the abolition of slavery was a central plank in the platform of the early Republican Party.
None so blind . . .
The Freesoil party was the short lived transitional party (1848to 1854) that provided the catalyst for the formation of the GOP. The Free Soil Party contended that slavery undermined the dignity of labor and inhibited social mobility, and was therefore fundamentally undemocratic. Viewing slavery as an economically inefficient, obsolete institution, Free Soilers believed that slavery should be contained, and that if contained it would ultimately disappear. They supported opening the west to expansion while prohibiting slavery in the newly opening lands and slavery would collapse under its own weight.
Their motto.
“Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men.”