Let's get back to this kind of ACTION from our GOP, shall we? MAGA! On, Wisconsin!
Posted on 07/03/2026 12:43:49 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
RIPON, Wis. — As the United States marks its 250th anniversary this weekend, a one-room schoolhouse in Ripon stands as the birthplace of the Republican Party and a reminder of Wisconsin's place in the nation's political history.
The Little White Schoolhouse, about 60 miles northeast of Madison, commemorates a meeting held March 20, 1854, when opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act gathered to organize against the expansion of slavery.
"It was really cold and it was a blizzard," said Ellen Sorensen, the interim executive director of the Little White Schoolhouse.
"It was a three-point objection," Sorensen said. "There was a moral issue, but there was also an economic issue as well as a political issue."
The meeting brought together Whigs, Free Soilers and Democrats who opposed the spread of slavery.
"These people really had disagreements," Sorensen said.
The gathering laid the foundation for what became the Republican Party. Six years later, the party elected Abraham Lincoln as president.
"That is a meteoric rise for a political party," Sorensen said.
Other states, including New Hampshire and Iowa, have also claimed to be the birthplace of the Republican Party. However, the Federal Government designated Ripon as the national historic site because of primary source documents, including newspaper notices announcing the meetings.
Although the Little White Schoolhouse is the original building, it no longer stands on its original site. The structure has been moved six times over the years to its current location.
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Let's get back to this kind of ACTION from our GOP, shall we? MAGA! On, Wisconsin!
An example where people were misled into believing something so that other people could gain from their misunderstanding.
Same tactic liberals used with Black Lives Matter, which painted the illusion that black lives were under assault and black men were being murdered in the street.
And let us be clear about this. The 1850 Republicans were the liberal, tax and spend, "social change" activists of that era.
Slavery could not expand, the "Free Soil Party" was headquartered in New York State, not Kansas, where the actual land in question was.
Why could slavery not "expand"? Because you couldn't grow cotton in any of the territories (until 1915, when large scale irrigation systems were just starting to be built.)
You couldn't grow tobacco, you couldn't grow sugar, you couldn't grow indigo. You can grow a little bit of cotton in the Southwestern most portion of Kansas, at least you can do it in modern times, but back then? Not likely.
There was nothing really for slaves to do in Kansas, or Colorado, or New Mexico. I suppose they could do a little mining, if the whites would allow them, which is not likely. I guess they could grow wheat and maybe corn, but as expensive as slaves were, it is unlikely any businessman would employ them doing that instead of cultivating and harvesting cotton, or one of the other cash crops.
But the entire country was stampeded into believing that the "territories" was under a dire threat of slavery "expanding" into them.
Because that suited the political needs of the people who were making a lot of money from controlling the government.
They stirred up the activists because that's how liberals do things.
The Democratic Party (originally called the Democratic-Republican Party) was founded in a slave owner’s mansion.
Slaves could have been used for mining and railroad work. Slavers would have adapted.
PRETTY SURE TOBACCO WAS A MAJOR CROP IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
Thanks for adding that info. I’ve sometimes listed myself as a member of the ‘Free Soil Party’ but just when it referred to Gardening. ;)
But they did something right no matter their shortcomings - got President Lincoln elected and slavery ended. (Yes, it was at a high cost but all people should be FREE!)
The Socialist Democrats still have their ‘slaves’ though. Anyone using Mother Government as their ‘parent’ is a slave, IMHO. Not sure why that isn’t a constant TALKING POINT by our side...but nobody ever listens to me. ;)
It was. Burley tobacco would make a great cash crop for me, though Beau is against it. ;)
I went to High School with a gal named Linda. Her family farmed and her Dad would give each of the kids an acre field plot and they could plant and sell whatever they wanted; but it was WHOLEY their operation, responsibility, etc.
While her brothers grew sweet corn or melons, Linda always grew tobacco. She always had money and she always had the coolest car once we got our drivers licenses. ;)
Railroads maybe, but I suspect white miners would not cooperate. People have no idea how incredibly prejudiced people were back then.
But this is still a small number compared to slaves used in agriculture.
I would guess you are referring to Andrew Jackson, who created the Modern Democrat party?
The Democrats claim Jefferson, but the modern Democrat party actually traces back to Jackson.
Yes all people should be free, but slavery was going to be doomed by Market forces and Social forces eventually anyways. It might have lasted between 20 to 80 years longer but it was going away.
If you read Charles Dickens "Notes on America", he details his travels through many parts of America, including the South. He was a staunch abolitionist, and he had many conversations with slave owners, and what he discovered is that many of them wanted out of it, but could not find any easy way to do it.
The point is, there were already stirrings among the wealthy in the South towards getting rid of slavery, and those feelings would likely only increase over time, just as they had done with all the other states that abolished slavery.
It was just more profitable, and more ingrained into the society of the South, and so was much more difficult to get rid of than it was in places like Massachusetts, where it really wasn't profitable at all.
The Socialist Democrats still have their ‘slaves’ though. Anyone using Mother Government as their ‘parent’ is a slave, IMHO. Not sure why that isn’t a constant TALKING POINT by our side...but nobody ever listens to me. ;)
The Democrats are using the descendants of slaves today for the purpose of keeping themselves in power.
But my original point in this thread was that fear over the "expansion" of slavery into the territories was way overblown, and more likely motivated by the possibility that Senators and Representatives of States created from the territories would vote with the South instead of the North.
The North was making a great deal of money from the status quo. Laws had been passed that benefited the North greatly, and they wanted no increase in representation that would side with the South and undo the laws that made handsome profits for the Northern businesses.
So they scared the public with talk of "expansion" of slavery.
There was dirty politics going on back then too.
Seriously? Tobacco in Wisconsin? I'm surprised. I thought it was a plant that thrived in hot climates.
I guess it is so.
Though I don't think Tobacco was anywhere near as valuable as cotton, nor do I think it required as many people to cultivate it as did cotton.
I hate the stuff. I wish it never caught on. I can't stand cigarette smoke.
“It was just more profitable, and more ingrained into the society of the South, and so was much more difficult to get rid of than it was in places like Massachusetts, where it really wasn’t profitable at all.”
Wisconsin went the extra mile and was huge in the Underground Railroad moving slaves up into the FREE northern states and Canada.
Every kid in Wisconsin has been on a school Field Trip to The Milton House Museum. ;)
You raise some good points.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3861e.cw0013200
I was wondering if that 20.7% slave popoulation out in Shackleford County TX got the message of the Emancipation Proclamation prior to June 19, 1865.
Hemp production in Wisconsin was HUGE during WWII. They grew it to make rope for the military. The ‘Hemp Mills’ used German POWs and Japanese-Americans as labor.
Not so cool from the same state that helped abolish slavery!
Anyhow: https://www.newheadnews.com/hemp/WiscHempMills.html
I find ‘hemp’ from time to time on my farm, but whether it’s still from WWII or from the previous Hippies that lived here, I do not know, LOL!
Now a days, marajuana has replaced tobacco as the cash crop of choice.
That’s why the modern Democrats used to celebrate Jefferson-Jackson Day. Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans and Jackson’s Democrats. Unite a shift from Jefferson’s agrarianists to VanBuren’s absolute power party.
Should we give a pass to those people smuggling in illegals in violation of federal law?
This is one of those things where people have to ask themselves, Do we support the law, or what we believe to be morally right?
The people smuggling in illegals are convinced they are "morally right." Do we Agree? Or Disagree?
OOPS: “Unite a shift …” should be “Quite a shift …”.
Some years back I looked up New Mexico territory. Back in the 1850s, "New Mexico Territory" was everything West of Texas all the way to California. Arizona was considered part of "New Mexico Territory."
According to the Wikipedia entry for "New Mexico Territory", there were never more than a dozen slaves in the entire territory from the early 1800s until the 1860s. It just wasn't profitable to have slaves there.
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