Republican Party

The Republican Party was established at Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854 by a group of former members of the Whig Party, the Free-Soil Party and the Democratic Party. Its original founders were opposed to slavery and called for the repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska and the Fugitive Slave Law. Early members thought it was important to place the national interest above sectional interest and the rights of individual States.

Over the next few years the Republican Party emerged as the main opposition party to the Democratic Party in the North. However, it had little support in the South. The party's first presidential candidate was John C. Fremont in 1856 who won 1,335,264 votes but was defeated by the Democratic Party candidate, James Buchanan.

I wrote a short history on the beginnings of the Republican Party in my Senator Smith: Right and Wrong - Part 2. I originally wrote this commentary in opposition to the frequently expressed view that the Whig Party dissolved and the Republican Party arose because the Whigs failed to stand strongly against slavery. The fact is that the last Whig candidate nominated solely by the Whig part was strongly opposed to slavery. After he lost, the Whigs never again stood as a significant national party. Another important fact is that the Republican Party arose at a time when there almost wasn't any real "second party."

The point of my commentary was that we aren't in the 1850's and the circumstances that led to the changing of the national "second party" aren't the same as they were then. The history that I present is focused around this point, but it is still interesting stuff.

As an aside, do you work for Sinclair Oil? I've always thought that the dinosaur logo was neat. I once sent them my resume, but they weren't hiring at the time. I would have enjoyed working in the refinery near Tulsa.

Texas Wasn't Kuwait (more history)
Bill

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