There is no question that the Kansas-Nebraska Act which dissolved the Missouri Compromise was the catalyst for the creation of the Republican Party. But its foundation firmly lays in the opposition of the single most reprehensible act in US history, slavery.
The Republican Party has been and will forever be known as the party responsible for bringing the scourge of slavery to the conscience of the American public.
The Republican Party is the party of the abolitionist. US Senator John P. Hale of Dover, NH, and a product of the Phillips Exeter Academy I might add, was one of the first to take the floor of the Senate to speak out about the evils of slavery. The famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass would later endorse Senator Hale for President in 1852. It was Sen. Hale along with several others of the new Republican Party who managed to convince a former Illinois Congressman by the name of Abraham Lincoln to run for President of the United States.
It is hard for anyone to believe that it is and was the Republican Party that was responsible for the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, all very forceful actions to promote civil rights and elevate people of color to the full status of equality as guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” To that end, Republicans were rewarded at the ballot box throughout the South.
In 1866 and 1868 almost every state legislature and Governors’ office were controlled by Republicans, mostly on the strength of black votes, yes black people were allowed to vote in the South in 1866 and 1868. And vote they did, overwhelmingly for the party they identified as being their saviors, the Republican Party. What? You did not know this? This is the history of the United States that is not taught in school, nor do we as Republicans put this information forth, but we will do so now. We do so because it is important for the people to know why we are here and what we stand for.
By 1870 the control of Southern legislatures began to return to Democrat hands, mainly because of the implementation of “Black Codes” and “Pig Laws”, precursors to the “Jim Crow” laws tollow. These laws severely limited the ability of freed slaves to vote and they were enforced by the terrorist wing of the Democrat Party, Nathan Bedford Forrests’ Klu Klux Klan. Despite these obstacles, people of color continued to support Republican candidates wherever they happened to run, usually at great peril.
Nonetheless, it is the Republican Party that overwhelmingly supported every piece of civil rights legislation, more so than their Democratic counterparts. It is this history that should be made known. When we do this, we will go a long way in dispelling the narrative that the Republican Party is anti-civil rights. In fact, the truth is exactly opposite, and we should stand proud of and promote this heritage.
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Rogers J Johnson of Stratham, NH, is a former NH House Majority Whip and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education under Pres. George W. Bush, and is the transcript of his speech at the GOP 160th birthday celebration yesterday in Exeter. NH.
