Founding of the Republican Party

Founding of the Republican Party The Republican Party was founded in the mid-1850s following the fracturing of other political parties over the issue of slavery. The party, which was based on stopping the spread of slavery to new territories and states, arose out of protest meetings which took place in a number of northern states. The catalyst for the founding of the party was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in the spring of 1854. The law was a major change from the Missouri Compromise of three decades earlier and made it seem possible that new states in the West would come into the Union as slave states. The change splintered both major parties of the era, the Democrats and the Whigs. Each party contained factions that either endorsed or opposed the spread of slavery into western territories. Before the Kansas-Nebraska Act was even signed into law by President Franklin Pierce, protest meetings had been called in a number of locations.   With meetings and conventions happening in a number of northern states, it is impossible to pinpoint one particular place and time where the party was founded.  One meeting, at a schoolhouse  in Ripon, Wisconsin, on March 1, 1854, is often credited as being where the Republican Party was founded. According to a number of accounts published in the 19th century, a convention of disaffected Whigs and members of the fading Free Soil Party assembled at Jackson, Michigan on July 6, 1854. A Michigan congressman, Jacob Merritt Howard, was credited with drawing up the first platform of the party and giving it the name Republican Party. It is often stated that Abraham Lincoln was the founder of the Republican Party. While the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act did motivate Lincoln to return to an active role in politics, he was not part of the group which actually founded the new political party. Lincoln did, however, quickly become a member of the Republican Party and in the election of 1860 he would become its second nominee for president. Formation of a New Political Party Forming the new political party was no easy accomplishment. The American political system in the early 1850s was complicated, and members of a number of factions and minor parties had widely varying degrees of enthusiasm about migrating to a new party. In fact, during the congressional elections of 1854, it seemed that most of the opponents to the spread of slavery concluded their most practical approach would be the formation of fusion tickets. For example, members of the Whigs and the Free Soil Party formed tickets in some states to run in local and Congressional elections. The fusion movement was not very successful, and was ridiculed with the slogan Fusion and Confusion. Following the 1854 elections momentum grew to call meetings and begin to seriously organize the new party. Throughout 1855 various state conventions brought together Whigs, Free Soilers, and others. In New York State, the powerful political boss Thurlow Weed joined the Republican Party, as did the states anti-slavery senator William Seward, and the influential newspaper editor Horace Greeley. Early Campaigns of the Republican Party It seemed obvious that the Whig Party was finished, and couldnt run a candidate for the presidency in 1856. As the controversy over Kansas escalated (and would eventually turn into a small-scale conflict dubbed Bleeding Kansas), the Republicans gained traction as they presented a united front against the pro-slavery elements dominating the Democratic Party. As former Whigs and Free Soilers coalesced around the Republican banner, the party held its first national convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 17-19, 1856. Approximately 600 delegates gathered, mainly from the northern states but also including the border slave states of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and the District of Columbia. The territory of Kansas was treated as a full state, which carried considerable symbolism given the unfolding conflict there. At that first convention, the Republicans nominated explorer and adventurer John C. Frà ©mont as their presidential candidate. A former Whig congressman from Illinois who had come over to the Republicans, Abraham Lincoln, was nearly nominated as the vice presidential candidate but lost to William L. Dayton, a former senator from New Jersey. The first national platform of the Republican Party called for a transcontinental railroad and improvements of harbors and river transportation. But the most pressing issue, of course, was slavery and the platform called for prohibiting the spread of slavery to new states and territories. It also called for the prompt admission of Kansas as a free state. The Election of 1856 James Buchanan, the Democratic candidate, and a man with an uncommonly long record in American politics won the presidency in 1856 in a three-way race with Frà ©mont and former president Millard Fillmore, who ran a disastrous campaign as the candidate of the Know-Nothing Party. Yet the newly formed Republican Party did surprisingly well. Frà ©mont received about a third of the popular vote and carried 11 states in the electoral college. All the Frà ©mont states were in the North and included New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Given that Frà ©mont was a novice at politics, and the party had not even existed at the time of the previous presidential election, it was a very encouraging result. At the same time, the House of Representatives began to turn Republican. By the late 1850s, the House was dominated by Republicans. The Republican Party had become a major force in American politics. And the election of 1860, in which the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, won the presidency, led to the slave states seceding from the Union.

The Osprey

The Osprey Most of you know that I live on the banks of a huge lake. With about four hundred feet of frontage on a cove, I am lucky to experience all sorts of wildlife. In the morning, birds sing, dance, dip and dive, happy at being awake. Ducks, coots, and geese paddle in the water then wander up to my bird feeder, scavenging for kicked-out seed. In the evening, deer peer out of the woods, nibbling corn my husband tosses out. He laughs about putting their carcasses in our freezer for dinner, but I know he enjoys watching them come and go, feeling safe. Today, however, I watched an osprey land on a branch thirty feet off the ground, right outside my study window. Ospreys love Lake Murray for its ample bass population,and the residents love watching these gorgeous birds of prey fly, dive and strategically snare a fish from the water. This one sat for a long time, allowing me to pull out my binoculars. White head and chest. Yellow eyes, curved beak, he watched the water like the hawk he was. The breeze ruffled across his back and rear feathers, and he adjusted his balance a couple of times. But he never took his eye off the water. Ducks swam off to the side. Turtles plopped off logs off to the side as if understanding this bird meant business. Finally he dove, smacking the water with talons, then flew away, his dinner unable to even flop it was so evenly gripped. Ive seen these birds come up empty. Ive seen them attempt three and four times before successfully snaring their food. They never get frustrated. They dont let other animals bother them. The wind can blow one way then another. Regardless, they focus on their mission, and dont leave until theyve won. Osprey are beautiful creatures, living life their way. They dont care who sees them miss. They dont stop until they succeed. And in between their fishing duties, they soar, watching, learning, and enjoying the journey. Try being an osprey.

The Polarization Of American Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Polarization Of American Politics - Essay Example The segregation of America into blue and red states aids in strengthening the perception of non-polarization of the American politics. Views of people in both states tend to be similar on common issues, such as the fiscal policy. Polarization is only evident among the elites in the society, but not the mass public. A weakness of the argument is that the basis of segregation of states into blue and red states. It is not realistic to elude that everyone in the blue states is Democrats and vice versa. In the second paper authored by Saunders and Abramowitz; with the title,†is polarization a myth?† supports the view that America is polarized. This is based on the ideological and party identification. It noted that politics from the yardstick to polarization. A weak point in this paper is that the perceptions are based on individuals rather than a percentage of masses that hold different views. In the final paper, â€Å"Rich State, Poor State, Red State, Blue State: What†™s the Matter with Connecticut?† the pattern of voting forms the basis of the argument. The paper argues that Republicans have more support from the rich while Democrats have more support from the poor. Perception of the argument changes preceding this week's discussion. The argument should focus more on the impact of polarization on the country rather than finding out if America is polarized. I believe that having the knowledge on the impacts of polarization should be prioritized to an analysis of the polarization of America.