Freedom's First Family:
African Americans and Republicans
1854 - The Beginning
In the early 1850's there was one single issue that dominated the American political scene as no other issue had done since the Revolution. More than the economy. More than trade or tariffs. Even more than the prospect of war with a foreign nation.
The issue was the institution of slavery, which had been established in America since its colonial beginnings. Confined primarily to the southern states, and despised bitterly by many in the north, slavery had continued to exist under the pretense that it was essential to the economy of the agricultural south.
But America was beginning its westward expansion and the Democratic Party wanted to make sure that each new star added to the flag represented a slave state. The Democrats were the dominant force in American politics in 1850, with much of its opposition divided into smaller splinter groups such as the Free Soil Party and the Know Nothings. Even the venerable old Whig Party was on its last legs, and most of its members were divided on the slavery issue along regional lines.
On February 28, 1854, a meeting was held in the First Congregational Church of Ripon, Wisconsin and plans were drawn up to establish a new national political party that would challenge the Democrats and attempt to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories, and eventually abolish the practice throughout the entire nation.
The man behind the movement was Alvan E, Bovay, a lawyer and prominent member of the Whig Party, who decided to call the fledging political organization the Republicans. Three weeks later, on March 20th, the Republican Party was conceived in a Ripon, Wisconsin schoolhouse. "We went in Whigs, Free Soilers and Democrats" recalled Bovay, "we came out of it Republicans". On July 6th, 1854 the new Republican Party held its first formal convention to adopt a platform of issues which would serve as the cornerstone for building a new party. The turnout at Jackson, Michigan was so tremendous that the meeting had to be moved outdoors. The name Republican was formally approved and anti-slavery was the primary plank in the "convention under the oaks" platform.
Freedom's First Family was started.
