We are REPUBLICAN because……

WE BELIEVE…

The proper function of government is to do for the people those things that have to be done but cannot be done, or cannot be done as well, by individuals, and that the most effective government is government closest to the people.

WE BELIEVE…

Good government is based upon the individual and that each person’s ability, dignity, freedom and responsibility must be honored and recognized.

WE BELIEVE…

That free enterprise and the encouragement of individual initiative and incentive have given this nation an economic system second to none.

WE BELIEVE…

Sound money management should be our goal.

WE BELIEVE…

In equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, age, sex or national origin.

WE BELIEVE…

We must retain those principles of the past worth retaining, yet always be receptive to new ideas with an outlook broad enough to accommodate thoughtful change and varying points of view.

WE BELIEVE…

That Americans value and should preserve their feeling of national pride, and at the same time share with people everywhere a desire for peace and freedom and the extension of human rights throughout the world.

WE BELIEVE…

The Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.

A History of the Republican Party - “Free soil, Free labor, Free speech, Free men

The Republican Party was first organized in 1854, growing out of the “anti-Nebraska” coalition of old Whigs, freesoil Democrats etc. who mobilized in opposition to Stephen Douglas’s January 1854 introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act into Congress, a bill which repealed the 1820 Missouri compromise prohibition on slavery north of latitude 36° 30′ in the old Louisiana purchase territories, and so was viewed as an aggressive expansionist pro-slavery maneuver by many. Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a progressive vision of modernizing the United States—emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers.

They vigorously argued that free-market labor was superior to slavery and the very foundation of civic virtue and true American values—this is the “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men” ideology explored by historian Eric Foner.[1] The Republicans absorbed the previous traditions of its members, most of whom had been Whigs, such as Alvan E. Bovay and Horace Greeley; others had been Democrats or members of third parties (especially the Free Soil Party and the American Party or Know Nothings). Many Democrats who joined up were rewarded with governorships: (Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin) or seats in the U.S. Senate (Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.) Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party, but the amount of flow back and forth of prominent politicians between the two parties was quite high from 1854 to 1896.

Two small cities of the Yankee diaspora, Ripon, Wisconsin and Jackson, Michigan, claim to be the birthplace of the Republican Party (in other words, meetings held there were some of the first 1854 anti-Nebraska assemblies to call themselves by the name “Republican”). Ripon held the first county convention on March 20, 1854. Jackson held the first statewide convention where delegates including Abraham Lincoln from Illinois July 6, 1854 declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories and selected a state-wide slate of candidates. The Midwest took the lead in forming state party tickets, while the eastern states lagged a year or so. There were no efforts to organize the party in the South, apart from a few areas adjacent to free states. The party initially had its base in the Northeast and Midwest. The party launched its first national convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in February 1856, with its first national nominating convention held in the summer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee for President in 1856, using the political slogan: “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont.” Although Frémont’s bid was unsuccessful, the party showed a strong base. It dominated in New England, New York and the northern Midwest, and had a strong presence in the rest of the North. It had almost no support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-60 as a divisive force that threatened civil war.

Historians have explored the ethnocultural foundations of the party, along the line that ethnic and religious groups set the moral standards for their members, who then carried those standards into politics. The churches also provided social networks that politicians used to sign up voters. The pietistic churches emphasized the duty of the Christian to purge sin from society. Sin took many forms—alcoholism, polygamy and slavery became special targets for the Republicans. The Yankees, who dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest were the strongest supporters of the new party. This was especially true for the pietistic Congregationalists and Presbyterians among them and (during the war), the Methodists, along with Scandinavian Lutherans. The Quakers were a small tight-knit group that was heavily Republican. The liturgical churches (Roman Catholic, Episcopal, German Lutheran), by contrast, largely rejected the moralism of the Republican Party; most of their adherents voted Democratic.

Read More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Republican_Party

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