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Birthplace of the Republican Party
Historical Marker
Location
of sign - Highway 23, Ripon Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County
Photo
taken - October 2006
Photo
courtesy of Jimmy Wayne
Text
of sign:
In
1852 Alvan Early Bovay of Ripon met with Horace Greeley in New York
and advocated dissolution of the Whig Party and
formation
of a new party to fuse together antislavery elements. At the same
time he suggested the name "Republican" because he
felt
"it was a good name...with charm and prestige." The
opportunity to act came in January 1854 when Senator Stephen
Douglas
of
Illinois introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which permitted the
extension of slavery beyond the limits of the earlier Missouri
Compromise.
Three months of debate on the bill created upheavals in all the
existing political parties. When the bill passed the
Senate
on March 3, 1854, Bovay recalled: "We went into the little
meeting, Whigs, Free Soilers, and Democrats. We came out
Republicans,
and we were the first Republicans in the Union." On February
22, 1856, a convention was held at Pittsburgh to
establish
a national organization, and the name "Republican" was
adopted for the new party. Among those present were Horace
Greeley
and Abraham Lincoln.
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