General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: ...and then a man rode through the lines bearing a white flag. [View all]ladjf
(17,320 posts)from their first years.
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The Republicans rapidly gained supporters in the North, and in 1856 their first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, won 11 of the 16 Northern states. By 1860, the majority of the Southern slave states were publicly threatening secession if the Republicans won the presidency.
Reference: www.history.com/.../republican-party-founded
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The 1860 Republican nomination convention was held in Chicago. They strongly supported the Illinois "favorite son" A. Lincoln who had promised the immediate Emancipation Proclamation, a move that all but guaranteed secession , the civil war and Republican control of the American Government.
read "The Republicans and the Civil War"
http://civilwarhome.com/republicans.htm
Republican fingerprints were all over the political moves leading up to the Civil War, during it and following the war.