The year was 1854. A small group of disgruntled members of the Whig Party and the Democrat Party, met in a little white schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The purpose of this meeting was to create a new political party, a party that would call for an end to slavery in the United States of America.
In 1854, both the Whig Party and the Democrat Party refused to support an end to slavery entirely. So, the people in the white schoolhouse left their prospective parties and created the Republican Party.
Abraham Lincoln was one of the persons present at the white schoolhouse meeting. Lincoln was moved with compassion for those enslaved while witnessing a slave trade. He then decided to make a firm stand against the evil of slavery.
Since the creation of the Republican Party in 1854, its members have spearheaded the Emancipation Proclamation, which liberated those who where enslaved, permanently made slavery illegal in the United States of America through the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution and reaffirmed the civil rights of all Americans, including former slaves, by way of the 14th Amendment.
While the media and the academic elites in the major universities of America paint a rose colored picture of the Democrat Party, the truth is a significant number of the Democrat Party members opposed all of the civil rights proposals made by the Republican Party.
In fact, a full one-third of the Democrat Party was known as “ Dixiecrats,” southern Democrats that opposed any civil liberties for African-American citizens. This powerful voting block of “Dixiecrats,” caused many a Democrat to show insensitivity and bigotry toward all African-Americans.
For instance, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), arguably the most beloved Democrat President of all time, refused to meet with the great African-American athlete, Jesse Owens, even after Owens took home several gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.
Owens made Adolph Hitler eat crow by defeating Hitler’s “perfect race” of athletes while in Berlin. Jesse Owens should have been considered a hero. However, FDR was beholden to the segregationists in his own Democrat Party. A meeting in the White House or anywhere else with an African-American athlete, even Jesse Owens, was considered too risky for FDR’s re-election campaign.
Fast-forward to the next executive administration. The year is 1947. The great Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier and becomes the first African-American to play major league baseball. Such a feat should have been held in high esteem by then President Harry Truman. However, Harry Truman refused to meet with Jackie Robinson for the same reasons FDR refused to meet with Jesse Owens.
Once again, another great African-American athlete, guaranteed the same Constitutional rights as all Americans, became a sacrificial lamb on the altar of the Democrat Party machine. I bet you never heard about that in college.
The next President to occupy the White House after Harry Truman was Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower, a Republican, called for the end of segregation in the Armed Forces. He even activated the elite Army unit, the 101st Airborne, in order to assist nine African-American children in Arkansas. The children’s lives were being threatened for simply wanting to attend school with Caucasian students.
Eisenhower, the former W.W. II General, fondly referred to as “Ike”, made it completely clear to the nation that bigotry would not be tolerated on his watch. The commander of the European Campaign during W.W. II became the Commander-in-Chief of the civil liberties of all Americans.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act came before the Congress for a vote. The bill was designed to end segregation in America. Looking at today’s modern “progressive” history, one would think the Democrat Party led the way in passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and ending segregation nationwide. Think again.
Thirty-one percent of the Democrats in Congress voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was a vote in support of Segregationist policies. The bill would have died in Congress and Segregation would never have been made illegal until 82% of the Republican Party, who voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, chose to stand for liberty.
The Republican Party saved the day and the civil rights of all Americans by providing a large majority of votes in favor of ending Segregation. Imagine what life would be like today if Segregation had never ended.
The next time you think about civil rights and civil liberties, think about who made sure that those rights would become the law of the land. Then lift your head up high if you are a Republican
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