Thread by @HC_Richardson

There seems to be some surprise that Republicans in 1860 enslaved people. Of course they did. The GOP was not initially an anti-slavery party. It was an anti-SLAVE OWNER party. Anti-slavery came after 1863.

Let's take a look at the origins of the Republican Party, shall we? /1

The spark that ignited a new party was the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. Until then, (white men) folks had an uneasy truce over slavery. Under the 1820 Missouri Compromise, slavery couldn't go to western land acquired under the 1803 Louisiana Purchase above 36" 30' (MO excepted). /2

House representation is by population; in 1854 the booming North dominated. Senate representation is 2 per state; a small minority of rich slave owners dominated and stopped laws that a majority wanted. More northern states meant southerners would lose power. /3

IL Sen. Stephen Douglas wanted to organize western land to run a railroad over it. Southern Senators said they would not let any northern states in without southern states to balance the Senate. So the K-N Act opened to slavery land free under the MO Comp. Northerners howled. /4

Why? Because enslaved labor undercut more expensive free labor, and if rich southern slaveowners took over the West, free workers could not compete. Rich men would take everything. They would control the West and overawe the North in Congress. Slavery would become national. /5

Few white northern men cared about black rights. They cared that oligarchs were out to destroy democracy. A very few very wealthy slaveowners were trying to game the system to take over. Again and again, northerners talked of how oligarchs were crushing ordinary men. /6

Northerners organized to fight against the measure, but President Franklin Pierce put huge pressure on Northern Ds to go along with the K-N Act. They finally did. (This radicalized the D party by bleeding all moderates out of it, leaving it for proslavery radicals.)

The morning after the K-N Act passed the House, May 9, 1854, northern congressmen from all parties met at Mrs. Crutchett's boarding house (in the rooms of MA Rep Edward Dickinson, Emily's father. Not kidding.) to talk of a new, "Republican" party to oppose the "Slave Power." /8

It seemed clear the Slave Power wanted to control the nation. Settlers in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska were supposed to decide for or against slavery, but proslavery men blatantly stole Kansas elections then in 1856 attacked the headquarters anti-slavery men. /9

Just days later, after MA Sen. Charles Sumner compared the oligarchs trying to force their will on Kansas to slave owners raping enslaved women, a southern Representative beat Sumner almost to death on the floor of the Senate while southerners looked on. /10

The Slave Power was willing to kill northern senators for speaking against them. Their power was growing. In 1856, those afraid they were losing democracy finally coalesced as Republicans (Abraham Lincoln joined in May). GOP candidate John C. Fremont barely lost in 1856. /11

In his inaugural address, Democrat James Buchanan said SCOTUS would solve the slavery issue, and everyone should cheerfully agree. Days later, SCOTUS hands down Dred Scott decision, saying MO Comp was unconstitutional, and Congress cannot keep slavery out of the West. /12

Slave Power had Senate, POTUS, and SCOTUS. In 1858, Lincoln warned that "a house divided" cannot stand, and that Stephen Douglas, Franklin Pierce, Roger Taney (Chief Justice of SCOTUS) and James Buchanan were working to make slavery national, destroying democracy. /13

Lincoln challenged Douglas for IL Sen seat in 1858. Douglas said free men could keep slavery out of the West; AL asked how-- Dred Scott decision said government must protect ALL property. Douglas said West could just not have local slave laws. Aha! said Lincoln. /14

Then Slave Power will want federal slave code! And that's just what happened. Slave owners start to demand federal government protect slavery in the territories. (So much for the "states' rights" small government idea, huh?) SP now commandeering federal government for slavery./15

In 1858, SC Senator James Henry Hammond said: Well, yeah. Slavery is the best form of society. Most folks are stupid and lazy, and need leaders to direct them. In turn, the capital their work produces goes to leaders, who move society forward with their wealth and wisdom. /16

In 1859, Lincoln says no way. In Hammond's world, Lincoln should've remained a day laborer. AL says that ordinary Americans innovate and drive the economy, and that America depends on democracy and equality. His message is about democracy, not black rights. /17

It is a message that northerners- including northerners who own other human beings, so long as they are not part of the cabal trying to take over the government, men like Francis Blair, Sr.- can get behind. They want access to resources and power, too. /18

Such men elect Abraham Lincoln in 1860 to preserve "government of the people, by the people, for the people." They are pro-democracy, not pro-abolition. Lincoln promises not to mess with slavery in the South, but to keep it from taking over the West and the nation. /19

I'll do a thread on how the GOP become anti-slavery in 1863 if anyone's interested. But it's important to note that the GOP formed to prevent oligarchs from destroying democracy, after they had taken over Congress, the presidency, and SCOTUS. (Ahem.) It is a noble history. /END