This day in 1854 marked the first public meeting of a party named the Republican Party in the U.S. Later, that party grew into one of the two leading parties in U.S. politics, but its beginnings were actually rather humble. Namely, the first party meeting was held in a small schoolhouse in the town of Ripon in the Midwest. Ripon is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, some 200 km north of Chicago.
The mentioned schoolhouse still stands in Ripon today, and has been registered as a historical monument. It is called the “Birthplace of the Republican Party”. It is interesting that the original Republican Party was comprised mostly of Abolitionists, i.e. those who opposed slavery. The Republican Party soon became the leading party in the northern U.S., while the slave-owning states in the south opposed it.
The first U.S. president from the Republican Party was the famous Abraham Lincoln. The Republican Party has thus far produced as many as 18 U.S. presidents, making it the leading party in this regard (the Democratic Party had produced 15). The Republican Party bears the nickname “Grand Old Party” (GOP), and usually uses the color red (the Democrats normally use blue).
