This Day in Republican History 02/22/05

February 22, 1856 First national meeting of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh, to coordinate opposition to Democrats’ pro-slavery policies. Made up of old-line Whigs, together with radical anti-slavery activists, Know-Nothings, and Free-Soil Democrats, the new party combined many diverse ingredients; the force that cemented them was common opposition to the further extension of slavery in the territories. The Democrats planned to extend slavery to the free territories with a vote in Congress. The Republicans thought (and rightly so) that if the Dems could simply vote to extend slavery to the free territories, they could also vote to extend slavery to the free states. The Party of Lincoln, the Party founded on an anti-slavery plank, the Party that abolished slavery and gave the country the fourteenth amendment in an effort to protect black rights; the Party that tried to put an end to lynching, in the face of fierce opposition by Democrats, has now been successfully demonized by the Democrats as racist. And what has the vast majority of the descendents of American slaves done? They have returned to the Democratic plantation. And the likes of Julian Bond, Maxine Waters, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson intend to keep them there. After all, what good is a race baiter if he cannot keep that race-pot boiling? Despite the Republicans' greatest efforts, the chains are still there. But instead of iron chains, they are chains forged from lies, greed, hatred and lust for power..