 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
On this day in 1856 former Whig and American Party members met and formed the New Republican Party of Oregon with expressed opposition to slavery in the territory. Their platform read: Resolved, that we fling our banner to the breeze, inscribed Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Press and Fremont.: The "Free State Republican Party of Oregon" members were soon dubbed "black republicans." With the backing of the Oregonian newspaper, the party grew in stature and was one of the deciding votes in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and his subsequent election.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||