Chicago Republicans

It is only appropriate that we inaugurate our Then and Now series with a brief history of America’s two main political parties and their relationship with our nation’s black community. Once we have laid the groundwork, we will then enter the fray of individual issues, examining them through a historical and contemporary lens.

So let us go back to the 1850’s….
In 1854, a group of passionate abolitionists formed a new political party to confront the existing Democratic Party and its congressional, judicial and executive dominance. The unifying platform of this new party was the abolition of slavery. Presidential candidate John C. Fremont ran on the slogan “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men.” The founders named it The Republican Party. Drawing from the older Free Soil Party, and winning over many of the northern Democrats ill at ease with slavery, the Republicans fought to erode the pro-slavery gains made by the Democrats.

The Democrats in Congress had recently passed the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. These two pieces of legislation overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820 (which had prohibited slavery’s expansion north of the 36°20’ line). Abolitionists feared that both Kansas and Nebraska would enter the union as slave states and thereby give the Democrats a strangle hold on American politics. Additionally, the fugitive slave law, part of the Compromise of 1850, forced northern states to assist slaveholders in recapturing runaway slaves. By 1860 the nation was sharply divided as never before. When Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, won the White House, Southern Democrats feared that slavery’s expansion might slow or even be reversed. Rather than accept the verdict of the voters, Southern Democrats seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy.

The Civil War that ensued was known by many names, but for African Americans, it was known simply as the war between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats fought and died to protect the institution of slavery while Republicans fought and died to defeat it. Fortunately, the Republicans prevailed and slavery in the United States met its end.

The Republican Party continued to fight for the rights of African Americans throughout the tumultuous years of Reconstruction. Successive Republican Congresses passed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments and further passed many consecutive civil rights laws expanding the rights and freedoms of former slaves. In all of these efforts they were vehemently opposed by the Democrats. African Americans used their newfound political power to send many of their own to Washington during those first heady days of freedom. The first 13 Black members of Congress were Republican. In fact, every Black member of Congress until 1930 was Republican.
 
The Democrats in the South meanwhile carried out a violent campaign of repression and violence aimed at the de facto elimination of the black vote. In the 1930’s and 40’s, however, the Democrats realized that they could not bar African Americans from the polls forever, and devised instead to capture their vote through the promise of liberal social programs. Democrats also began to inform African Americans that the Republican Party took the black vote for granted. And perhaps this was true. After defeating slavery and passing dozens of civil rights laws and constitutional amendments, the Republican Party counted on the black vote but did little to continue the uphill battle for civil rights.

By the 1960’s African Americans began to vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Even though 82% of Republicans in Congress voted to pass the 1964 civil rights act as compared to 64% of Democrats, blacks gave Democrats their vote. Since then, despite the fact that the Democratic Party has never apologized to the black community for its defense of slavery and its brutal treatment of blacks over the next 100 years, blacks have consistently voted Democrat.

It is now time for the black community to reevaluate its 40 year Democrat experiment. Have the liberal social programs promised by Democratic leaders brought the expected results? Does the Party really represent your interests or does it simply offer lip service while selfishly counting on your consistent support at the polls? And is it time now to recognize that it is the Democratic Party that takes your vote for granted? The Republican Party was founded on civil rights. We believed, and continue to believe that once people gain their God given freedom, that they are capable of achieving their dreams. The Democratic Party on the other hand maintained that blacks were inferior to whites. Their condescension continues today, embodied in the idea that the government must take care of an incapable black community.

The Chicago Republican Party wants to prove once again that the Republican Party stands with the black community. Over the next few weeks we will explore a host of contentious issues with historical and contemporary facets and we will demonstrate why African Americans should reconsider their politically affiliation.