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THE TEEN AGE REPUBLICANS (TARS)
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| THE REPUBLICAN PARTY: LEADING THE WAY ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND WOMEN’S ISSUES |
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THE UNDISPUTABLE FACTS: |
The Republican Party was founded by anti-slavery activists in the 1850’s.
The first Republican candidate for President, Col. John C. Fremont, ran on the slogan, “Free soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men, Fremont!”
In 1856, abolitionist Frederick Douglas endorsed Fremont for President. Douglas, a strong Republican, went on to attend Republican National Conventions and campaigned for every Republican Presidential candidate until he died.
President Abraham Lincoln implemented the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in the Confederate States.
The Republican Party was responsible for passing the 13TH Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the 14TH, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the 15TH, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans.
In 1866, the Republican Congress established the Buffalo Soldiers.
In 1867, the Republican Congress passed a bill to charter Howard University in Washington, DC.
In 1868, Louisiana Republican Oscar Dunn, a former slave, became our nation's first African-American Lt. Governor.
Suffragists like Susan B. Anthony started speaking out against abortion. In 1869, she wrote in her newspaper Revolution, “Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.”
In 1870, the Republican Party sent the first African American to the U.S. Senate (Hiram Revels of Mississippi) and the first African American to the U.S. House of Representatives (Joseph Rainey of South Carolina).
In 1872, Susan B. Anthony campaigns for the reelection of President Grant. Despite laws to the contrary, Anthony votes in the election. Anthony bragged, after leaving the voting booth that she had voted for “the Republican ticket -- straight.” All of the leading suffragists -- including Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton -- were Republicans. The suffragists included two African-American Republican women who were also co-founders of the NAACP: Ida Wells and Mary Terrell, great leaders of our party, both of them.
On December 9, 1872, Louisiana Republican Pinckney Benton Stewart "P.B.S." Pinchback became America's first African American governor.
In 1875, Mississippi Republican Blanche Bruce became a U.S. Senator. Bruce is the only man to serve in the U.S. Senate who was once a slave. He was a contender for the 1880 Republican vice presidential nomination.
In 1877, Republican President Rutherford Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as the U.S. Marshall for the District of Colombia.
In 1896, the Republican Party became the first major party to officially favor women's suffrage.
In 1900, Frances Warren of Wyoming became the first woman delegate to a major political party’s convention when show was a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
Republican President Theodore Roosevelt invited Republican educator Booker T. Washington to the White House as its first African American dinner guest on October 16, 1901.
On November 7, 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin was elected to the House of Representatives becoming the first female member of Congress.
In 1919, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed the 19th Amendment, according women the right to vote. Known as the "Susan B. Anthony" amendment, the measure had first been introduced into Congress in 1878 by Republican Senator Aaron Sargent.
In 1924, Republican Bertha K. Landes became mayor of Seattle, making her the first female mayor of a major American city.
In 1925, Republican Representative Mae Ella Nolan of California became the first female to chair a congressional committee.
In 1949, Maine Republican Margaret Chase Smith, became the first woman to be elected to both houses of the U.S. Congress.
In 1954, led by Republican Chief Justice Earl Warren, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. Warren was the three time governor of California, the Republican Party Vice Presidential nominee in 1948, and appointed to the Court by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower.
In 1955, Republican congresswoman and diplomat Clare Booth Luce became the first American woman to serve as ambassador to a major country.
In 1955, Vermont Republican Consuelo Bailey became the first woman ever elected lieutenant governor of a state.
In 1964, Maine Republican Margaret Chase Smith, became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the U.S. Presidency at a major party's convention.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed the first female member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor.
President Reagan established Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday, the first such honor for a black American, on November 2, 1983.
In 1987, Nebraska Republican Kay Orr, became the first woman elected governor of a state.
President George W. Bush appointed the first African American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the first female African American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
President George W. Bush appointed the first female Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton, and the first female Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman.
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