Today is the 150th anniversary of the Grand Old Party, which was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854, by northern anti-slavery activists.

Horace Greeley wrote in June 1854:
In its infancy it was still a marginal party behind the Democrats and the Whigs, but it went on to become the party whose leaders successfully prosecuted the Civil War, actively fought to end the scourge of slavery and preserve national union (as opposed to states' rights), and later led a wave of progressive reforms that would only be outstripped by Democrat FDR. The Republican Party of 1854 or 1904 or 1954 is quite different from the one of 2004, and I'm not a Republican supporter by any measure, but I thought it was important to note this historic day.

There's an excellent book on the founding of the party by late Harvard historian William Gienapp: The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (Oxford University Press, 1987).

from the party of lincoln, to the party of w.

even for something 150 years old, it's not aging very well, is it?

Really! You shouldn't speak ill of Barbara Bush that way..... eek!

But you got it give it to her, she doesnt look a day over 120.

FT, thanks for this historical note. Thersis, think of the present-day GOP as having a mid-life crisis.* Once it weathers that, it'll be back better than ever. In the meantime, ... we'll just keep on keepin' on! :cool:
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*Cf. "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations."

Abe Lincoln must be rolling over in his grave at what his beloved GOP has become under Chimpy and Cheney.