"While Republicans argued over economic directions, they stayed united on the greatest issue of the day, slavery. They were the party of emancipation, the first major party in American history that unequivocally advocated the end of slavery. Republicans had family fights about emancipation, but these were fights about speed more than destination, about means, seldom about ends. During the war, the party emancipated slaves, armed them, expanded their rights at the state and national level, and protected them with the force of arms. By the end of the war many Republicans were calling for black suffrage. Race issues most fundamentally divided the parties. In 1862 the Congress voted on slavery-related questions, emancipation in the District of Columbia, outlawing slavery in the territories, ordering soldiers not to return runaway slaves, and a confiscation act freeing slaves of disloyal masters. On these issues, 96 percent of the Democrats voted 'No'; 99 percent of the Republicans voted 'Yes'."
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Phillip Shaw Paludan, "War is the Health of the Party: Republicans in the American Civil War", as quoted in The Birth of the Grand Old Party: The Republicans' First Generation (2002), edited by Robert F. Engs and Randall M. Miller, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 65
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)
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Republican Party (United States)
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