this date in american history

the following is from an e-mail service provided by crosswalk.com, and i thought it worthy of being added to my blog. i hope you like it.

American Minute with Bill Federer July 6th Prior to the Civil War there were two major political parties: the Democrats, who believed Americans should have the freedom of choice to own a slave; and the Whigs, who wanted to be the big tent party embracing free and slave states. But on this day, July 6, 1854, a group of anti-slavery men met in Jackson, Michigan, to start a new party, demanding the Fugitive Slave Law be repealed. Their chief plank was "to prohibit...those twin relics of barbarism: polygamy and slavery." They called themselves "The Republican Party."*

*(The first local meeting before the above mentioned state convention was in Ripon, Wisconsin, February 28, 1854.)