Meeting at a school house in Ripon on February 28, 1854, some thirty opponents of the Nebraska Act called for the organization of a new political party and suggested that Republican would be the most appropriate name (to link their cause with the Declaration of Independence). The group also took a leading role in the creation of the Republican Party in many northern states during the summer of 1854. While conservatives and many moderates were content merely to call for the restoration of the Missouri Compromise or a prohibition of slavery extension, the group insisted that no further political compromise with slavery was possible.
The February 1854 meeting was the first political meeting of the group that would become the Republican Party. The first meeting by a group that called itself "Republican" took place later in 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. Both cities, along with Exeter, New Hampshire and Crawfordsville, Iowa, bill themselves as the "Birthplace of the Republican Party," however, Jackson is most often associated with this idea, as the event taking place was the first official Republican Party meeting.
The modern Ripon Society, a Republican think tank, takes its name from Ripon, Wisconsin.
Fittingly, Publius writes today in Big Government: "Today, in 1854, the Republican Party was organized in Ripon, Wisconsin. Odd that today, in many ways, the future of the GOP - and the nation - rests on individuals from the same state."
It is high time this Party return to the "revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors, which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people" as Reagan spoke of, and as conservatives actively seek today!
Source: Wikipedia
