Watch CBS News

How the GOP was born

On March 20, 1854, in Ripon, Wisconsin, several dozen citizens, alarmed by the prospect of slavery spreading westward, gathered in a little white schoolhouse, a meeting widely believed to be the birthplace of the Republican Party. Correspondent Mo Rocca looks at how the Grand Old Party was formed and how it was dominant in presidential politics in the years following the Civil War, until Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression.
View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.