American Solidarity Party: The Pro-Life, Anti-Slavery Party the Republicans Used to Be

I love reading about American Civil War history. Among all the areas of history that I enjoy, I find this area to be among the most fascinating. How is it that a great nation, so early into its existence, embarked on such a brutal conflict as the Civil War? To understand this war is to understand the story of America, its original sins, its potential for greatness, and the wounds which still linger today. 

The debate about the origins of the war is still present today. Was it about slavery or the rights of states? The seceding states argued that it was their right to leave the Union, but the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that slavery was the primary reason for secession. Supporters of the Union argued that the Founding Fathers and the Constitution established a perpetual union of states that could not be dissolved. Hence, the American Civil War began, lasting for four long years and resulting in more casualties than all other American wars combined.

Recently, I visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the site of the massive Battle of Gettysburg which turned the tide of the war in favor of the Union and led to the ultimate fall of the Confederacy. It is fascinating and deeply moving to visit the sprawling battlefield, where thousands of Northern and Southern soldiers fought in this bloody three-day ordeal. Most moving of all was the view of Pickett’s Charge and the “high point of the Confederacy,” where thousands of Southern soldiers raced across an open field into the immense gunfire of the Union army. The failure of the charge ultimately won the battle for the Union, and a monument marks the “high point,” or, the furthest north that Southern troops reached in the war and therefore the closest they came to winning the conflict.

While visiting Gettysburg, I could not help but think to myself about the reasons for the Civil War. While the rights of states was certainly an issue, there is no doubt that slavery was the root of the conflict. This grotesque institution has often been described as “America’s original sin,” or the deep-seated flaw in her system that inevitably would lead to division and war. Even the Founding Fathers were divided about it. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson notoriously owned slaves, while John Adams and Benjamin Franklin strongly opposed and detested slavery. Decades later, Abraham Lincoln would famously state that America could not continue with two separate systems: one that allowed slavery and one that abolished it. Either the nation is for slavery or against it. Lincoln and many in the early Republican Party understood that slavery had to be destroyed if another Civil War was to be avoided. Thank goodness, it was ultimately abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified not long after the end of the war.

The Republican Party and its origins are also closely linked to the origins of the War. Lincoln, the first Republican president, personally opposed slavery. Growing up in Kentucky where it was legal, young Abraham was disgusted by its cruelty and how it undermined American ideals of liberty and equality. Indeed, the Southern states seceded because they feared that Lincoln’s election in 1860 would trigger the abolition of slavery and therefore threaten their way of life. If the seceding states so opposed Republican ideals, what was it that they feared? The Republican Party was founded in the years before the Civil War to oppose the spread of slavery into the expanding western territories. Eventually, as the war progressed, the Party sought not only to deny the expansion of slavery, but to abolish it altogether. 

This got me thinking: what a glorious reason to start a political party! Slavery is one of the cruelest crimes against humanity throughout history. Freedom from slavery is even the founding story of the Bible: God liberates His Chosen People from slavery in Egypt, leading them to freedom and safety in the Promised Land. This points forward to how Jesus Christ, the new Moses, leads His followers from slavery to sin and death to the freedom and safety of heaven, the true Promised Land. The placement of the Exodus story so early in the Bible tells us something vital about God: He created humans to be free, not to be slaves either to other people or to the powers of sin and death.

There were certainly other reasons why the Republican Party was founded in the 1850’s, but its anti-slavery stance will always stand out. I like to think (and I hope I would) that I would have eagerly joined this new Party in those early years. The early Republicans had the courage to publicly oppose a grossly immoral institution. Not only that, many Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens eagerly worked to bring relief and equal rights to freed slaves following the end of slavery. This was truly a great political party, one that changed America for the better.

I look at the Republican Party of today and I wonder, what happened to it? At what point did it lose its way? It is true that it has championed the pro-life cause for years, and for that we are grateful. Many brave Republican leaders have stood up for the rights of the unborn. But even that is changing. Consider the fact that the Party has removed its support for a federal abortion ban from its platform. Many years before this, the Party embraced its so-called “great Southern strategy,” seemingly abandoning many of the principles on which it was founded in the 1850’s. Whereas many Republican leaders of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras supported racial equality, the “Southern strategy” undermined these very principles. Today, many young Republicans identify with the so-called “Groyper” movement, which embraces appalling views such as white supremacy and misogyny. If so many young members of the Grand Old Party embrace these disgusting views, then I cannot be a part of it.

The Republican Party has lost its way. What started as a glorious movement to oppose the spread of slavery is now a confused institution. I would love to see it return to its heroic roots and lead a great revival of America. Until then, I will support the American Solidarity Party. What continues to draw me to the ASP? Unlike the Democratic or Republican parties, it is unwavering in its principles. With the ASP, what you see is what you get. Its support for human life - including the unborn - is constant, as it sees that the right to life comes from God. In an age of terrible political division, the ASP brings together the best of the Left and the Right, of the Democratic and Republican parties, of the liberal and conservative movements. If you have a pro-life heart, the ASP is there for you. If you want leaders to focus on environmental matters, the ASP supports this too. If you want policies in place to help families, you are in luck with the ASP. If you want America to end its seemingly endless involvement in foreign conflicts, then the ASP is also there for you.

The original Republican Party was a political gem. We can thank the early Party for ending slavery, promoting racial equality, and for uniting the nation after the Civil War. But its abandonment of the pro-life cause, its support for foreign wars, and its undermining of its own original causes has made it a dying party. The American Solidarity Party is the new political gem that can, like the early Grand Old Party, lead America to true greatness.