The basic principle of the Republican political ideology was free labor. In the numerous national and state campaigns in the 1850s and 1860s, the Republican candidates and their endorsers proudly pronounced their party platform based on the concept of free labor to build a free and egalitarian society. Eric Foner presents a historical scene when Carl Schurz of Wisconsin was addressing to the audience to nominate Lincoln for the Republican presidential candidate on May 26, 1860. In which the Republican orator declared, ‘The Republicans… stand before the country, not only as the anti-slavery party, but emphatically as the party of free labor.’[1] Again, in a gubernatorial campaign in Illinois at the same year, Richard Yates, the Republican candidate, …show more content…
Social mobility was the engine of the Northern economy. It was such a social advancement that distinguished the North from both the European nations and the South. Social mobility would help the average Americans enjoyed economic choices and gained financial independence. [7] Furthermore, equality would offer the same opportunity to the average Americans to make their dreams come true. Therefore, every American could have an access to social advancement. As Foner states, “The aspirations of the free labor ideology were thus thoroughly middle-class, for the successful laborer was one who achieved self-employment, and owned his own capital-- a business, farm, or shop.” [8] Such a view, according to Foner, truly reflected the social and economic conditions of the North. Thus, the Republicans were firmly convinced that equality existed in the North could help average American workers obtain capital ownership, leading to the economic growth of the North, the equal distribution of wealth and the building of an equalitarian society. Namely, the Republicans agreed that providing equal opportunities in the American society ensured that all laborers could become capitalists in the future.