The true history of the Republican Party

April 28, 2015

The Glenn Beck Program

As promised, this morning on radio, Glenn revealed the true history of the Republican party in relation to the Civil Rights Movement. Glenn used an article from Gateway Pundit entitled "ON MLK Jr Day-Here's the realy history of the US Civil Rights Movement You Won't Read About" by Jim Hoft as one of his main sources doing his on-air history lesson.

During the program, Glenn pointed out that he is not a member of the Republican party, saying "I'm not here as a Republican shill...They've lost their way. But let's get history right."

Why is the history of a political party so important? Who cares if someone labels themself a Democrat or a Republican, right? As Glenn said, "Why are we having to explain ourselves?" Because, it was the Republican party that fought for the Civil Rights movement and the right to vote. As Glenn said: "we have to stand up for ourselves...enough is enough...Here's who we are! Here's who you are. Why are we defending our record? Our record is fine...We should be putting them [Democrats] on the offense and asking them to explain their record...in every city that they have destroyed."

Watch some of the facts and Glenn's powerful argument below. A full transcript has been provided so you can have all the facts, as well as, the link to the original article at Gateway Pundit.

Rough Transcript Below:

GLENN: The left is rejecting Bruce Jenner because he has said he is a Republican. And the Republicans are the ones that have always been the sticks in the mud. The Republicans are the ones that have the problems. They're the racists. They're the haters. I just want to go through history. And I want to take you -- I want to take you from 18 -- 1862 to 1870. 1871.

And I just want to -- I want to show you the roots of the Republican Party. What was -- why -- who was the first Republican president?

Abraham Lincoln. The Republican Party started in the 1850s. It gathered steam because there was enough -- listen to this. There were enough Whigs and enough Democrats that afternoon that what was happening with slaves was wrong. And they knew the Whigs and the Democrats wouldn't do anything. Congress was just stalled on it and wouldn't do anything. Does this sound familiar? Finally on both sides, they said enough is enough. And within a decade, they had nominated and elected the first Republican president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln. And had you seen him? Not an easy election.

January 1st, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation has been issued in 1862. January 1, 1863, it starts. And they begin to implement the Republicans Confiscation Act of 1862. The Democratic party continues to support slavery. February 9th, 1864, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton deliver over 100,000 signatures to US Senate supporting -- when you think -- when you hear those two names. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton, which party do you think of? It's women's rights. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton deliver over 100,000 signatures to the U.S. Senate supporting the Republican plan for the constitutional amendment to ban slavery.

June 15, 1864, Republican Congress votes for equal pay for African-American troops serving in the U.S. Army. June 28, 1864, Republican majority in Congress repeals the Fugitive Slave Act. October 29, 1864, African-Americans abolitionist, Sojourner HEP Truth says to President Lincoln, I was never treated by anyone with more kindness than he has shown me. January 31st, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery passed the US House with unanimous Republican support and intense Democratic opposition.

The Republican support, 100 percent. The Democratic party support, 23 percent.

That's to ban slavery.

March 3rd, 1865, Republican Congress establish Free Men's Bureau to provide healthcare, education, and technical assistance to emancipated slaves. That's the Republican Congress.

April 8th, 1865, Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery passed by the US Senate. Republican support, 100 percent. Democrat support, 37 percent.

June 19th -- on June Teenth, US troops land in Galveston, Texas, to enforce a ban on slavery that has been declared for more than two years by the Emancipation Proclamation.

November 22nd, 1865, Republicans denounce Democratic legislature of Mississippi for enacting black codes, which institutionalized racial discrimination. 1866, Republican Party passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to protect the rights -- did you even know there was one?

The Republican Party passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to protect the rights of newly freed slaves.

December 6th, 1865, the Republican party's Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery is ratified.

1865, the KKK launches as a, quote, terrorist arm, end quote, of the Democratic party.

PAT: Of the what party?

GLENN: The Democratic party. The Klan.

PAT: Wait. The KKK.

STU: You mean the Tea Party? You said Democratic party. I think you meant Tea Party.

GLENN: Democratic party.

February 5th, 1866, US representative Thaddeus HEP Stevens, Republican from Pennsylvania, introduces legislation successfully opposed by Democratic President Andrew Johnson to implement forty acres at a mule relief by distributing land to former slaves. Stopped by the Democrats.

April 9th, 1866, Republican Congress overrides Democratic President Johnson's veto, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, conferring rights of citizenship on African-Americans, and it becomes law. The Democratic president vetoed the Civil Rights Act. The Republicans stood when they knew what they were all about.

April 19th, 1866, thousands assembled in Washington, DC, to celebrate Republican party's abolition of slavery. May 10th, 1866, US House passes Republican's Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteed due process and equal protection of the laws to all citizens. 100 percent of the Democrats vote no.

PAT: Jeez.

GLENN: I am not a fan of the Republican Party. I'm not here as a Republican shill. I don't like them. I'm not a member of the Republican Party. They've lost their way. But let's get history right.

June 8th -- sorry, July 16th, 1866. Republican Congress overrides Democratic President Andrew Johnson's veto of the Free Men's Bureau Act, which protects former slaves from black codes denying their rights.

July 28th, 1866, Republican Congress authorized formation of the buffalo soldiers. Yes, the buffalo soldiers, two regiments of African-American's calvary men.

July 30th, 1866, Democratic controlled city of New Orleans orders police to storm racially integrated Republican meetings. The raid kills 40. Wounds more than 150.

January 8th, 1867, Republicans override Democratic President Johnson's veto of a law granting voting rights to African-Americans in D.C.

July 19th, 1867, Republican Congress overrides the veto of legislation protecting the voting rights of all African-Americans.

March 30th, 1868, Republicans being impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson who declared, this country is for white men. And by God as long as I'm president, it shall be a government of white men.

You never learn that. When we had the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, they always talked about Johnson, but they never taught us this part of history, did they? Ever heard that quote?

PAT: No.

GLENN: You know why? He was a Democrat. May 20th, 1868, Republican National Convention marks the debut of an African-American politician. In fact, many. Two of them, Pinckney Pinchback and James Harris attended as delegates and several serve as presidential electors.

1868, July 9, Fourteenth Amendment passes and recognizes newly freed slaves as US citizens. The Republican Party support, 94 percent. Democratic support, zero.

September 3rd, 1868, twenty-five African-Americans in Georgia legislature, all Republicans expelled by Democratic majority. Later reinstated by Republican Congress.

September 12th, 1868, civil rights activist, Tunist Cambell HEP and all other African-Americans in the Georgia Senate, every one a Republican, expelled by a Democratic majority. They were later reinstated by a Republican Congress.

September 28th, 1868, Democrats in Louisiana murder nearly 300 African-Americans who tried to prevent an assault against a Republican newspaper editor. We're coming back to this one.

October 7, 1868, Republicans denounce Democratic Party's national campaign theme. The Democratic Party's national campaign theme in 1868. Do you know what it was?

This is a white man's country, let white men rule. We're the Democratic Party.

PAT: Jeez. Wow.

GLENN: October 22, 1868, while campaigning for reelection, Republican James Hines HEP is assassinated by Democratic terrorists who were organized as the KKK.

November 3rd, 1868, Republican Ulysses S. Grant defeats Democratic Seymour HEP in a presidential election. Seymour HEP has denounced the Emancipation Proclamation.

December 10th, '69, Republican governor, John Campbell of Wyoming territory. Republican governor of Wyoming. Signs the first in-nation law granting the right to women to vote and to hold Republican -- sorry, to hold office. A Republican.

February 3rd, 1870. US House ratifies the Fifteenth Amendment. Democratic support, 3 percent. Republican support, 97.

February 25, 1870, Hiram HEP Rhodes becomes the first black seated in the U.S. Senate. Becoming the first black in Congress and the first black senator.

PAT: It was the next year when the Republican War on Women began, right, 1871?

STU: We're about to get to that.

PAT: There we go.

GLENN: I'm going to skip a whole 'nother page of these. Because I want to get to something here at the end.

February 28th, 1871, Republican Congress enforces -- passes the Enforcement Act, providing federal protection for African-American voters. March 22nd, 1871, Spartanberg HEP Republican newspaper denounces Klan. The Klan campaigned to eradicate the Republican Party in South Carolina.

That brings us to this. Remember I said, September 28th, 1868, a mob of Democrats massacred nearly 300 African-American Republicans in Louisiana. It began when racist Democrats attacked a newspaper editor, a white Republican and a school teacher for X slaves. Several African-Americans rushed to the assistance of their friends. And in response, Democrats, quote, went on a Negro hunt killing every African-American. All of whom were Republicans. As all African-Americans at the time were.

April 28th, 1871, the Republican Congress enacts the anti-Ku Klux Klan act, outlawing the Democratic Party terrorist group. Which oppressed African-Americans.

That's who these people were.

PAT: You didn't even get to the 1960s. 1950s. 1960s.

GLENN: No. I didn't even get to the 1930s. The 1930s are pretty --

PAT: But as late as the '60s, it was Republicans passing civil rights. Republicans pushing for it. Republicans voting for it. Democrats fighting against it. People like Al Gore Sr. fighting against it. People like Lyndon Baines Johnson, HEP the hero of the left, fighting against it at first.

GLENN: People saw some of that if they saw Selma. They saw how racist this guy was. And I contend they're still this racist. Look at what they've done to the great city of Detroit. Look what those policies have done. Look what it's brought on to the African-American. Look at what the great Democratic policies have done to the city of Washington, DC. To the city of Philadelphia.

Name any city --

PAT: Cleveland.

GLENN: Where the Democrats have ruled since the 1960s. At some point, you say, this doesn't make any sense. At some point you say, I'm not getting any better. This is not helping me.

They are -- they are playing this card again. And this time, we have to stand up for ourselves. This time we have to stand up and say, enough is enough. I know your record. I know who you are. See, I have in the vaults, here at the Mercury Studios. I have the anti-Democratic and anti-Republican literature that went back and forth. The Republicans used to defend themselves.

They used to say, I've had enough! Here's the record! Here's who we are! Here who you are. Why are we defending our record? Our record is fine. Why are we defending our record? We should be putting them on the offense and asking them to explain their record, in Detroit, in Cleveland, in Philadelphia, in Washington. In every city that they have destroyed.

Why are we having to explain ourselves?

Now they're doing it with another class of people. Gays. Women.

Remember, it was the Republicans that gave you the right to vote in the first place. The first time, they had to drag the progressives, kicking and screaming.

Let's stop taking it and being quiet. With love and peace and armed with the facts. It's time to go to battle.

Because it's only going to get harder from here. When Hillary Clinton says what she said over the weekend, play it, Pat. This is so critical for you to hear. This is a -- this is possibly what the press will tell you is the next president of the United States. Hillary Clinton. In a speech just this weekend said this.

HILLARY: Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases, have to be changed.

PAT: Wow.

GLENN: Your deep-seated religious belief has got to change. Game on, gang. It is here.

Breaking point: Will America stand up to the mob?

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

URGENT: Supreme Court case could redefine religious liberty

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

Get your tickets NOW at www.MegynKelly.com before they’re gone!

What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

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