The birth of the Republican party in the mid-1850s was one of the most remarkable political developments in U.S. history, for it resulted in the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Baptism of Fire charts the party's progress in early Iowa, where its supporters battled hard (if not always consistently) for the rights of African-Americans and the prosperity of the trans-Mississippi West.

Chronological in framework and analytical in content, this book examines the origins and maturation of the virulently anti-Southern organization and emphasizes the significance of ethnocultural and economic issues to Iowans. It illustrates in absorbing detail how the Republicans were able to defeat the ruling Jacksonian Democratic party and take power before fighting a bloody and Internecine war against Southern whites and then hold off a new Democratic challenge during Reconstruction.

Baptism of Fire recreates the determined individuals who steered Iowa's antislavery coalition through the vicissitudes of a turbulent era. It also reviews some of the key themes of nineteenth-century American history, most notably the political and social impact of commercial growth, anti-Southern sectionalism, racial prejudice, evangelical religion, corruption, and factionalism.

Based on extensive archival research and a quantitative analysis of the Iowa state legislature, Baptism of Fire confirms that the GOP was the party of progress and humanity in early American politics.