"A meteoric rise": Wisconsin schoolhouse marks GOP's birthplace

RIPON, Wis. — As the United States marks its 250th anniversary this weekend, a one-room schoolhouse in Ripon stands as the birthplace of the Republican Party and a reminder of Wisconsin's place in the nation's political history. The Little White Schoolhouse, about 60 miles northeast of Madison, commemorates a meeting held March 20, 1854, when opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act gathered to organize against the expansion of slavery. "It was really cold and it was a blizzard," said Ellen Sorensen, the interim executive director of the Little White Schoolhouse. "It was a three-point objection," Sorensen said. "There was a moral...