The Republican Party: General Issues, 1860-1868The Republican Party during the 1860s was known as the party most concerned with "civil rights" and common American. This occurred through a series of radical changes in the party that occurred during two major time periods: 1860-1864 and 1864-1868. The changes in the party reflected the attitude of the North towards the Confederate and Democratic South. The main issue that divided the two was slavery and its implications for control of the nation. The best example of the party's anti-slavery sentiment (as opposed to abolitionism) in the 1860s, is the fact that, although the party was against slavery, it refused to attempt to eliminate it from the regions where it was already present. For example, in the Republican Party Platform of 1860, the party declares its abhorrence of slavery and declares that slavery should not be established in new territories, but never seeks to outlaw it from Southern states. “That the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom… and we deny the authority of Congress, of any territorial legislature, or of any individual, to give existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.” In the first four years starting in 1860, the North and South declared war over these issues, with the Republican North emerging victorious. The Republicans took charge of national political power. Although working with an anti-slavery platform, President Lincoln attempted to conclude a generous peace with the South, with the hope of expanding the power of the Republican Party with Southern support. Examples of this can be found in the fact that Confederate officials was not barred from holding public office, that compensation for lost slaves was not ruled out, and that Lincoln made it clear that he would be generous with pardons to rebel leaders. With the Emancipation Proclamation, Republicans gained freedom for slaves, but not social or political equality. In the years 1864-1868, in the public opinion of the North, the republican platform changed again to the abolitionist one. In the platform for the National Union Convention, the party affirmed its support for an amendment to "end and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or jurisdiction of the United States." The 13th Amendment confirmed the end of slavery. However, the so-called "Black Codes" implemented by Southern governments forced abolitionist Republicans in Congress to clash with President Andrew Johnson over the passage of a new Freedmen's Bureau bill and a Civil Rights Act. This clash meant a division between the old republican values ​​of tolerance and the new platform of slave rights.