OPINION: Born in a fight — and built to hold

Idaho was not born in calm times.

Our territory was created in 1863 in the middle of the Civil War. The nation was tearing itself apart. Abraham Lincoln was surrounded by rivals, critics, and a divided political class. Newspapers attacked him. Members of his own party undercut him. His cabinet didn’t agree on everything.

In the middle of that national fracture, Lincoln supported and signed the creation of Idaho Territory into law. He was fighting to preserve the Union and part of that meant securing the West. Extending constitutional government westward strengthened the nation. Idaho wasn’t an afterthought. It was part of a strategy to hold the country together.

In other words, Idaho was born in a fight. But it was a fight aimed at preservation, not destruction. That distinction matters.

Today, Republicans in Kootenai County and across Idaho are fighting. Anyone who attends meetings, reads opinion pages, or watches local events knows it. Some of that is normal. Political parties debate. They disagree. They compete in primaries. That is healthy.

But if you follow the back-and-forth, you can sense something deeper. At times, the divide feels less like policy disagreement and more like institutional fracture.

We don’t have to agree on every local issue. We can debate school governance, county budgets, or law enforcement structure. Healthy local parties argue over ideas.

What we cannot afford to argue away are shared principles.

The Republican Party was founded to preserve the Union and defend liberty under the Constitution. In Idaho, that heritage shows up as limited government, local control, religious liberty, private property rights, and personal responsibility. Those aren’t culture war slogans, but the guardrails that built this state.

The division we see isn’t simply about personalities. It’s about direction. Are we anchored in enduring Republican principles? Or are we allowing factional battles to consume energy without strengthening our communities?

Infighting itself isn’t the problem. Lincoln had infighting. What matters is whether the fight serves something larger?

Lincoln faced critics from every side. Some thought he was too cautious. Others thought he was too bold. Some attacked him publicly while serving in his own party. He didn’t narrow his circle to only those who agreed with him. He absorbed criticism and held steady to the larger mission.

He understood that preserving the Union required discipline, not just passion.

If Idaho was created to strengthen the Union during crisis, then we should ask ourselves what kind of Republican Party strengthens Idaho during ours.

Are our disagreements sharpening us or are we drifting into tribal lines that leave no room for common principle?

We don’t have to be united in opinion. But we must be rooted in common principle or we risk weakening the foundation that built this state.

As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, Republicans have much to celebrate, not personalities or temporary victories, but a durable framework of freedom that allowed states like Idaho to flourish. That framework was preserved through conflict, not in spite of it.

Idaho was born in a fight — but it was a fight to hold the Union together. That history is worth revisiting.

On Feb. 26, former Idaho Attorney General and Lt. Governor David Leroy, a longtime Lincoln scholar, will speak about Lincoln’s connection to Idaho and what it meant to build during national fracture. The event is free and open to the public, hosted by the North Idaho Republicans. You can RSVP at https://bit.ly/LeroyTalk.

Born in a time of national tension, Idaho’s purpose was preservation.

That legacy still matters.

It is the Idaho Way. 

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Christa Hazel is a founding member of North Idaho Republicans and former elected precinct committeeman in Kootenai County.