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Show By. ELMO SCOTT WATSON TTiTl UE Republican party, familiarly known ns the G. 0. P. (because Its adherents, " IJ pointing with pride to Its nchieve-; nchieve-; ffl ments, among them the fact that in ffl eighteen 'residential elcctlons.since it . 1 -M was founded It has been victorious ffl thirteen times, call it the "Grand Old , Parly"), celebrated its seventy-fifth L V - J birthday this month. And thereby hangs "a tale of two cities" or rather the.iale of the rivalry of two cities for the honor ''of being known as the "birthplace of the Republican Repub-lican party." The two cities are Ripon. Wis., and Jackson, Mich, In support of its claim residents of- lilpon . will take you to a little white schoolhouse -and show -you the tablet beside the door on whit h. you may read, "In this schoolhouse March "0, 1S"4, was held the first mass meeting in this country that definitely and positively cut loose from old parties . -. and advocated a new party under the name Republican." Repub-lican." In. celebration, of that event there was held on the campus of Ripon college, centering about that historic schoolhouse, recently, a pageant pag-eant depicting the growth of the Republican party par-ty and a celebration of the -diamond jubilee of the party. The principal speakers at this event were James W. Good, secretary of war in President v. noover's cabinet, and Walter-J. Kohler, Republican Repub-lican governor of Wisconsin. Residents of Jackson, Mich., In support of their claim to the honor, will take you to a group of oaks standing at Second and . Franklin streets and tell you that here the Republican party was born on Jnly 6, 1ST4, when the name Republican was . adopted by a convention of state delegates. Whether Wheth-er the Republican party was born on March 20, or July G, 1854, and whether Its birthplace was Ripon, - Wis., or Jackson. -Mich., Is relatively unimportant, - .compared to,. the event itse"lf the critical era In our history during which it took place and the slgnfl , cant aftermath of that'event. The Republican party was born at a time when the dispute over slavery .was at Its height. It grew out of 'the' growing opposition to slavery as an Institution In-stitution especially. In the states which had been formed from the old Northwest territory. In accordance ac-cordance with the famous ordinance of 17S7 the .,, Northwest territory was lobaye no' slavery within Y'rts-boairtartW'afTerW ordinance - gave to the owners of fugitive slaves the right to .-.recover them even after the runaways had escaped beyond the Ohio, but as a matter of fact the "undergrounds railroads" which aldcV escaping slaves to their- freedom-were active throughout this territory. The northern part of the territory, was once- known, as-Michigan and Included the present states of Michigan, Wisconsin. Minnesota . nnd' a part of Dakota Wisconsin became a state In IS IS and from its beginning as a commonwealth , was dominated by ardent.foes of 'slavery. T.wo years after Wisconsin became a state there came to the town of Ripon from New York a man "who was tfl give Ripon IJs claim to the title of ''birthplace ef the Republican pqrty." De was AJvan Earle Bovay. born in Jefferson county, New York, July "12, 1S18. and a lawyer by profession. "Horny Soon, became, a. lending citizen In the little hamlet of RIpnn and his best fricnti was Jededlah ; . Bo wen. jhe principal merchant of the place. There were only about. a hundred voters In' Ripon at the time but they had a wide choice of. parties for it was at a time in American history when the lines which separated the traditional Whigs and Democrats Demo-crats were breaking, down and new parties were constantly being formed. . . liovay himself wus a Whig and an eloquent and ardent one. He wa9 not so partisan however but that he recognized his party was likely to crumble at any time from the discordant factors within it. The dispute over slavery was becoming more acute ail the time. The great leaders who had sought some way of reconciling the differences between the North and the South over the slavery question were in their graves and the threat of disunion and possible civil. war was already looming over the horizon. It seems fhal In 1852 Bovay sugested - that a strong nntislavery party be formed to be t called the Republican party. He broached the sub- .'. Ject whfle on a visit to New York city to Horace Greeley, the famous editor of the New Yoik Tribune. Trib-une. But nothing came.'of the suggestion' nf that time. Two years later matters reached a crisis when on January 2.'5, the famous 'Kansas-Nebraska bill - was Introduced Into Congress. Kansas and Ne Irnska were to be admitted .as territories witt power to do i:g they pleased about slavery, despite the fact that the Missouri Compromise of had forbidden slaves in any states or territoitta north of, the line 3C degrees SO minutes. In Its final .form the bill declared the Missouri Compromise, "inoperative nnd void" because it was "inconsistent "inconsist-ent wbth the principle of nonintervention by congress, con-gress, with slavery in the states and territories as recognized by the legislation of 1S50." When the Kanfiis-Nebraska bill was introduced, Bovay wrote 'to Greeley as follows: "Your paper is now a power In the land. Advocate calling together to-gether in every schoolhouse and church In the free states all the opponents of the Kansas-Xe-raska bills, no matter what their party affiliations. Urge the'in to forget previous organizations and to bo bound together under the name suggested to you at Lovejoy's hotel in 1S."2. I mean the name of Republican; It Is the only one which will serve all purposes, past and future the only one that will live and last." During February of that year Bovay called agalr. and again to foes of slaxery to rally under the bonner of a new party. Late In the month he gathered together In the Congregational church at Ripon a group of those who believed us he did. On March 20, a mass meeting was called in district schoolhouse 2, a small white frame building. Of the hundred or so voters in Ripon, Bovay was able to get fifty-three to his meeting. They were a varied lot so far as political affiliation was concerned con-cerned Whigs, Democrats and Frce-Soi.'ers. To them Bovay offered his resolution that a new party to be called Republican be organized at once, based on the opposition to slavery. As a result, his suggestion was adopted and the town committees appointed by the Free-Soil and Whig ' parties were dissolved. A committee on organization organiza-tion was appointed, consisting ot three Whigs, one Free-Soiler and one Democrat. They were Bovay, his friend Jededlah Bowen, Amos Loper, A. Thomas, and J. Woodruff. Considering the slow process which usually represents rep-resents the evolution of a political party, the growth of the Republican party was swift. Under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, who was ambitious to be the Democratic Presidential' nominee nom-inee in 185C, the Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed In May, .1S54. Immediately fierce opposition flamed up In the North and during the summer It continued to burn. It is at this point that the claim of Jackson, Mich., to being the Republican cradle comes to the front. On July C, 1851, there . was held In an oak groove on the outskirts of Jack-, son" a state-wide representative, mass meeting, acting act-ing as a state convention, assembled in response to n call signed by several thousand citizens of ' Michigan Inviting the co-operation of all who were opposed to the extension of slavery. The chairman of. the committee of resolution, Jacob M. Howard, wrote and supported a platform of considerable length which 'was unanimously adopted. It denounced slavery as a "relic of barbarism, bar-barism, a great moral, social arid political evil" and declared that It was the purpose of the fathers fa-thers of the Republic to prevent the. spread of slavery. It also asserted thnt.it was no the duty of congress to carry out this purpose by restoring the restriction on slavery laid down In the Missouri Mis-souri Compromise. The delegates also resolved "that postponing and suspending all differences In regard to political economy or administrative policy, we will co-operate and be known us 'Republicans 'Re-publicans until after ,the contest be determined." They also earnestly recommended that there be called a "general convention of the free states and such of the slave-holding stales as may desire to be represented, with a view to the adoption of other more extended and effectual measures in resistance to the encroachments of slavery." The name Republican was also used later in a Wisconsin Wis-consin convention as well as at stale gatherings In the Fast, held in New York, Massachusetts, Ver-ujont Ver-ujont and Maine. The new pnrty gained strength during the next two years as it drew to its standard various elements ele-ments from other parties. The Whigs had suffered a defeat in 1S52 which had demoralised them and had practically shattered that party. Then, also, there had risen the American party or the All ' American party, commonly known as the Know Nothings because of 'I he reply they made when asked about details of their organization and supposedly sup-posedly secret ritual. This strange body, founded on racial and religious prejudices, had succeeded in electing governors. in several states and had sent nearly a hundred representatives lo the house of representatives. The Know Nothings were a conglomeration. Some of them favored the extension of slavery, wkile others opposed. There were also the Free Soilers committed lo the abolition of slavery by political means. The Free Soil party had been cafineelod with the Liberty party, which had much the same view, and also It had taken over a faction fac-tion of the New Y'ork Democrats, called the Barnburners, Barn-burners, because their extreme views were compared com-pared to the policy of a man who burned down his barn to get rid of the rats. The Free Soilers ilung wide their motto, "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Freemen." To the growing new party of the Republicans came many kinds of political faiths who had the common bond of opposition to slavery all "Anti-Nebraska "Anti-Nebraska or Kansas" men. Some had been Whigs, some Democrats, others had tul-ned from such short-lived organizations as the Free Soilers and the Know Nothings. An Informal convention, which might better be called an organizing committee, com-mittee, was held In Pittsburgh early In lS.'C, at which the name Republican as the title of a national na-tional party was firmly fixed. Among those present pres-ent at this convention were Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln. The campaign of 1S5C, the first one In which the Republican party officially participated and. Incidentally, suffered Its first defeat, Is described in the volume "Builders of the Republic" in the Yale University Press "Pageant of America" as follows: Meeting in convention In Philadelphia, In February, Feb-ruary, 1S5G, the Know Nothings or ihc American party found sectionalism intruding even Into their organization. Indeed, after angry debate, most of the nntislavery delegates withdrew, leaving the southern wing in control. Willi a platform that attempted at-tempted to divert attention from the slavery question by crying up the foreign peril, the partv went into the campaign with Fillmore and Donalson as its candidates. The Democrats tried hard to present an appearance appear-ance of harmony. Since the doctrine ot popular sovereignty .was to be their major plank, It was expected thjit cither the "Little Giant." or Pierce would be the nominee. But the North so opposed the proceedings In Kansas that the leaders were passed over by a man less closely connected wih recent domestic events. As minister to Bngland James Buchanan had been abroad during the most . trying times. Ills availability was enhanced be-cause be-cause his name was linked with that aggressive foreign policy which had been employed to distract the- country from Internal troubles Acceptable to the South, he could be supported also by tlie con-. con-. servative elements of the North. The Whig party, practically defunct, contented Itself with Indorsing the candidates of the Anier-. .lean party. There was thus need for a party which would Btand four-square against the Democrats nnd the extension of slavery. This need, was filled by tl Republican party which had grown with surprising sur-prising rapidity 6lnce 1SS4. To It had thronged a. miscellany of malcontents, a fact of "which Its rivals made the most. In sjplte of its heterogeneity, the party showed remarkable solidarity. Assem- ' bllng in Philadelphia on the anniversary of Bunker Hill, the delegates, passing over the more prominent prom-inent leaders such as Chase of Ohio, and Seward of New York selected John C. Fremont of California, Cal-ifornia, a young man little known In politics, but with a well-ndvertlsed record as nn explorer- of the Far West. The platform vigorously denounced the proslavery and jingoistic activity of recent years. The Republicans launched a campaign that In vigor and spectacle resembled that of 18 to. -With "Bleeding Kansas" ns their cry, they appealed through the agency of nowspaper editors sUch ns Horace Greeley, of the New Vork Trlbuno. James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald Henry J. Raymond, of the New. York Times. and Gen. J. Watson Wcibb, of the Courier' and Enquirer of New York, to the Northerners' dread lest the "Buclian-cers" "Buclian-cers" expand their domain of slavery. The opposition oppo-sition played upon the widespread dislike for the Abolitionists as a means of discrediting the Republicans. Re-publicans. 'The eccentric personalities of the reformers, re-formers, their extravagant acts and still more extravagant ex-travagant words were .a heavy burden for the new .party to carry. . As the campaign developed It appeared that the Republicans were loo sectional In their appeal and not sulTlclently organized to carry the country. Buchanan gained many adherents who had become alarmed by the apparent radicalism of the Fie mont followers Fillmore took occasion to aii nounce that Fremont"? election would end:m:ce: the Union. In the South, It need hardly beWuic "black fc Republicanism" was Identified by many with all the "isms" In the dictionary. The contest wus rather close. Buchanan re ceived 14 electoral votes to 1H for Freuiont. while Fillmore received 8 from Maryland The Democrats had had a close call: and the size ol the Republican vote gave tue old line leaders cause to worry for the future. These leaders had even more cause to worry four years later. For In 1SG0 the Republican candidate can-didate was Abraham Lincoln and the new' party was swept into power a power which it was destined des-tined to hold uninterruptedly for a qua i ter of a century until f; rover Cleveland, a Democrat, was elected in 1SS". Cleveland was again elected In 150", but at the end of his tei tu of office in 1J!)7 marked the beginning of another period of Republican Repub-lican domination until Interrupted by Woodrow Wilson's election In l'.M-. And the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Republican party's birth linds It still In power |