Show IB Celebrates J f 1 T I J P lib w m t y c y a sr s- s r r y i r By ELMO SCOTT WATSON a JI 1110 Ilia party familiarly known as ss the 0 0 U. O. O I P. P because Its adherents pointing with pride to Its achievements achievements achievements achieve achieve- ments among them the fact that In eighteen Presidential election since It was wa founded It IG has been victorious I thirteen times call It the Grand Grund Old e eArty e Arty celebrated Its seventy fifth birthday I this Ihle month And thereby hangs a tale of ot two cities or rather the tale of ot the rivalry of two cities for tor the honor honorof of being known knoWD as ail the birthplace of ot the lican party The two clUes cities are lUpon WIs and Jackson Mich In support of ot Its claim residents of HIlon will take you to a little white and und show you the tablet beside the door on which you way may read In this schoolhouse March 20 O 1834 lH was held the first mass meeting In this country that definitely and positively loose from cut old parties and advocated a new party under the name In celebration of that event ent there was AJ d' d on the campus of upon college collee centering about bout that historic schoolhouse recently a pageant cant depleting depicting the growth of ot the Republican parity parity par par- ity and a celebration of the diamond jubilee of ot the The principal speakers at this event were James W. W V. V Good secretary of ot war In President Hoovers Hoover's cabinet and Walter J. J Kohler Republican lican governor go of Wisconsin of Jackson Mich Polich In support of their claim to the honor will take you ou to a n group of oaks at nt Second and Franklin streets ant and tt tell II you that Hint ht hero here re the Iho Republican party was born on July 0 1854 JM when n the name Republican V was 8 adopted d by n a convention of state delegates Whether er rr r the Republican party was born horn on March Murch 20 O or July JulIO 0 IS 1851 and whether Its birthplace was or Jackson Mich Is relatively unimportant com lal compared 1 to the IIII event Itself the Ihl critical era ern In our history during which It t took ok place lint and the cant clint of ot that ev event nt The Republican party parly was born horn at nl a it time line when the Che he dispute over slavery was W nt ut Its height It grow grew out nut of ot till the lie growing opposition to shivery as an In In- n t especially In III he the state II II's which had been formed from ruin the old Northwest territory In accordance accordance ac oc- with the famous ordinance of ot 1787 the Northwest territory was to 10 have havo no slavery within Us Is ls boundaries after the year SOll The ordinance gave gK to the owners of ot fugitive slaves sIan's th the right to recover fICO them 11 even NI after the tho runaways had escaped beyond the till Ohio hilt but as liS a n mutter matter r of lit fact t the hI railroads which aided escaping slaves to 10 their freedom were active throughout lt this territory The northern rn part of ot the territory was once known as ns Michigan and Included the present states of Michigan Wisconsin Minnesota lUll unit and a 1 part of ot nil Dakota lat Wisconsin became n II state In ISIS 18 and from Its beginning as os n II commonwealth was dominated by bl ardent foes fOIs of ot slavery Two years after Wisconsin h became a n state there lime came to the town of ot from New York ork a II man who W was S to give hE Its lis claim to the title of ot birthplace of ot the Republican party lie Ile was Alvan AhlIn Karle larte lI BO horn burn In III Jefferson county New few York July 12 1818 and a n lawyer lawer by profession I to y soon became n II loading citizen In the little hamlet of and his Ms best friend was the principal merchant of the place There were only about bout a II hundred voters In at the time hut but they had hUll a n wide choice of at parties for It was nt at a time In American history when the lines which separated the Ih traditional Whigs M tool and Democrats Demo cruts Cruls were hrc down and nd new parties were constantly being formed himself W IS a It Whig and un on eloquent and Ardent out one He tie was not so partisan however but that he ht recognized d his party was likely to crumble at any time from the discordant fin factors within It The dispute over slavery wits was becoming more acute all ho the time tillie The pi great cut loaders leaders who had fought FO some acme way of ot the differences i between the North and Ih the South 8 over O the tilt slavery shivery question were In 11 I their heir graves and lintl the throat threat of disunion and lw siMe 1 civil war was already looming over the It seems scouts that I In 18 ISi III that lint a u strung mil antislavery er slavery party be It forme formed to he lit culled called ho the Republican party lie Ill broached the U sub J ct t while Idle hilt on a II to 1 New N York lIrk 11 city to 10 Horace Greeley tI lh famous editor lr of It f the Ihl New N York rork Trib use tine lIuI t hot nothing hing came of ot the th suggestion nt nl that time thine Two yours years later latr i reached u II crisis when ahen on Oil Jl a C the fa Kinsa i Negri l i Mil II was teas Introduced Iota Into congress 1 un nui l lV V Ne Vi i rula wre rt to h ho he n as ny It It with willi power Vrr I u to do 11 is ns I itu about I III till thu fi fN v lust Hint tore ho AI fir if f IS IStl I fat it n f In to ai it n Irs or territories of the line SO 36 d degrees gree 30 minutes In Its float final form torm the bill declared the Missouri Compromise Inoperative and void because It was Inconsistent ent with the principle of nonintervention by congress congress con COD gress with slavery pry In the states and territories as recognized by the legislation of 1350 When the Nebraska Kansas bill was Introduced wrote to Greeley Creeley eley as us follows Your paper Is now lOW a power In the Iho land Advocate Ad calling together together to to- gether In ha every schoolhouse and church In the free fJ states stales all the opponents of ot the Ne Kansas rash bills billy no matter what tbt their lr party affiliations Urge them to forget previous organizations and to tobe tobo tobo bo be bound together under the name suggested to you jou ou at ot Lovejoy's hotel In 1322 1852 I mean the name of Republican It Is the only one which will serve slue nil 1111 purposes past and future the future the only one that will live and last During I February of ot that year Bovay called again and again to foes of ot siner slavery to rally under the banner bunner of a II new party Late In to the month he lie gathered together In the Congregational church at ut a group of those who believed belle as he did On March 20 a II mass meeting was called In district schoolhouse 2 2 a small white while frame building Of the Ibe hundred or so voters oters In oy llo was able to get t three fifty to his meeting They were a varied lot so fur tur as political affiliation was concerned con con- Whigs Whigs Democrats and ond Free Iree To them Bovay offered his resolution that a n new y party parly to be he called Republican be organized at once based on the opposition to 10 slavery As a result his BU suggestion ge was adopted and the town committees appointed by the l Soil Free and Whig parties were dissolved A committee on lion tion was appointed consisting of three Whigs one Soller Kree-Soller Soller and one Olle J Democrat They were WE're his friend Row now en Amos Loper A. A Thomas II and J J. J Woodruff Considering the slow process which usually represents represents rep rep- resents Ih the evolution I of ot a political party larty the growth of ot the Ihl Republican lIe party was swift Under the leadership of ot Stephen A. A Douglas who W was i ambitious to be he the Democratic Presidential nominee nom nom- inee hwe In 1851 A 1 the Nebraska Kansas bill was passes passed In 1351 I. I Immediately fierce opposition named hanged d up In ill the North h and during the summer It to burn U It Is at ot this point that the claim of ot Jackson Mich to being the Republican cradle conies OmO to the front On Jul July C G 1 there was held In III nn an oak ouk grove rove on the outskirts of ot Jackson Jackson Jack Jilek son lion a II wide state representative mass meeting actIng acting act act- Ing as us a n state convention con ct assembled lu to response to 10 n a call signed b by several IO thousand citizens of ot Michigan Inviting hl the co operation of ot all nil who were opposed to 10 the extension of If slavery sla The elm chairman I r ma n of ot the committee of ot resolution JaN Jacob M. M 1 Howard wrote and supported a platform of ot considerable length which was unanimously I adopted It I denounced sin slavery very as ns a relic rolle of barb bar- bar b a J great mural moral social and und political oil evil anti and declared rh that It was the purpose of ot the fa ta- of ot the Republic to prevent pre the spread of Ia slavery sla It 11 also assorted asserted that It was now the duty of ot congress to carry out this purpose by restoring the restriction on slavery ery laid down In the thelIs Missouri Mis lIs Compromise The rite delegates also resolved that th IJo postponing t anti and suspending nil all differences In regard to political ool econom economy or administrative policy we Wt will operate co-operate and be known as ns Republicans Republicans Re Re- publicans until after atler the contest be he determined Thoy also earnestly recommended that there be called a It general convention of the free states statts and aud such of ot the holding slave states as may desire to tobe tobe tobe be re represented presented with view lew a to the adoption of other r more extended and effectual measures In lu resistance to the encroachments of ot slavery The name Republican teJ was was' also used later In a aWls aVis Wig Wig- CI as S well as 81 at state stole gatherings In the tilt I In New York Massachusetts Vermont Vermont Ver Ver- cr mont and Maine The new now party gained strength during the next tw two o years us as It drew to Its standard various elements elements ele- ele ments from other parties The Whigs had suffered n R defeat lIt In ISM 1352 which bad had demoralized them and had bad practically shattered that party Then also there had lud risen the American party or the Aft ul American party commonly known as os the Know Nothings i because of the reply they made when a asked ked about out details of lit their organization and und supposedly sup sup- v secret ritual This strange body founded 1 on racial and und religious 1 prejudices prejudice hud had SUI succeeded In electing goM in several St states tats and anti had hod 1 sent nearly u II representatives s to the house of t representative r The Know 1 Nothings Nothing were wert a II conglomeration Souse Some of theta them favored tn the 1111 extension of ot IoJa blaver slavery r while bile others opposed OI There were sere also the Tree Sollers committed to 10 the IhO abolition llon of lit slavery nery by political kill IIII moans means nt The J free Iroe Soil Foll oll party la rl y had been t l i with tK tle L Libert Liberty putty valt which bleb had hind i the same view and ond also it had hod taken over a faction faction fac fac- tion Uon of ot the New York Democrats Democrat called the Barnburners Barnburners Barn narn- burners because their extreme views were compared come com pared to the policy of II a man who burned down Ills his barn to get et rid of the rats The Free Sollers Sellers flung Hung wide wille their motto tt 0 Free Soil Soli Free Speech Free Labor and Freemen To the growing new party of the Republicans came many kinds of political faiths who vho had hod th the common bond of opposition to slavery all slavery all Anti Antl Nebraska or Kansas men Some had been Whigs some Democrats others had turned from such short lived organizations as the Frt Free e Sellers Sollers and the Know Nothings An informal convention contention which might better be called an nn organizing committee committee com com- committee was held In Pittsburgh t early ully In n 1830 1850 at nt which the name Republican as the title of a national national na on- party parly was firmly fixed Among those present present pres pres- sent s- s ent at this convention were Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln The Tile campaign of IS 1810 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 Tale University Press Iress Pageant ant of ot America as 81 follows Meeting In convention In tn Philadelphia In Fel February Feb Feh- 1858 1851 the he Know Nothings or the American party parly found sectionalism Intruding even Into their organization organisation Indeed after angry debate most moat of the antislavery delegates withdrew leaving the southern wing In to control With a platform that at attempted attempted at- at tempted to divert attention from the slavery question by crying up the foreign p peril purll the party went Into the campaign with Fillmore and Donalson Donation as aa Its candidates The Democrats tried hard to present an appearance appear appear- ance of harmony Since the doctrine ol ot popular sovereignty was to 10 be their major plank It was wae expected that either the Lit Little lie Giant Glant or Pierce fierce would be the nominee Dut But the North so opposed Oppose the proceedings In Kansas that the leaders were passed over by lIy a man less leas closely Io ely connected with ri cent domestic events As minister to England James Buchanan had been abroad during the most moat trying times Ills availability was WIlS enhanced be bee cause causo his h's name was linked with that aggressive foreign policy which had been employed to distract the country from Internal nal troubles Acceptable to the South h he could be supported also by the con l' elements of the North The Whig party practically defunct contented Itself with Indor Indorsing the candidates of the Amer ican lean party There was thus thua need nelld for a party parly which would stand square four-square against the Democrats and the extension of slavery This need was filled by the Republican party which had grown with sur sur- rapidity since 1854 To It had thronged a miscellany of malcontents a fact of which Its rivals made mads the most In spite of Its heterogeneity the party showed remarkable solidarity Assem Assem- Assembling bling In Philadelphia on the anniversary of Bunker Junker Hill lIlli the delegates passing over the more promInent promInent prominent prom- prom nt Ine-nt lenders such leaders such as Chase of Ohio and Seward of New York York selected selected John C Fremont of California Cal Cal- a young oung man little known In politics but with a well advertised record HS ns an ex explorer the Far West Vest The platform vigorously of denounced lh the and jingoistic activity of recent years rears The republicans launched a campaign that In visor vigor and sl spectacle resembled that of ot 1840 IHO With Bleeding Kansas aa as their cr cry they appealed through the agency of newspaper editors such lIuch ai as I Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune James Jam Gordon Bennett Dennett of the New v York Herald J J. J Raymond of the New York Henry Je and Gen J Watson Webb of the Courier and Enquirer of ot New York to the Northerners' Northerners dread dreal lest the Duchan Buchan ears expand their domain of ilia slavery very The oppa played upon the widespread dislike for UK tic Abolitionists as a means of discrediting the rte rte- publicans The eccentric personalities formers former their of the re extravagant acts acte and still more ex es words were wera a h heavy avy burden for tor th new Jew party to 10 carry As the campaign developed It appeared that the thi hI Republicans were too loo sectional In their appeal an am not sufficiently organised to carry the country Buchanan gained many adherents who bad become alarmed |