Show io coial 0 f ae cel aft brat OA ileda y A pay f K 4 aei 7 12 vl r t 20 I 1 R p AZ I 1 I 1 I 1 e AV 0 vow W 7 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON VATSON UE HE il republican publican le party familiarly known as the G 0 P because its adherents pointing with pride to its achievements among them the fact that in eighteen presidential elections since it was founded it has been victorious th thirteen arteen lim times s call it the grand old party celebrated its seventy fifth birthday this month and thereby hangs a tale of two cities or rather the tale of the rivalry of two cities for the honor of being known us as the birthplace of the republican party the two cities are ripon wis and jackson mch in support of its claim residents of ripon will take you to a little white schoolhouse and show you the tablet beside the door on which you may read in this schoolhouse march 20 was held the first mass meeting epting En in this country that definitely and positively cut loose from old parties mod and advocated a new party under the name republican in celebration of that event there was as iteld on the campus of ripon college centering about that historic schoolhouse recently a pageant depleting depicting the growth of the republican party 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 hoovers cabinet and walter J kohler republican governor of wisconsin residents of jackson mich alach 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 Republic tin party was born on july 0 1854 when the name republican was adopted by a convention of state del delegates agates whether the republican party was born on march 20 or july 6 1854 and whether its birthplace was ripon wis or jackson mich Is relatively unimportant compared to the event itself the critical era in our history story lii during which it took place and the signal 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 ai as a an n institution ution especially in the hie states which had been formed from the old northwest territory in accordance cor dance with the famous ordinance of 1787 the northwest territory was to have no slavery within its boundaries after the year 1800 the ordinance gave to the owners of fu fugitive alve slaves the right to recover them even after the runaways had escaped beyond the ohio but as a matter of fact the under grounds railroads which aided escaping slaves to their freedom were active throughout this territory the northern part of th the e territory was once known as michigan and included the present states of blich michigan igan wisconsin blinne minnesota sota and a part of dakota wisconsin became a state in 1848 and from its beginning as a commonwealth was dominated by ardent foes of sl slavery aery two bears after wisconsin became a state there came to the town of ripon from new york a man who was to give ripon its claim to the title of birthplace of the republican party lie he was alvan earle bovay boray horn born in jefferson county new york july 12 1818 and a lawyer by profession aslon bovay soon became a leading citizen in the little hamlet of and his best friend was Jed jedediah edlah bowen the principal merchant of the place there were only about a hundred voters in IN ripon pon 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 were breaking town down and new parties were cons constantly witly being formed bovay himself was a whig and an eloquent and ardent one lie ile was not so partisan however but that lie he recognized ills his party parly was likely to crumble at any time from the discordant factors within it the dispute over slavery was becoming more acute all the time the tha great leaders who had sought some way of reconciling the differences between the north and the south 0 over er the hie slavery question were in their graves and the threat of disunion and possible civil war was already looming over the horizon it seems that hint lo in bovay su that a strong antislavery antl slavery party be formed to be called the republican party lie ile broached the subject while on a visit to new york city to horace greeley lie fatuous famous editor of the new york tribune but nothing come came of the suggestion at that time two years later matters reached a crisis when po jon january 0 23 3 the fatuous famous kansas nebra nebraska skit bill was introduced into congress kansas and nebraska were to be as territories with power to du do us its they pleased about slavery despite the fin fact that klinl the I 1 missouri compromise Comproni Ne of 1820 had forbidden slaves in any states or territories north acy alzy of the line ag 36 degrees 30 minutes in its final form the bill declared the missouri compromise inoperative and void because it was inconsistent with the principle of nonintervention by congress with slavery in the states and territories as recognized by the legislation of 1830 when the kansas nebraska bill was introduced covay bovay wrote to greeley as follows your paper Is now a power in the land advocate calling together in enery schoolhouse and church in the free states all the opponents of the kansas ne bills no matter what their party affiliations urge them to torget forget previous organizations and to be bound together under the name suggested to you at Loie LoNe joys hotel in 1832 1 I mean the name dame of republican publican Ilc it Is the only one which will serve all purposes past and future the only one that wilt will ilie and last during february of that year bovay called again and again to foes of slavery to rally under the banner of a new party late in the month he gathered together in the congregational church at ripon a group of those ft iio ho believed as lie 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 bovay was able to got get fifty three to hla his meeting they were a varied lot so BO far as political affiliation was concerned whigs whig democrats and iree free sollers 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 was appointed consisting lof three whigs whig gs one free I 1 soller and one democrat they were bovay his friend jedediah Jed edlah bowen amos loper A thomas and J woodruff considering the slow process which usually represents the evolution of a political party ae the growth of the republican party was swift under the leadership of stephen A douglas who was ambitious to be the democratic presidential nominee in the kansas nebraska bill was passed in may hay 1854 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 0 there was held in an oak grove on the outskirts ili of jackson a statewide state wide representative mass meeting acting as a state convention assembled in response to a call signed by several thousand citizens of michigan inviting the operation cooperation co of all who were opposed to the extension of slavery the chairman of the committee of resolution jacob 11 fl howard oward wrote and supported a platform of considerable length which was unanimously adopted it denounced slavery as a relic of barbarism a great moral social and political evil and declared that it was the purpose of the fathers of the republic to prevent the spread of slavery it also asserted that it was now the duty of congress to carry out this purpose by restoring the restriction on slavery laid down in the missouri compromise the delegates also resolved that postponing and suspending all differences in regard to political economy or administrative policy we will operate cooperate co and be known as republicans public ans until after the contest be determined they also earnestly recommended that there be called a general convention of the free states and such of bf the slaveholding slave holding states as may desire to be represented with a view to the adoption of other more extended and effectual measures in resistance to file encroach encroachments ments of slavery the name republican was also used later in a wisconsin convention as well as at state gatherings in the east held in new york massachusetts vermont and maine the new party gained strength during the next two years as it drew to its standard various elements from other parties the whigs had suffered a defeat in 1852 which had demoralized them and had practically shattered that party then also there had find risen the lie american party or the all american party commonly known as the know nothings because of the reply they made when asked about details of their organization and supposedly 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 to the house of representatives the know nothings were a conglomeration some of them favored the extension of slavery while others opposed there were also the free sollers sellers committed to the abolition of slavery by political means the free soli soil party had been connected with the liberty party which had much a acte C lu aro A 1 the same view and also it had taken over a faction of the new york democrats called the barn burners because their extreme views were compared to the policy of a man who burned down Ms its barn to get rid of the rats the free flung wide their motto free soil soft free speech free labor and freemen to the growing new party of the republicans came many kinds of political faiths who had bad the commod common bond of opposition to slavery all anti nebraska or kansas men some had been whim whigs some democrats others had bad turned from such short lived organizations as the free sellers and the know nothings Not hIlim an informal convention which might better be called an organizing committee was held in pittsburgh early la in 1836 at which the name republican as the title of a national party was firmly fixed among those present at this convention were horace greeley and abraham lincoln the campaign of 1850 1856 the first one in which the republican party officially participated and incidentally suffered its first defeat Is 13 described in the volume builders of the alie republic in the yale university press Page pageant antof of america as follows ble meeting eting in convention in philadelphia in february 1850 1856 the know nothings or the american party found sectionalism intruding even into their organization indeed after angry debate most of i the antislavery antl slavery delegates withdrew leaving the southern wing in control with a platform that attempted to divert attention from the slavery question by crying up the foreign puril peril the party went in into to the tha campaign with fillmore and donalson us as its ts candidates the democrats tried hard to present an appearance of harmony since the doctrine of 0 po lir bove sovereignty re igney was to be their major plank it was ex expected that either the little giant or fierce clerce 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 with will recent domestic events As minister to england james buchanan had been abroad during the mos most i trying times ills hla availability was enhanced because its his name was linked with that aggressive foreign policy which had been employed to distract the country from internal troubles acceptable to lerva the he south he could be supported also by the conservative serva tive elements of the north the whig party practically defunct contented itself with In dorsing the candidates ot of the american party there was thus need tor for a party which would batand foursquare four tour square against the democrats and the extension of slavery this need was hied filled by the republican party which had grown with surprising rapidity since 1851 1854 to it had thronged thron ged a miscellany of malcontents a fact of which its rivals made the most in spite of its heterogeneity the party showed remarkable solidarity assembling in philadelphia on the anniversary of dunker hill the delegates passing over the more prominent leaders such as chase of ohio and seward of new york selected john a fremont of california a young man little known in politics but with a well advertised record qs is an explorer of the far west The platform vigorously denounced the aery and jingoistic activity of recent years the republicans launched a campaign that in vigor and spectacle resembled that of 1810 with bleeding kansas as their cry they appealed through the agency of newspaper editors such as horace greeley of the now new york tribune james gordon bennett of the now new york herald henry J raymond of the new york times and gen J watson webb of the courier and enquirer of new york to the northerners dread lest the buchan aers expand their domain of slavery the opposition played upon the widespread dislike tor for the abolitionists as a means of discrediting the republicans public ans the eccentric personalities of the is ic formers tor mers their extravagant acts and still more extravagant trava gant words were a heavy burden tor for the now new party to carry As the campaign developed it appeared that the republicans were too sectional in their appeal and not sufficiently organized to carry the country buchanan gained many adherents who had become alarmed by the apparent radicalism of the fremont followers fillmore took occasion to announce that Fr emonts election would endanger the union in the south it need hardly bo be said black republicanism was iden identified tined by many with all the isms iams in the dictionary the contest was rather close buchanan received electoral votes to tor for fremont while Fl ilmore received 8 from maryland the democrats had had a close call and the size of the republican vote gave the old line leaders cause to worry vorry tor for the future these leaders had even more cause to worry four years later for in the republican candidate was abraham lincoln rind and the new party was swept into power a power which it was des tined to hold uninterruptedly for a quarter of a century until grover cleveland a democrat was elected in 1885 cleveland was again elected in 1803 1893 but at the end of his term of office in 1897 marked the beginning of another period of republican domination until interrupted by woodrow wilsons Wll Wil sons lection election in 1112 1912 and the geenty fifth anniversary of the republican bartys birth finds it t still in power |