AND TO OTHERS
On March 20, 1854, a significant political event for the United States occurred. Today, Republicans celebrate -- or should celebrate -- the 154th anniversary of its Grand Old Party, organized on that date.
At the time, the Democrats in control of Congress were moving toward passage of their Kansas-Nebraska Act, allowing slavery to expand into the western territories. The Democrat President, Franklin Pierce, said he would sign the bill into law. President Pierce is my sixth cousin. three times removed. I'm sorry that not all my relatives have done the right thing!
Amid the intense reaction, a grassroots movement arose to oppose the pro-slavery policies of the Democratic Party. In just a few months, these town meetings and demonstrations coalesced into the Republican Party.
Several sites share the credit as its birthplace, but the GOP was named in Ripon, Wisconsin. At a March 20, 1854 meeting convened by anti-slavery activist Alvan Bovay, fifty-five men and three women called for all opponents of slavery to unite in a new organization, to be called 'the Republican Party.' This name had a past as well as a future. Thomas Jefferson (28th cousin, five times removed), James Madison (31st cousin, twice removed) and many other Founding Fathers had called themselves 'Republicans.'
The Ripon meeting was widely reported in the newspapers. Just two months later, Members of Congress who opposed slavery declared themselves to be Republicans. In July, the Republican Party held its first state convention, in Jackson, Michigan.
Within two years, the GOP became a major national party, controlling the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1860 Abraham Lincoln, my 30th cousin, three times removed, was elected the first Republican President of the United States.
Souce: Michael Zak, Republican published historian, in circulated e-mail March 20, 2008, which I received. Family relationships cited are by D. A. Sharpe, the author.
D.A.
Wise County party
Personal site
No comments:
Post a Comment