Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan denounce Democrat devilry. November 22nd 1865, the Democrat-controlled legislature of Mississippi passed the nation's first  black codes . These were laws that Democrats of the post-Civil War South enacted to impose near-slavery on African-Americans. According to these Democrat laws, African-Americans could not:  • vote  • serve on juries  • testify against white people  • own guns  • travel without permission  • assemble for political purposes  • own farmland  • be outdoors at night  • change jobs without permission Democrats decreed that all African-Americans had to:  •sign annual labor contracts with white masters  • be deferential to all white people  • be apprenticed (in practice, enslaved) to white masters until adulthood  • work only in agriculture and a few other occupations Fortunately, after winning a two-thirds majority in Congress, Republicans swept a...

Grand Old Partisan is appalled that Newsweek wanted Americans to believe that Barack Obama is divine, heaven-sent, a god. Its magazine cover on November 21st 2010 portrayed him as a Hindu deity, Shiva, juggling the many responsibilities of office.  Let's leave aside any notion that Obama was oh-so-burdened by global responsibilities, a claim the socialist media somehow never used to defend George W. Bush or Donald Trump. Let's concentrate instead on the ludicrous assertion that the worst president ever is a god. That was not the first time Newsweek declared Obama to be a god. The magazine's editor said: "In a way, Obama’s standing above the country, above — above the world, he’s sort of God." Obama's worshippers think of themselves as progressive, but there's nothing progressive about groveling before a government official. For instance, the Roman Senate used to declare their emperors to be gods. There's nothing progressive a...

Grand Old Partisan salutes John Croxton, born in Kentucky, November 20th 1836. Graduating from Yale University, the brilliant student became a lawyer. Though from a plantation family, he opposed slavery. Not only was the peculiar institution inhumane, he believed, it was economically ruinous. In 1860, the staunch Republican voted for Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, Croxton led the 4th (U.S.) Kentucky Mounted Infantry. His regiment fought at Perryville and Chickamauga and Atlanta. A brigade under his command won the last battle east of the Mississippi, near Talladega. Peace restored, for six months he was provisional governor of southwestern Georgia. In 1872, President Ulysses Grant appointed him ambassador to Bolivia. Though already feeling the effects of tuberculosis, he accepted, serving there until death two years later. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the ...

Grand Old Partisan salutes Jacob Campbell, born in Pennsylvania, November 29th 1821. His career began as printer for several Whig Party newspapers. His next occupations were crewing steamboats on the Mississippi and gold mining in California. Back home from these adventures, he helped construct an iron foundry and was delegate to the GOP’s first national convention. Outbreak of civil war, Campbell enlisted as lieutenant with the first regiment to arrive at the state capital. Promotion to regimental quartermaster came from recognition of strong management skills. He recruited another regiment and was commissioned its colonel. Union restored, Campbell was the state’s surveyor general. In 1878, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. This staunch Republican lost a re-election bid, but then won three more terms. He declined another nomination to focus on manufacturing and banking. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP....

Grand Old Partisan honors Martin Conway, born in Maryland, November 19th 1827. He apprenticed as a printer and helped establish the National Typographical Union. Law studies followed. Conway relocated to Kansas in 1853, reporting for the Baltimore Sun . He also worked for the Massachusetts Abolition Society. Already on the executive committee of a territorial anti-slavery party, in 1856 the Kansas GOP named him its first National Committeeman. He presided over the statehood convention. Kansas admitted to the Union in January 1861, Conway served as its first U.S. Representative. He declared: "I shall not vote another dollar or man for the war until it assumes a different standing and tends directly to an anti-slavery result. Millions for freedom, but not one cent for slavery." Later years, he was consul at Marseille. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know about the histo...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than SEVENTEEN decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight when a Republican President delivered the finest speech in American history and Democrats criticized him for it. November 19th 1863, Abraham Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg. He had been invited by a Republican Governor of Pennsylvania, Andrew Curtin.   There were few Democrats in attendance, and Democrat newspapers were merciless in trashing the Great Emancipator for his "few appropriate remarks". The Chicago Times , for instance, wrote this: "The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States."   "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in...