Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I denounce Democrat depravity. June 21st 1856, Republican Congressman Anson Burlingame excoriated Preston Brooks as "the vilest sort of coward". That odious Democrat Congressman had beaten nearly to death a Republican Senator, Charles Sumner. Brooks challenged Burlingame to a duel. Uh oh! Burlingame accepted. The vile and cowardly Brooks was too afraid to show up. 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 history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com .  Here is a YouTube Video about this article. Here is a TikTok Video about this article. Here is an Instagram Video about this article. Here is my Substack about this article. Michael Zak is author of Back to Basics for...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I appreciate Republican efforts to strengthen the country’s financial system. In 1863, the GOP-controlled 38th Congress passed the National Banking Act. This law replaced a patchwork of state banks with sturdier banks that issued currency backed by the federal government. The first bank in each city to convert to the new system was designated 'First National Bank' of that city. June 20th , the First National Bank of Philadelphia received the very first federal charter. That institution is now part of Wells Fargo. 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 history of our party, the more Democrats will worry about the future of theirs. For more information, see www.grandoldpartisan.com .  Here i...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Benjamin Bristow, born in Kentucky, May 20th 1832. He attended college in Pennsylvania, then practiced law back home along with his father, a former Whig congressman. Outbreak of civil war, the young Unionist recruited an infantry regiment and was commissioned its lieutenant colonel. Severely wounded at Shiloh, he later commanded a cavalry regiment. In 1863, Bristow was elected to the state senate. He campaigned for President Lincoln's re-election and voted to ratify the 13th Amendment. While serving as U.S. Attorney for Kentucky, he prosecuted Klansmen and other Democrat terrorists. In 1870, Republican legislation established the Justice Department, and President Grant named him the first Solicitor General, tasked with representing the federal government before the Supreme Court. In 1874, Bristow was appointed ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I celebrate birthday of the DC Republican Party. June 19th 1855 – before all but a few state GOP organizations came into existence – anti-slavery activists established the "Republican Association of Washington DC." These friends of freedom, under leadership of Lewis Clephane, denounced Democrats for supporting slavery. Clephane managed The National Era . This abolitionist newspaper was first to publish, in serial form, the classic novel Uncle Tom's Cabin . President Abraham Lincoln appointed him postmaster of Washington and later to a position at the Treasury Department. He was also first Republican on the city council. The DCGOP played an integral role in formation of the Republican Party nationwide. It called for "immediate and thorough organization of clubs or associations, somewhat similar to our own, in every city, town, and village...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I celebrate Juneteenth. This holiday marks the end of slavery in the United States. Though the Civil War was over, Democrats in control of Texas neglected to inform their slaves that they had been declared free two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln. June 19th 1865, General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston and proclaimed an end to slavery in the Lone Star State: "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor." African-Americans rejoiced, while Democrats raged. General Granger then traveled around Texas to inform African-Americans, still being held in bondage by t...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight an important technological advance. June 18th 1861, Thaddeus Lowe ascended with a tethered balloon five hundred feet above the National Mall. He intended to demonstrate, amid the Civil War, practicality of observing enemy troop movements from the air. His audience was the Commander-in-Chief. A telegraph wire connected the basket with the White House. The scientist sent a message to President Lincoln: "This point of observation commands an area nearly fifty miles in diameter. The city, with its girdle of encampments, presents a superb scene. I take great pleasure in sending you this first dispatch ever telegraphed from an aerial station, and in acknowledging my indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the military service of this country." Linc...