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Gerrit Smith, yet another Abolitionist Co-Founder of the Republican Party

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Gerrit Smith, born in upstate New York, March 6th 1797. His parents had become wealthy via the fur trade and real estate. While managing the family fortune, he devoted his life to philanthropy. Smith participated in the American Anti-Slavery Society, donating three thousand homesteads to freedmen. In 1848, the Liberty Party nominated him for President. Women’s suffrage was part of his platform. Four years later, with the Free Soil Party, he won a term in the U.S. House of Representatives. This civil rights activist paid legal expenses for those accused of violating the Fugitive Slave Law. Frederick Douglass dedicated his second autobiography to him. Smith funded the early Republican Party. He supported the Lincoln administration during the Civil War and was delegate for the GOP’s 1872 national convention. Back to Basics for the Repu...
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James Comly, patriotic Republican Journalist and Union Colonel and Baseball Enthusiast and Ambassador to Hawaii

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute James Comly, born March 6th 1832. He apprenticed as a printer, then studied law. Ohio's secretary of state named him his chief clerk. He wrote editorials supporting the first two Republican presidential nominees, John Fremont and Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, a Republican governor commissioned him major of the 23rd Ohio Infantry. He was promoted to colonel after the regiment's previous commander, Rutherford Hayes, was promoted to brigadier general. For the rest of his life, Comly endured considerable pain from severe wounds. Peace restored, he edited the state GOP's leading newspaper. Comly also organized one of the very first baseball teams, the Buckeye Baseball Club. President Ulysses Grant appointed him postmaster at Columbus. President Rutherford Hayes made him ambassador to Hawaii. He cast an electoral vote for James ...
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the American Negro Academy

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I commemorate the American Negro Academy. This organization of African-American intellectuals promoted higher education, arts and science within their community. It was founded in Washington, DC on March 5th 1897 at the home of John Wesley Cromwell, a former slave who attended Howard University Law School and testified before the Interstate Commerce Commission. His newspaper,  The People's Advocate , editorialized for the GOP. Subsequently, meetings were hosted by the Lincoln Temple United Church of Christ. Other co-founders included former Republican Senator Blanche Bruce, emancipationist preacher Alexander Crummell and Republican poet Paul Dunbar. They sought "to lead and protect their people" and "to be a weapon to secure equality and destroy racis...
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John Wentworth, the first Republican Mayor of Chicago

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor John Wentworth, born in New Hampshire, March 15th 1815. The ambitious Dartmouth graduate relocated to frontier Chicago. He soon became editor of its first newspaper and made it a regional influence. He won five congressional terms. Opposition to slavery led Wentworth to join the Republican Party. In 1857, friends of freedom elected him mayor. Highlights of his administration were improving sanitation, reducing deficits and combatting vice. It was Wentworth who advised Abraham Lincoln to name a campaign manager for the 1860 Republican National Convention. This 6'6" dynamo known as "Long John" returned to Congress for a sixth term. Receiving his vote were the 1866 Civil Rights Act, the 14th Amendment and other GOP achievements. He merited being remembered as "a legendary mayor" "who found Chicago a sw...
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Republicans established the U.S. Department of Labor

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight the U.S. Department of Labor. Republicans separated it from what had been the Department of Commerce and Labor. Their goal was to improve working conditions and increase employment opportunities.  Authorization had been introduced by Republican Senator William Borah and passed by the GOP-controlled 61st Congress. President William Howard Taft signed it on his last day in office, March 4th 1913. 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 ...
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Democrats punishing African-Americans for voting Republican

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Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I denounce Democrat devilry. In a fascinating C-SPAN program from March 4th 2011, historian Michael Holt discussed his book,  By One Vote: The Disputed Presidential Election of 1876 . It shows that in fact the Republican nominee, Rutherford Hayes, really did deserve his victory over the Democrat, Samuel Tilden. Discussing horrors inflicted on African-Americans by Democrats trying to suppress the Republican vote, Holt explained the origin of the term "bulldozer". According to a reporter, Democrats gave African-Americans "a dose of the bullwhip if they dared to think about voting Republican". Later, the term "bulldose" or "bulldoze" came to mean using overwhelming force against an obstacle. When the mechanical tractor was invented, the blade in front was called a "bu...
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