Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Emma Smith DeVoe, born in Illinois, August 22nd 1848. She taught music. Attending a speech by Susan B. Anthony inspired her to strive for women's right to vote. DeVoe and her husband, a railroad administrator, moved to South Dakota, where she championed passage of suffrage legislation. In 1895, the National American Woman Suffrage Association hired the skilled organizer to form suffrage clubs in Idaho. This soon led to women being able to vote there. Her next success was heading the Washington State Equal Suffrage Association. She also delivered effective presentations in Oregon and Kentucky. DeVoe supported a Republican for governor of Washington and was vice chairman of the state GOP. She cast an electoral vote for Warren Harding and served on the RNC. She campaigned for Calvin Coolidge in 1924. Back to Basics for the Republican P...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute James Flick, born August 28th 1845.  During the Civil War, he served with the 4th Iowa Volunteers. His regiment fought at Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta. Peace restored, Flick studied law, while a county recorder of deeds. Next steps were state representative and district attorney. In 1888, he won first of two congressional terms. The Antitrust Act, the Land-Grant Colleges Act and the Forest Reserve Act received his vote. 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 an Instagram Video about this article. Here is a TikTok Video about this article. H...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I denounce Democrat devilry. August 21st 1863, Slavery Party militants attacked a town which been founded by anti-slavery activists. Hundreds of gunman descended upon Lawrence, Kansas. They slaughtered nearly two hundred men and boys. Among the dead was the Republican mayor. A friend of freedom targeted who managed to escape was James Lane, a Republican U.S. Senator. Another survivor was former slave Blanche Bruce, who went on to be a Republican U.S. Senator. Leading the assault was William Quantrill. He later plotted to murder President Abraham Lincoln. Decades later, Harry Truman delivered one of his first speeches where Quantrill's Raiders held their reunions. 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 abou...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight  The Prayer of Twenty Millions , an editorial published on August 20th 1862. Its author, Horace Greeley, criticized President Lincoln for not having yet issued an emancipation proclamation: "As the first servant of the Republic, charged especially and preeminently with this duty, that you EXECUTE THE LAWS… you are strangely and disastrously remiss in the discharge of your official and imperative duty with regard to the emancipating provisions of the new (Second) Confiscation Act. Those provisions were designed to fight Slavery with Liberty... All attempts to put down the Rebellion and at the same time uphold its inciting cause are preposterous and futile." Page 71 of  Back to Basics for the Republican Party  explains that Lincoln had already drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, but was waiting for a good opportunity to issue it. In the ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor George Noonan, born August 20th 1828. Age twenty-four, he moved from New Jersey to Texas and practiced law. The region where he settled was populated by German immigrants who opposed slavery. Though a Unionist, Noonan was elected a state judge during the Civil War. Peace restored, he joined the Republican Party and remained on the bench another three decades.   In 1894, Noonan won a term in the U.S. House of Representatives. His most influential supporter was George Jackson, a prominent African-American Republican and rancher. 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 an I...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Mansfield Tyler, born into slavery on August 19th 1826. His master, a preacher and distant relative, permitted him a basic education – illegal at the time. Age eighteen, he was taken from Georgia to Alabama. After the Civil War, he became a preacher himself and for a decade presided over the state's Colored Baptist Church Convention. Tyler joined the Republican Party and in 1870 won for the state house. Twenty-six years, the "studious, industrious, devout, urbane" reverend chaired the board of trustees of Selma University. This institution conferred on him a Doctorate of Divinity "in recognition of his Christian manliness, his faithful labors, and his knowledge of the word of God." Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know abo...