Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Thaddeus Mahon, born in Pennsylvania, May 21st 1840. His initial training was to be a blacksmith. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, surviving a grave wound. Peace restored, this young Republican studied law and was elected county clerk. Vowing to protect the rights of African-Americans, he won two terms in the state house. In 1876, a difference of merely twenty-five votes cost him a congressional seat. Mahon promoted local businesses. A railroad named him its president. In 1892, he won first of seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Receiving his vote were the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. 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, t...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Frances Willis, born in Illinois, May 20th 1899. She earned an undergraduate degree in history and a Ph.D. in political science – both from Stanford University. In 1927, she became the third woman to join the Foreign Service. Her overseas career began in Chile, followed by Sweden and Belgium and Spain and Britain. Willis was Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy Finland. July 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower named her Ambassador to Switzerland. She continued with ambassadorships to Norway and to Sri Lanka. November 1973, the American Foreign Service Association awarded her the Foreign Service Cup for "outstanding contribution to the conduct of foreign relations of the United States." In 2006, the George W. Bush administration depicted her on a postage stamp. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I commemorate the Homestead Act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20th 1862.  This momentous legislation had been written by the Republican Speaker of the House, Galusha Grow, and passed by the GOP-controlled 37th Congress. This measure was in the platform of the 1860 Republican National Convention. One hundred sixty million acres of public land in the Plains states were allocated to more than a million homesteaders. They agreed to settle there and improve the land. Page 75 of   Back to Basics for the Republican Party   explains that Democrats had intended instead to use the area for slave plantations. 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...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I appreciate the Emancipation Party's civil rights achievements. Even after Republicans had abolished slavery and extended citizenship to African-Americans, Democrats prevented most from voting. To overcome this Slavery Party evil, a GOP-controlled 41st Congress passed the 15th Amendment and Republican-controlled legislatures approved it. May 19th 1870, twenty thousand African-Americans paraded through Baltimore to celebrate ratification. They carried banners featuring President Ulysses Grant and Vice President Schuyler Colfax as well as African-American Republican leaders Frederick Douglass and Hiram Revels. There was also a statue of Abraham Lincoln. 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 futur...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I appreciate Republicans taking out the trash. May 19th 1862, the House of Representatives of the GOP-controlled 37th Congress impeached a Democrat federal judge. West Hughes Humphreys was a former Tennessee state legislator and attorney general. During the Civil War, this slave-owner had accepted a Confederate judgeship. Nonetheless, he did not bother to resign his U.S. government commission. Directing the prosecution was John Bingham, an Ohio Republican later principal author of the 14th Amendment. Within weeks, the Senate convicted Humphreys. President Abraham Lincoln replaced him with a Tennessee Unionist. 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...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Watson Carvosso Squire, born May 18th 1838. Graduating from Wesleyan University, he became a secondary school principal. Outbreak of civil war, Squire enlisted as lieutenant with the 19th New York Volunteer Infantry. After several battles, he studied at Cleveland Law School. Late 1862, he re-enlisted as captain with the Ohio Sharpshooters. His regiment fought at Nashville and Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. Squire worked for the Remington Arms Company fourteen years. He moved to Seattle in 1879. President Chester Arthur named him territorial governor. Statehood achieved, the legislature elected him to first of two U.S. Senate terms. Achievements included developing the Puget Sound Naval Shipyards and, in retirement, founding two banks. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights his...