Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Sidney Edgerton, born August 17th 1818. He studied at Cincinnati Law School. This anti-slavery activist co-founded the Free Soil Party. Four years, he was a county prosecutor. Edgerton attended the GOP’s 1856 national convention. Two years later, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Receiving his vote were the D.C. Emancipation Act, the Homestead Act, the Transcontinental Railroad and other Republican achievements. During his second term, he commanded a militia regiment that defended Ohio from a Confederate incursion. President Abraham Lincoln named him Chief Justice of Idaho Territory, followed by Governor of Montana Territory. Later years were devoted to practicing law near Akron. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Republicans know ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I praise Henry Winter Davis, born in Annapolis, August 16th 1817. Law studies were at University of Virginia. After nine years in Alexandria, he relocated to Baltimore. In 1854, Davis first won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Though not yet having joined the GOP, opposition to slavery led him to cast a crucial vote for a Republican as Speaker of the House. Even so, in the 1860 presidential election he backed the Constitutional Union Party. Appalled by the Confederacy, Davis became a Republican. "Smite fearlessly the Democratic Party," he thundered, "The union will survive its fragments." The war drawing to a close, he and Republican Senator Ben Wade secured passage of a bill to place Reconstruction firmly under control of Congress, until the slave system was totally eradicated. Page 82 of  Back to Basics for the Republican Party  explains: ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight origin of the New York Republican Party. Appalled by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, John Jay, grandson and namesake of a Founder, called for anti-slavery activists to meet at a church in Manhattan. That gathering arranged for a statewide convention which took place in Saratoga Springs on August 16th 1854. Three thousand patriots gathered. A young Chester Arthur and William Seward’s son Frederick were among the delegates. They passed resolutions condemning Democrats for promoting slavery. The convention did not yet establish a new political party. Another the following month in Auburn endorsed an anti-Democrat coalition candidate for governor, who was elected. Edward Bullard, a former Democrat Congressman, invited friends of freedom to assemble at Ballston Spa on October 6th. It was at this convention that New York Republicans nominat...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute John Woodworth, born August 15th 1837. He studied pharmacy at University of Chicago. Smithsonian Institution hired him to collect plant specimens. Graduating from Chicago Medical College, Woodworth enlisted as assistant surgeon in the Union Army. The highly competent young man rose to be chief doctor with General Sherman's forces. Peace restored, Woodworth studied in Berlin and Vienna. He later taught anatomy at Chicago Medical College and was inspector for Chicago Board of Health. In 1871, the Ulysses Grant administration named him supervising surgeon of the Marine Hospital Service. This agency had been established decades earlier "for the relief of sick and disabled seamen." Woodworth professionalized its physicians and gave them naval uniforms. He also broadened the service into public health ac...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Judson Lyons, born on a Georgia slave plantation, August 15th 1858. After emancipation, he taught himself to read and write. This civil rights activist was youngest delegate at the 1880 Republican National Convention. After graduating from Howard University Law School, Lyons became the state’s first African-American attorney. Lyons served on the Republican National Committee. At the 1896 GOP national convention, he backed William McKinley. The new president appointed him postmaster at Augusta, but had to back down in the face of fierce Democrat opposition. McKinley later named him Register of the U.S. Treasury. In this capacity, the signature of Judson Lyons appeared on all paper money. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more we Rep...