Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Anson Burlingame, born November 14th 1820. He practiced in Boston after graduation from Harvard Law School. He joined the anti-slavery Free Soil Party, proving to be an effective orator for its 1848 presidential ticket.  Burlingame won a seat in the state senate and was delegate to the state constitutional convention. In 1854, he won election to Congress. Opponents of slavery praised his eloquent condemnation of a Democrat congressman for attacking a Republican Senator at the Capitol. His prestige contributed to establishing the Massachusetts GOP. Abraham Lincoln appointed him ambassador to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. While enroute, he learned that the Viennese government had rejected him and that the president had named him ambassador to China. Burlingame refused to go along with the imperialist policies of European countries. Rather, h...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Benjamin Franklin Peixotto, born November 13th 1834. This merchant and attorney wrote editorials for the Cleveland Plain Dealer . He resigned when that Democrat newspaper sided with the Confederates. At twenty-nine, he was head of B'nai B'rith. In 1870, President Ulysses Grant appointed him consul for Romania, while that country was subject to the Ottoman Empire. His mission encompassed helping defend Jews from their Turkish oppressors. Peixotto campaigned for Rutherford Hayes. The new President asked for his views on multinational condemnations of racist massacres in East Europe, then named him consul in Lyon, France. Named for Peixotto was a Liberty ship during WWII. 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 ou...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I applaud Republican respect for African-Americans. November 13th 1878, Marie Selika Williams sang for Rutherford Hayes and his wife and their friends. She and her baritone husband were introduced by Frederick Douglass. This was the first time an African-American artist performed at the White House.  The talented soprano, from Natchez, had studied music in Cincinnati and San Francisco and Chicago. Being invited by the President boosted her career. Later years, she toured around the nation, Europe and the Caribbean. 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 ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I observe that a Republican President is a national hero in South America. Late 19th century, Paraguay and Argentina contested for ownership of a vast wilderness. Rather than go to war, they agreed that Rutherford Hayes would decide which country owned it. November 12th 1878, he announced that the Chaco, as large as Colorado, should belong to Paraguay. Much of this region is now the state Presidente Hayes , with its capital Villa Hayes. Said a prominent local: "Hayes is a giant. He is a spectacular, immortal figure for us. We are Paraguay because of him. Hayes will never be forgotten." 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...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Elizabeth Cady Stanton, born in upstate New York, November 12th 1815. Her father was a Federalist congressman, her cousin a prominent abolitionist. She received a good education and married another prominent abolitionist. They had seven children. In 1848, Stanton attended the Seneca Women’s Rights Convention and authored its Declaration of Sentiments . Temperance was another of her causes. Stanton delivered a speech at a rally for presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, she and Susan B. Anthony organized the Women’s Loyal National League in support of a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. Back to Basics for the Republican Party   explains that it was in a letter to Stanton that Anthony boasted of having voted for "the Republican ticket – straight". The two leader...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I spotlight Republican respect for the nation’s military veterans. March 1921, the GOP-controlled 67th Congress passed a resolution for interring an unknown fallen soldier in a war memorial. November 11th , President Warren Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery: "Hundreds of mothers are wondering today, finding a touch of solace in the possibility that the nation bows in grief over the body of one she bore to live and die, if need be, for the Republic." "We do not know the eminence of his birth, but we do know the glory of his death. He died for his country, and greater devotion hath no man than this. He died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in his heart and hope on his lips that his country should triumph and its civilization survive." Back to Basics for the Republican Party ...