Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan honors Minnie Grinstead, born in Kansas, September 30th 1869. After earning a teaching certificate, she taught school and worked her way up to principal. In 1896, the local GOP nominated her for county supervisor of public instruction. She then became a lecturer for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Grinstead's oratory contributed to the extension of full voting rights for Kansas women in 1912. Six years later, she was elected, as a Republican, to the state house. Her male colleagues were at first wary of the state's first female legislator, but were soon impressed. She twice won re-election. Grinstead served as delegate at two Republican National Conventions, and seconded the nomination of Calvin Coolidge for president. At time of her death the following year, she was under consideration for U.S. Civil Service Commissioner. A prominent obituary praised her "good sense, courage, tact and ability." Here is a  YouTube Video  abo...

Grand Old Partisan memorializes one of the first instances of African-Americans getting involved in politics. September 29th 1865, one hundred fifty delegates – nearly all emancipated slaves – attended what they called a 'Convention of Freedmen'. Along with two hundred spectators, the event took place at an AME Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. By the pulpit was a bust of Abraham Lincoln and an inscription: "with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right." They timed it to influence the drafting of a new state constitution, set to begin three days later. Their resolution called for “by political and moral means, as far as may be, the repeal of all laws and parts of laws, State and National, that make distinctions on account of color." Originating this event was Edian Markham, who had escaped bondage and studied for the ministry. Presiding was James Hood, influential African-American Republican activ...

Grand Old Partisan honors James Taliaferro, born September 28th 1798. Ambition led him from Virginia to Mississippi to Louisiana. He studied law after college and was a judge. Later years, his career turned to newspaper publishing. Though a slaveowner, Taliaferro voted against secession at the 1861 state convention. Confederate sympathizers failed to heed his warning of "economic chaos, blighted prosperity, staggering taxation, anarchy and war. The act I denounce is one of mad folly, and of which, if my judgment errs not, every signer of that paper will come to be ashamed." Two of his sons served in the Uniion Army. Peace restored, Taliaferro vied for the GOP’s nomination for lieutenant governor in 1865 and governor in 1868. Appointed by a Republican governor, he served ten years on the supreme court. Here is a  YouTube Video  about this article. Here is a  TikTok Video  about this article. Here is a  Rumble Video  about this articl...

Grand Old Partisan honors John Goodrich, born in Massachusetts, September 27th 1804. As a Whig, he was elected to the state senate and then won two congressional terms. An eloquent speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Act placed him among leaders of the anti-slavery movement. August 1855, Goodrich chaired a meeting in Boston that led to formation of the Massachusetts GOP. Five months later, he and four other state chairmen signed a call for Republicans across the country to establish a nationwide organization. He then signed, along with twenty other chairmen, a call for the first Republican National Convention. Goodrich was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1860. The new Governor, a staunch Unionist, named him to attend the Washington Peace Conference, where he opposed any efforts to appease secessionism. After just three months in office, President Lincoln named him Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston. While serving at that critical post, Goodrich donated to hometown S...

Grand Old Partisan salutes Stephen Elkins, born September 26th 1841. He relocated from Ohio to Missouri and attended the state university. During the Civil War, though his father and brother were Confederates, this young Republican fought for the Union, commanding an infantry company. In 1864, Elkins relocated to New Mexico, studied law, won a term in the territorial legislature, served as attorney general. Business ventures included banking and mining and real estate. In 1872, he was elected to first of two terms in Congress. Elkins moved to West Virginia, for opportunities with the coal and timber industries. President Benjamin Harrison appointed him Secretary of War. While serving as state GOP chairman, the legislature elected him to first of three U.S. Senate terms. He focused on promoting economic growth. He was eulogized as "an honest and successful legislator, a shrewd politician, and high-minded public servant." A son also became Republican Senator. Here ...

Grand Old Partisan honors Miguel Estrada, born in Honduras, September 25th 1961. Arriving in the United States at age seventeen, he graduated with honors from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. This legal prodigy went on to clerk for a U.S. Court of Appeals judge and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. During the George H. Bush administration, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney and an Assistant to the Solicitor General. In 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan commended him as "a towering intellect" with "a prodigious capacity for hard work." "No one I know," she observed, "is a more faithful friend or a more fundamentally decent person." Though the American Bar Association rated Estrada "well-qualified," ferocious Democrat opposition blocked confirmation. Slavery Party activists feared he might eventually be nominated...

Grand Old Partisan appreciates Republican dedication to protecting the environment. September 24th 1906, Theodore Roosevelt issued the first proclamation declaring a national monument. The site was Devils Tower in Wyoming. The President took this action under authority of the Antiquities Act, written by a Republican Representative and passed by the GOP-controlled 59th Congress. Preserving the magnificent monolith had begun a decade earlier when a Republican Senator convinced the Benjamin Harrison administration to make the surrounding area a national forest. Here is a  YouTube Video  about this article. Here is a  TikTok Video  about this article. Here is a  Rumble Video  about this article. Here is an  Instagram Video  about this article. Here is my  Substack  about this article. Michael Zak is author of  Back to Basics for the Republican Party , a history of GOP civil rights achievement. Ea...