Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan honors Isaac Newton Arnold, born in upstate New York, November 30th 1815. This ambitious young lawyer relocated to frontier Chicago and was soon elected city clerk. He served three terms in the state house. In 1848, Arnold left the pro-slavery Democratic Party to co-found the Free Soil Party. His friend Abraham Lincoln running for president, he became a Republican and won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Vigorous opposition to slavery was the focus of two terms. He was first to introduce a proposed constitutional amendment for the abolition of slavery. President Lincoln named him a Treasury Department auditor. Later years, Arnold wrote celebrated biographies of the Great Emancipator and Benedict Arnold. "Mr. Arnold was a man of great independence of character, thought, and action. Making up his mind as to what was right, he always acted up to his convictions. He never pandered to low tastes or popular prejudices. There was not ...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than SEVENTEEN decades of Republican heroes and heroics.  Today, I praise Oliver Winchester, born in Massachusetts, November 30th 1810. He began his career building churches, then opened a furnisher shop. Later ventures included a clothing factory. Winchester relocated to Connecticut and bought a controlling interest in the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company from Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson — yes, that Smith and Wesson. Redesigning their rifle, chief engineer Benjamin Henry named it after himself. There were thousands of Henry rifles with Union forces during the Civil War. An improved Henry rifle became the classic Winchester rifle. Winchester served on the New Haven city council and cast an electoral vote for Abraham Lincoln's second term. In 1866, he was elected Lieutenant Governor. 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 ...

Grand Old Partisan salutes Thomas Jefferson Henderson, born in Tennessee, November 29th 1824. Age eleven, his parents relocated to Illinois. He studied law while working for a county court. This former Whig won election to the state house and attended the founding convention of the Illinois GOP. Henderson voted for Abraham Lincoln in a U.S. Senate election until Lincoln asked his supporters in the legislature to throw their votes to another anti-slavery candidate so that a Democrat would not be elected. He next was elected, as a Republican, to the state senate. Though choosing not to run for re-election, he did campaign vigorously for the Lincoln/Hamlin ticket. "It was my good fortune, I have always thought, to have known Abraham Lincoln, personally, from my boyhood." During the Civil War, Henderson recruited a company of volunteers and enlisted as colonel of the 112th Illinois Infantry. His regiment fought at Knoxville and Resaca and Atlanta, where h...

"As a citizen, as a soldier, as a statesman, as an honorable, upright, noble man, he was respected and loved by all who knew him."   Grand Old Partisan salutes Stephen Hurlbut, born in Charleston, South Carolina, November 29th 1815. He worked at the law office of James Petigru, who famously ridiculed the secession movement, and was major in the state militia. Hurlbut moved to Illinois. Among his new associates was Abraham Lincoln. He attended the 1847 state constitutional convention and was a Whig presidential elector the following year. As a Republican, he won election to the state house in 1858 and 1860. Soon after the inauguration, President Lincoln sent Hurlbut to Charleston to gauge public sentiment. His report was grim: "False political economy diligently taught for years has now become an axiom & merchants and business men believe and act upon the belief — that great growth of trade and expansion of material prosperity will & must follow the e...

Grand Old Partisan honors Daniel Polsley, born November 28th 1803 in what is now West Virginia. This prominent attorney edited a Whig Party newspaper. Reacting to Virginia's declaration of secession, he and other Unionists gathered at Wheeling to establish a state administration loyal to the U.S. government. At a second convention, in June 1861, delegates elected a governor, Francis Pierpont, and a lieutenant governor, Polsley. President Abraham Lincoln recognized this 'Restored Government' and the GOP-controlled 37th Congress admitted its two Senators and three Representatives. Governor Pierpont remained in office seven years, but Polsley resigned in 1863. He served on the state bench, then won a congressional term. Receiving his vote were the Alaska purchase and the GOP's 14th Amendment, extending civil right protection to African-Americans. Back to Basics for the Republican Party  is my civil rights history of the GOP. To quote the book: "The more w...

Grand Old Partisan notes that Theodore Roosevelt advocated full equality for women:   "Much can be done by law towards putting women on a footing of complete and entire equal rights with man — including the right to vote, the right to hold and use property, and the right to enter any profession she desires on the same terms as the man." "Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man it should be paid as highly."      [from his autobiography, first published on November 27th 1913] 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 a  TikTok Vi...

Grand Old Partisan applauds Jon Runyan, born November 27th 1973. After excelling at the University of Michigan, he played fourteen seasons of professional football, mostly for the Philadelphia Eagles. This intimidating offensive tackle was a 2003 Pro Bowl selection. In 2010, Runyan won first of two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. The conservative Republican served on the Armed Services and Natural Resources committees. Foregoing another nomination, he occasionally drove for Uber. May 2016, the NFL named him vice president of policy and rules administration. 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 a  TikTok Video  about this article. ...

Grand Old Partisan salutes James d'Orma Braman, born December 23rd 1901. His lumber business contributed to economic growth of the Pacific Northwest. He served as a Navy procurement officer during WWII. In 1954, Braman first won election to the Seattle city council. A decade later, he was elected mayor. "Local papers referred to him as the best mayor Seattle had ever had." February 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed him Assistant Secretary of Transportation. 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 a  TikTok Video  about this article. Here is an  Instagram Video  about this article. Here is my  Substack ...