Thomas Jefferson Henderson, patriotic Illinois Republican Congressman


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 he was shot in the leg.

Henderson cast an electoral vote for the Grant/Colfax ticket. President Grant appointed him a collector of internal revenue. In 1874, Henderson won the first of ten congressional terms. Infrastructure development was his top legislative priority.

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. 

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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.


Each day, his YouTube videos and TikTok videos and Rumble videos and Grand Old Partisan blog celebrate more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. And, see Speech Raves for audience feedback from his presentations in thirty-one states.

Clarence Thomas cited Back to Basics for the Republican Party in a Supreme Court decision.

"This is the most amazing book about politics that I have ever read. The Overview should be required reading for anyone with even a minor interest in government. The remainder is an enthralling history lesson that I will never forget. For years, we have all been misled about the true nature of the GOP. This is the real deal! Read it and be proud!"

"Your book is a national treasure. I'm always recommending it."

"Michael Zak wrote the definitive history of the GOP."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is the most significant contribution to the Republican Party in the last twenty years apart from Ronald Reagan."

"Back to Basics for the Republican Party is more important to our party now than ever before."

and

"one of the best books I ever read"


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