Charles Drake – "Freedom's Champion"

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Charles Drake, born in Cincinnati, April 11th 1811. Age sixteen, he enlisted as a navy midshipman and served four years. After studying law, the ambitious young man moved to St. Louis. In 1859, he won a term in the Missouri house of representatives. 

During the Civil War, patriotism and opposition to slavery led him to switch from the Democratic Party to the GOP. He called for immediate and uncompensated emancipation. In 1865, this Radical Republican served as vice president of the state constitutional convention. He advocated voting rights for African-Americans and public schools for all. Such was his influence that the document adopted became known as the Drake Constitution.

In 1867, the legislature elected him a U.S. Senator. Receiving his vote were the Reconstruction Acts, the Fifteenth Amendment and the [anti-] Ku Klux Klan Act. Drake resigned after three years to accept President Ulysses Grant's appointment to be chief justice at the Court of Claims.
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 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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