Grand Old Partisan

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I highlight Republican respect for all Americans. September 30th 1889, a territorial convention approved a statehood constitution for Wyoming. Among its provisions was guaranteeing women the right to vote. Of the forty-nine delegates, thirty-one were Republicans. Presiding was Melville Brown, a former Abraham Lincoln appointee later named to the federal bench by William McKinley. Within months, voters approved the constitution. July 1890, the GOP-controlled 51st Congress passed a statehood bill and Republican President Benjamin Harrison signed it, admitting Wyoming to the Union. 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 salute John Mickey, born near Des Moines, September 30th 1845. During the Civil War, he served with the 8th Iowa Cavalry. His regiment battled through Tennessee and Georgia. Peace restored, Mickey attended college then taught school. In 1868, he moved to Nebraska and became a successful rancher and banker. Political activity began as county treasurer, followed by state representative. At the 1902 state GOP convention, Mickey won the gubernatorial nomination, on the 13th ballot. He went on to victory, and then re-election. Later year focused on Nebraska Wesleyan University and the temperance movement. 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.grandoldpar...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I memorialize 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, they met at the 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." Originating this event was Edian Markham, who had escaped bondage and studied for the ministry. Abraham Galloway, later elected a Republican state senator,  called the gathering to order. James Hood, influential African-American Republican activist, presided.  The convention called for "equal rights before the law" – including being empowered to atten...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I honor Nathaniel Durfee, born in Rhode Island, September 29th 1812. His profession was orchard proprietor. After eleven years a state representative, in 1854 he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Midway through a second term, Durfee joined the GOP. This made him the state’s first Republican Congressman. He attended the 1860 Republican National Convention, in support of Abraham Lincoln for President. 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 an Instagram Video about this article. Here is a TikTok Video about this article. Michael Zak is author of Back to...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Matthew Gault Emery, born September 28th 1818. Age twenty-two, the aspiring architect settled in Washington for work on government projects. His company cut and laid stones for buildings including the U.S. Treasury, the Patent Office and the Washington Monument. E lected alderman in 1854, Emery h elped establish the DC Republican Party. He served as parade marshal at the presidential inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, this militia captain operated a signal fort that communicated between outlying fortifications and downtown. In 1869, while again on the city council, Emery was elected Mayor. His administration paved more than one hundred streets and constructed a vast riverside seawall. He left office after eleven months when Congress replaced home rule with territorial government. Later years focused on a bank and mu...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I salute Maxwell Rabb, born in Boston, September 28th 1910. After graduation from Harvard Law School, the ambitious Republican worked for two Senators. He was a navy lieutenant during WWII. Rabb helped convince Dwight Eisenhower to run for President, then contributed his expertise on the campaign. Starting in the administration as associate counsel, he was  secretary of the Cabinet then chairman of the delegation at UNESCO . Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Rabb was partner at a law firm and director of several corporations. He held leadership positions with the United Jewish Appeal, Hebrew Union College, the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP. Rabb fundraised for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign. The new President named him Ambassador to Italy. He was remembered as "a modest, unassuming man with a reputation for wit, long familiar with t...

Grand Old Partisan celebrates more than seventeen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Today, I celebrate the life of the first African-American U.S. Senator, Hiram Revels. Let us never forget that he was a REPUBLICAN.  Revels was born in North Carolina, September 27th 1827. Outbreak of civil war, he recruited two regiments of U.S. Colored Troops and served as military chaplain. Union restored, he pastored for Methodist churches in several states before settling at Natchez, Mississippi. Political activity began as city councilman, then state senator. The state re-admitted in 1870, the GOP-controlled legislature elected him to a U.S. Senate vacancy. Democrats tried to prevent him being sworn in, but were defeated by Republicans in a party-line vote. Though devoted to racial equality, Senator Revels advocated political moderation. After eleven months, he became a college president. "He was sincerely devoted to the elevation and improvement of his race on the highe...