Under the Oaks...GOP First Convention

JULY 06, 2008

the Republican Party's first-ever state convention

In 1854, the Democrats in control of Congress were moving toward passage of their Kansas-Nebraska Act, allowing slavery to expand into the western territories. The Democratic President at the time, Franklin Pierce, said he would sign the bill into law. The Democratic Party had chosen to promote slavery.

Amid the intense reaction, a grassroots movement sprang up to oppose the extension of slavery. At town meetings and demonstrations, anti-slavery activists voiced their opposition to the "Slave-ocrats" and organized the Republican Party.

On July 6, 1854, the Republican Party held in Jackson, Michigan its first state convention. So many people attended – over 10,000 – that the meeting had to be held outdoors, Under the Oaks.

Just four months later, one of the founders of the Michigan Republican Party, anti-slavery activist Kinsley Bingham, was elected our nation’s first Republican governor. And, another of the original Michigan Republicans, Zachariah Chandler, became one of the first Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Senator Chandler, a former mayor of Detroit and a leader of the Underground Railroad, went on to serve as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country, showing office-holders, candidates and activists how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating our Party's heritage of civil rights achievement. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP from the Republican point of view. Each day, his Grand Old Partisan blog -- http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com -- celebrates 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics. See www.republicanbasics.com for more information.

http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/blog/2008/07/michael-zak-i-1.html