To the editor:
The sixth day of July marks the date of the first official Republican meeting in 1854 in Jackson, Mich. The name “Republican” was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party. The Republican Party was formed by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge.
In 1856, the Republicans became a national party when John C. Fremont was nominated for President under the slogan: “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont.” Four years later, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to win the White House.
During the Civil War, against the advice of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The Republicans of their day worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the Fifteenth, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans.
The Republican Party also played a leading role in securing women the right to vote. In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to favor women’s suffrage. When the 19th Amendment finally was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin from Montana in 1917. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, nominated Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first woman Supreme Court justice in U.S.
Presidents during most of the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century were Republicans. While the Democrats and Franklin Roosevelt dominated American politics in the 1930s and ‘40s, for 28 of the 40 years from 1952 through 1992, the White House was in Republican hands – under Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and the two Presidents Bush. Under the last three, Reagan and the two Presidents Bush, the United States became the world’s only superpower, winning the Cold War from the old Soviet Union and releasing millions from Communist oppression.
Republicans have a long and rich history representing three basic principles: Individuals, not government, can make the best decisions; all people are entitled to equal rights; and decisions are best made close to home.
Hayes Gahagan
Aroostook County
Republican State Committeeman
