“And In This Corner...”
Transforming Sheboygan County
Russ Otten, RPSC Chair
1/19/23
Fellow Patriots and RPSC Members, something amazing is happening!
Amidst the corruption at City Hall, the push by the Sheboygan Area School District (SASD) Board for a transsexual curriculum, and the stench of the upcoming Drag Queen event at The Black Pig (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drag-dinner-the-great-pigsby-tickets-484010296827), our fight to bring back the values of faith, family, and freedom is taking center stage for all of our community to see!
SPEAK OUT!
Coming to a City Near You
Art DeJong
East and West met at our house. My wife grew up very near Provincetown, Cape Cod, on the Atlantic coast and I in Seattle on the Pacific coast. Provincetown was then a quaint fishing village, complete with crusty fishermen and an annual blessing of the fleet, Seattle a sensible western city run by Boeing engineers who watched hydroplane races and went hiking and skiing in the Cascades on the weekend.
HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
Founding of the Republican Party
On July 6, 1854, just after the anniversary of the nation, an anti-slavery state convention was held in Jackson, Michigan. The hot day forced the large crowd outside to a nearby oak grove. At this “Under the Oaks Convention” the first statewide candidates were selected for what would become the Republican Party.
Birthplace of the Republican Party
United by desire to abolish slavery, it was in Jackson that the Platform of the Under the Oaks Convention read: “…we will cooperate and be known as REPUBLICANS…” Prior to July, smaller groups had gathered in intimate settings like the schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. However, the meeting in Jackson would be the first ever mass gathering of the Republican Party. The name “Republican” was chosen, alluding to Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party and conveying a commitment to the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Party of Freedom
Though popularized in a Thomas Nast cartoon, the GOP’s elephant symbol originated during the 1860 campaign, as a symbol of Republican strength. Republicans envisioned “free soil, free speech, free labor.” Under the leadership of President Abraham Lincoln, the GOP became the Party of the Union as well.
The Republican Party called for the abolition of slavery.
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was the entire Republican Party who freed the slaves. The 1864 Republican National Convention called for the abolition of slavery, and Congressional Republicans passed the 13th Amendment unanimously, with only a few Democrat votes. The early women’s rights movement was solidly Republican, as it was a continuation of abolitionism. They were careful not to be overly partisan, but as did Susan B. Anthony, most suffragists favored the GOP. The 19th Amendment was written by a Republican senator and garnered greater support from Republicans than from Democrats.