The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1896-06-27


izations and uniting as "Republi-
cans" in support of the principles
then championed by the Free Soil
ers. Until the introduction of the
Nebraska bill by Douglas in the
Congressional session of 1853-54
such efforts met with little encour-
agement. But that bill, brought
forward by Northern Senator,
alarmed the great moderate" ele-
ment which constituted the real
strength of each party in the "free
States" far more effectively than
had the Nominations of the South
ern leaders in Congress; for its
passage meant nothing less than
the repeal of the Missouri Compro-
mise. The threat of that repeal
the foreboding that slavery could
no longer be kept out of national
territory by national legislation
reused the slumbering spirit of the
North. The men of that time tell
us that the great North rocked as
by an earthquake. In many minds
the conviction became irresistible
that only one political course lay
open to those who sought to check
the advance of the slave power.
At this crisis, if ever, the people
seemed prepared to accept with en-
thusiasm the plan SO untiringly
advocated by Greeley's Wisconsin
correspondent Meetings were held
throughout the free States" to
protest against the passage of the
bill, and yet, strange as it may ap-
pear, there was a marked hesitancy
to resolve upon definite political
action. Greeley himself hesitated.
After the Douglas bill had passed
the Senate, and was pending in the
House, Bovay wrote to solicit the
powerful aid of the Tribune in
banding together the opponents of
the bill throughout the North as
Republicans" Greeley replied
that he feared the people were not
ripe for the plan.
Nevertheless, Mr.. Bovay believ-
ed that the people of Wisconsin
were ready to join in the move
ment, and without waiting for the
final passage of the Nebraska bill
he proceeded to enlist recruits for
the new party in Fond du Lac and
Grand Lake counties. Wisconsin
had then been a State only six
years. Most of the settlers in that
portion of it had come in since its
admission to the Union. They
were principally of American birth,
only recently removed from New
England and New York. They
! were typical among the pioneers
of those days-an energetic, ag-
gressive, intelligent people, keenly
alive to the moral forces at work
in their time, less trammeled by
party bonds than were the people
of the older States from which
they had come. A majority of
the voters were originally Demo
Gratis, but the anti-slavery senti-
ment was 80 strong among them
that many had joined in the Free
Soil movement Mr.. Bovay found
that the prejudice against the
Wing party, among Free Sellers
as we'll as Democrats, was so in
tense that nothing short of the
dissolution of the entire Wing or
ganization and the formation of q
new and distinct party could be
depended on to unite the anti-slav.
cry voters of all the old parties
He finally induced the leading
| Wings of his town to sanction this
course, and with the cooperation
of prominent anti-slavery Demo
Gratis and Free Sellers he at las
succeeded in launching the new
!. party at Ripon, Wisconsin, on thu
Goth of March, 1854. The Whif
. and Free Soil town committees
were formally and finally dissolved
From that time on the two parties
; in that town were the Democratic
! and the Republican. The latte
was pledged to oppose the admis
sion of slavery to free territory
: and to nothing else. 1t foreshad
owed as perfectly as it could tn
position Of the national party il
the Fremont campaign of 1856. !
! was made up of the same element
: that composed the national part
. two years later.
Having thus given a practica
: demonstration of his theories, Mi
. Bovay again urged Greeley t
throw the weight of the Tribune
: influence in favor of the movement
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