Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-06-14

pAl III VI Tue
!. EZ.SSfssl ::;;: ;i|;;is ;SJ Republican
\ f [Sa E party will oc-
3E E.l E; E$ E*Y cur at Jackson,
W Ga d ld MI Mich, July 8.
! ID a GID The selection
of Jackson is
culiarly appropriate since it was
k} the state convention held there,
nder the Oaks" July G, 1854, that
lie name Republican is believed to have
been first officially used to designate
|be party which was to exercise such
dominating influence upon the af-
Fairs Of the country for the ensuing
half century. The Republican party
did not spring full panoplied into the
arena Of national politics as the result
Of carefully laid plans for the exalta-
ton Of any individual or set Of indi-
viduals. 1t came into being in re-
Spouse to the long growing impression
that the old parties We're unable to
kdeal with the momentous questions
Ehich most Of the progressively
oughtful public men realized were
amoring for immediate settlement.
The name Republican had been de-
ded upon at meeting Of some thirty
hembers Of the national house of rep
esentatives on May 81, 1854, the day
tier the passage of the Kansas Ne
,raska bill, and the chairman Of that
meeting, Israel Washburn of Maine,
Immediately began to use it as party
me. A contemporaneous movement
Inc hof OF Sc =, Il
& len effected early in April local
;anization, the outcome of mass
letting Of Wings, Free-soilers and
: ,mocrats. This organization suggest
Republican" as good party name,
Eand in July it was formally adopted at
4 the Wisconsin state convention of the
&new party.
EMschigan's Claim.
n During the months of July and Au-
Aeust, 1854, the name was also adopted
by the state conventions Of Maine.
Qhio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, and
Tome of these states, as well as Wis
onsin, dispute with Michigan the hon
of being the party's birthplace. Polit-
lI authorities, however, generally rec
& iize the validity Of Michigan's claim.
Ehe slavery question was the father
81 state rights the mother Of the Re
IS oiican party. The latter question had
81 zen agitated from the foundation Of
|s lie republic, always finding its most ear
II est advocates in the Democratic ranks.
The slavery question had been as
Sning commanding position as po-
ical problem since the acquisition of
e Louisiana territory. The slave
ates demanded the right to colonize
sis territory with their institutions as
fell as with their people. Then came
annexation Of Texas, an independ-
Z &c republic in which slavery existed,
I and the consequent war with Mexico,
the result of which was a great in
crease in the area of the United States.
/ The W,llmot Pvovi5o.
The antislavery representatives in
congress fought bitterly the encroach-
1 ment of the slave power upon this vast
| territory. The famous Wilmot proviso,
2ahresolution introduced by David Will
not Of Pennsylvania. declaring that no
& ssate should be admitted from the ter
ritory acquired from Mexico unless
4 slavery within it's borders should be
! prohibited, passed the house several
times, but always failed in the senate.
n In 1850 Missouri applied for admis-
sion as a slave state. This added fuel
<to the flames, and the climax of the
struggle between the slave power and
rs enemies seemed to have been reach
The storm, however, was tempo
rily averted by the Missouri com
Il Womise. This act Of congress pro.
@bited forever slavery in that portion
the territory coded by France. which
~ north of Mason and Dixon's line
- fitude 36 degrees 80 minutes-except
Z In the state of Missouri.
u s}Bleeding Kansas. /"
ri lin 1854 the Democratic majority In
Ec6ngress itself struck the sudden blow
! (which crystallized its opposing ele.
ments into single party. The Kan
aas- Nebraska bill, passed against the
vehement opposition of the northern
nembers and even Of some of those
Sfom the south. declared null and void
he compromise of 1850 and provided
s pr the organization Of the territories
Kansas and Nebraska, leaving tc
se inhabitants of each territory the
fight to determine whether or not II
Should legalize slavery The NORTH
sent caravans of settlers into BLEED
ng Kansas" hoping thus to create az
sAtislavery majority there. while the
bslayery forces poured over the lin,
a I'm Missouri. Armed clashes wer,
81 yequent and bloody. Each elemen
gormed a territorial government ane
iopted constitution. The antislay
ny men made Topeka their capital
q while the proslayery men had thei
4. headquarters in Lecompton, whence
their famous constitution derived 1t!
name. The Democratic administration
s@ inGbHashington in every instance up
acid the Lecompton faction. even re
Ying governors who were inimica
the. Sla ve interests