Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-07-06
FIFTY YEARS OF the
REPUBLICAN PARTY
An Address Delivered by the Hon.
John Hay, Secretary of State. at
the Semi-Centennial Celebration
at Jackson, Michigan.

them. In May, 1854, after several
months of passionate debate, to which
the country listened with feverish in
terest, Congress passed the bill organ.
izing the territories of Kansas and Ne
braska, omitting the restrictions of the
Missouri compromise which excluded
slavery from them. This action at once
precipitated the floating anti-slavery
sentiment Of the country. A mighty
cry of resolute indignation arose from
one end of the land to the other. The
hollow truce, founded upon the legiti-
mate compromises which had been OBJ
served in good faith by one side and
ruthlessly violated by the other, was at
an end. Men began to search their
consciences instead of the arguments
of political expediency. A discussion
Of the right and wrong of slavery be-
came general; the light was let in, IA
tai to darkness. A system which de-
graded men. dishonored women, de-
prived little children of the sacred So
lace of home, was doomed from the
hour it passed into the arena of free
debate. And even if we shut our eyes
to the moral aspects of that heartless
system, and confined ourselves to the
examination of it's economic merits, it
was found to be wasteful and ineffi-
cient. The Americans are at once the
most sentimental and the most prac-
tical of peoples-and when they see
that an institution is morally revolving,
and besides, does not pay, it's fate is
sealed.
Yet the most wonderful feature of
that extraordinary campaign which
then began and which never ceased
until the land was purged of it's deadly
sin, was that even in the very tempest
and whirlwind Of their passion the
great leaders of the Republican party
kept their agitation strictly within the
limits of the constitution and the law.
There was no general demand for ev-
en- an amendment TO the organic instru-
ment. They pleaded for the repeal OF
unjust statutes as inconsistent with
the constitution, but did not advocate
their violation. Only among the more
obscure and ardent members OF the
party was there any demand for the
abolition of slavery, but the whole par
ty stood like rock for the principle
that the damnable institution must be
content with what it had already got,
and must not be allowed to pollute an
other inch of free soil. On this i'm
pregnable ground they made their
stand; and the mass convention which
assembled here in 1854, while the vi
brations of the thunder of the guns
and the shoutings of the birthday OF
Liberty yet fingered in the air, gave a
nucleus and name to the new party,
destined to great and beneficient ca
reer. Before the month ended, the an
ti-slavery men of five more great
states adopted the name Republican, y
and under that banner Congress was
carried and two years later national
party assembled at Pittsburg and
nominated Fremont and Dayton, who
failed by few votes of sweeping the
north.
Who of us that was living then will
ever forget the ardent enthusiasm OF
those days? 1t was one of those per-
iods, rare in the life of any nation,
when men forget themselves, and, in
spite of habit of interest, and OF pre-
judice, follow their .consciences wher
ever they may lead. In the clear, keen
air that was abroad the best men in
the country drew deeper breaths and
rose to a moral height they had not
before attained. The movement was
universal. Summer in the east, Sew
ard in New York, Chase in Ohio, Bates
in Missouri, Blair in Maryland, all sent
forth their identical appeal to the high
er motive; and in Illinois, where the
most popular man in the state boldly
and cynically announced, Il don't care
whether slavery is voted up or -votec
down." voice, new to the nation, re
piled, "There are some Of us who &c
care. If slavery is not wrong, nothing
is wrong"-and Abraham Lincol1
came upon the field not to leave it un
til he was triumphant in death.
have no right to detain you at thi
hour in recounting the history of thos'
memorable days. Two incidents of th
long battle will never be forgotten
One was the physical and politica
contest for the possession of Kansas
carried on with desperate courage ant
recklessness of consequences by tn
pro-slavery party on the one side, and
on the other, by the New Englan'
farmers whose weapons of aggression
were Bible texts and the. words OF Jei
| ferson, and whose arms of defens
were Sharpe's rifles. With words tha
, ring even now when we read them, lik
the clashing of swords, the slave stat
men claimed Kansas as their righ
: and the free state men replied in tn
words of the prophet before Herod, Il
is not lawful for you to have her." An
yContinued on Page sk<.)