Evening star., 1940-06-23
Republican Party Was Largely Formed and Crystazed in W.
Organization
Established
81 Years Ago
First Convention
Made Its History
At Philadelphia
BY John Clageet Proctor.

~ SOH" NtoSScS SOS'o's
Tomorrow is the 84th anniversary
Of the first national convention of
the Republican party, as we know
1t today, and the present conven-
ton. which opens on this anniver-
sary, also convenes in Philadelphia,
where the first one was held, almost
q century ago.
However, the adoption of the
word Republican" for an American
political party name dates back to
Thomas Jefferson's campaign for
the presidency in 1896, when the
author of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence ran on that ticket against
John Adams, who was elected as a
Federalist, the party to which Pres
ident Washington belonged.
In the election of 1900 Thomas
Jefferson, Republican, received 73
electoral votes and Aaron Burr OF
the same party the same number OF
votes, and the contest was decided
by the House of Representatives in
favor of Jefferson for President and
Burr for Vice President.
Prior to the next presidential cleo
ton, in 1904, the 18th amendment to
the Constitution was declared in ef-
feet on September 25 of that year.
This amendment directed that the
electors shall name in their
ballots the person voted for as
President, and in distinct ballots the
person voted for as Vice President y
And again Jefferson, the Republican
candidate, was declared elected, his
successful running mate being
George Clinton, whose mortal re-
mains rested here in Congressional
Cemetery until a decade or so ago.
when they we're removed to his
home State, New York.
James Madison and James Mon
roe were also elected as Republicans,
and John Quincy Adams OF the
same party was selected by the
House of Representatives as Mon
roe's successor.
All of One Party.
All the candidates in this cam
paign-that of 1924, which included
Andrew Jackson, J. @. Adams, Henry
Clay and William H. Crawford
were tagged with the Republican
label, and it remained for Jackson,
at the next election, to head the
Democratic party, which put him in
the White House for the next two
terms.
Back in Jefferson's and Madison's
day the Republican party opposed
the United States Bank, the English
treaty and the assumption of the
State debts. The Federalists, we are
told, favored the granting of power
to the general government, which
they thought should be made strong.
The Republicans. fearing lest the
republic should become monarchy
and the President king, opposed
this idea and advocated State
rights. The Republicans declared
themselves to be the only true
friends of the people, and stigma
tized all others as aristocrats and
monarchists.
The Republican party of the SOS
had it's origin through its intense
opposition in non-slave States to
the further extension of the slavery
system, and the breakdown of the
compromise policy of Henry Clay
with the Kansas Nebraska bill and
repeal Of the Missouri Compromise
as the incidental causes, which
brought the party into being. OF its
first actual meeting there may be
some doubt, but the one at Ripon
Wis, February %, 1854, was prob
ably the earliest. However, it is
likely that little if anything of a
concrete nature resulted from this
gathering. And the general i'm
preston that the actual beginning
of the party was in Washington, is
undoubtedly an accurate one, for
in the early part of the month OF
June, 1855, Lewis Clephane and
four others conceived the idea OF
forming a National Republican AS
sociation, with headquarters in this
city. Pursuant to this determine
ton, "a full dozen men, at least, ii
not bakers dozen," later met and
drew up a platform.
Appeal to Voters.
BY the following year the Repub-
licans had gained sufficient en-
couragement to hold a convention
to nominate candidates for the
presidency and vice presidency. Tc
this end the following notice was
printed in the National Era of Jan
uary II, 1856:
ITO the Republicans of the
United States:
In accordance with what ap-
pears to be the general desire OF
the Republican party, and at the
suggestion of a large portion OF
the Republican press. the under
signed, chairmen of the State Re-
publican Committees of Maine
Vermont, Massachusetts,, New York
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, In
diana and Wisconsin, hereby in
vite the Republicans of the Unior
to meet in informal convention In
Pittsburgh on the 22d February
1856. for the purpose of perfecting
the National Organization and pro-
viding for a National Delegate
Convention of the Republican party
at some subsequent day, to nomin-
ate candidates for the presidency
and vice presidency, to be supported
at the election in November, 1856
"A. P. Stone of Ohio.
~. z. Goodrich of Massachusetts,
David Wilmot of Pennsylvania
Lawrence Brainerd of Vermont
william A. White of Wisconsin
"As the friends Of the Republi-
can movement, especially those in
the West, who have been most &C.
tive in promoting the convention
deem an early notice important
we print the call, with the names
of the chairmen of five of the State
Republican Committees. The names