Genesis of the Republican Party. Convention. Birth Of
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JUNl'~ 10, 18H7. Do-rglas-c-hut the final result proved him to made by other cities-especially St. Louis- be wis l' than all his crities. The Hon, Rob- whic' desired to secure the convention, the ert R. Hitt, who has since held the position se leot lon of Chicago was acquiesced in, and of Secretary of the American IJegation at !\londay, JUly 5, being nearest to the 4th, Paris, and Assistant Secretary of State, and was chosen as the time. who for fifteen years past has been a Repre- No official report' of the proceedings of this sent.a.ttve in Congress from the Rockford important conventton was ever publrshed , District, was the prIncipal reporter em- bu. Robert Fergus has rendered all impor- ployed by THE TRIBUNEin reporting these tan'. service to the cause of local and general debates, although he was assisted by Mr. history by the compilation fron. the press, f Henry Binmore and others. that day and ot.lversources, of an account of If the campaigns of 1856and 1858indicated the event, which was published in 1882as No. that the Republican party was in its forma- 18 of the" Fergus Historical Series." Many t iv e stage, that of 1860proved it to be a com- men whose names were wcll know n, not only pleted and successful organization. The in Chicago, but throughout the nation, were holding of the convention in Chicago this identified with the movement. Among the year again gave THE TRIBUNE an oppor- list of members of the various local cornmtt- tunity to display its enterprise. and this It tees were such familiar names as Willtam B. did most successfully. It bad been a zeal- Ogden, Mark Skinner, J. Young Scammon, ous supporter of Mr. Lincoln's claims for Isaac N. Arnold, ;Norman B. Judd, S. Lisle the nommatton, and now it was able to make Smith, John Wentworth, Geo'rge Manierre, its advocacy most effective. No sucb com- Grant Goodrich, Thomas Hoyn«, B. W. Ray- plete report of the national convention of mond, Richard L. vVilson, F. C. Sherman, any party had ever been published. It gave Walter L. Newberry. Jesse, B. Thomas, V.'ill- not only verbatim reports of the proceedings iam H. Brown, George Smith. P. F. W. Peck, and speeches, but also reported, every inci- Samuel Hoard, Dr. Levi D. Boone, Dr. Do ntel dent and occurrence of importance con- Brainard, Henry Brown, the first historian nected with the convention. That THE of IIIinots, and many others whose names TRIBUNEdid its full part in the organization were familiar to Chicagoans a half century of the Republican party cannot be ques- ago. Among over 10()signers 0, a letter to tioned in the face of evidence furnished by its Daniel Webs ter- inviting him to be present Iiles. were the fodowmg, who still Sl rvive: And- Nomination of Abraham Lincoln. rew Blaikic, Wrlltam Blair, At-thur G. Bur- ley, Silas B Cobb, Stephen F. Gale, Charles On the day after the nomination of Mr. H. Vandercook, Kathaniel P. Wilder, How The Tribune Lincoln for the Presideney (May 19, 1860) Thomas B. Carter, and glisha \I Willard. THE TRIBUNE, in a double-leaded leader Nine-teen Sta t es were repr-esentod in the said: convention, including ever y New Flng'Ia.nd BIRTH OF ILLINOIS ••The age of purity returns. After a suc- State except Vermont. the Southern States cession of Presidents who have not only of Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and South been subseryient to the interests of the Carolma, and most of the Mtddlo West- JOURNALISM. propagandists of human slavery but corrupt ern States, together with New York and There has not been entire a.ccor-t between to a degree alarming to the truest friends Pennsylvania. Most of the prine Ipa.l cities- aut!1orities as tu the date when the first of ropubltcan institutions, the nomination especially those on the \\- estern rivers-were newspaper was esta blished in Illinois, of Abraham Lincoln-Honest Old Abe-by represented, while many counties in Illinois though there has been unlversat agreement 'the great Republican party is a guaranty and adjoining- States sent Ia rg e deleg-ations. as to the name of the paper and t h.it uf the that the country . desires to return As Chicago had then an estimated popula- founder. The latter was MattlJew Duncan, newsp to the sterling honesty and Democratic sim- tton of 16,000it may be assumed that its hos- Juhn plicity which marked the ad~inistrations pitality was taxed to the utmost. as the local a brother of Joseph Durn an, who was for six years a member of Cong-ress from I1:!- Dorno of Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Jackson. newspapers put the number of strangers in after The party has not mistaken Ihe man select- the 'city at ~;;,OOO, while Horace Greeley. in nois and Oover-nor of the State from 18:14'0 prtse ed for a standard-bearer. Mr. Lincoln is his report to the New York Tribune, placed 1838. The nam ' of this pioneer journal was establi the very soul of integrity. In all his life, the number at 20,000, of whom 10,000 were the Illinois Herald and its place of pnblica- t.he III now extending over fifty-one years, there is members of the convention. tion was Kaskaskia, then the capital of Illi- cis at not an act of commission or omission by nois Territory. Gov. .Iohn Reynolds, w 110 ure w which his thorough uprightness, his exact Prominent Men Who Took Part. names are familiar to the older citizens of away by the excitement caused by the won- came to Illinois as a boy in 1800, in his rne is conscientiousness, his perfect integrity are After a processlon under the direction of ••Pioneer History of Illinois," fixes the date GENESIS OF THE Chicago and the State. derful oration and had made no report or the III impaired .... Dr. Philip Maxwell as marshal of the day, of the first issue of the Herald as 1809,the year This convention-though perhaps little sketch of the speech." ••He Is a conservative anti-slavery man the convention met in a tent 100feet square, REPUBLICAN PARTY. noted at the time-has given to Blooming- The above extract has been gIven as an same year in which Illinois was senaro tod transre against whom no allegation of fanaticism erected in the public square. on whtcn the from Indiana and placed un.tor a dtst.inot who co There is no more interesting or important ton a historical interest which has rendered indication of the intensity of feeling which will hold good. The uprising in his Cour-thouse and City Hall now stand. An or- chapter in t re history of this country, from it a sort of political Mecca. It was here that pervaded the country at the time the Repub- Territorial g·overnment. There is good rca- final sus favor has been spontaneous-the outgrowth ganization was effected with Edward Bates son for believing that the Governor was sorpuon the formation of the Federal Constitution .Tesse W. Fell, who had the credit of first lican party was in process of organization, of a widespread conviction of his fitness and of St. Louis-afterwards President Lincoln's mistaken in this statement, as t he «lllle't CHICAGO up to the civil war, than that which record nominating Lincoln for the Presidency, as well as some of the means by which that availability. He goes into the Pres- first Attorney-General-as President, while and to whom Lincoln sent that quaint biog- organization was efl'ected. Others have issue of the Illinois Herald (No. 32 of Vol. The se the organization of the Republican party. idential chair clean-handed and pure; and, Schu~']er Colfax of Indiana, who was Vice- IL) known to be in existence in recent years, Chicag'o raphy of himself, resided. John M. Palmer, given a similar description of the scene on President during President Grant's first While the revolution won independence for when President. his distribution of the pat- bears date April 18, 1816. Calculating from which wa afterwards a Major-General, Gover nor, and that memorable occasion when history was ronage will be governed by the wants and term, was one of the secretaries Letters the colonies, the civil war resulted in estab- lastly United States Senator, then ~,zealous beIng made. this, If the paper was issued continuously O. Davis, exigencies of the public service, and not Ly were read (or received) from Daniel Web- and without a break from its original ostab- lishing the principle not only that all men Republican, presided. Joseph de dill, ed- Republican Editors Meet in Chicago. ster, Henry Clay, Justice John McLean of wn s a vVh the loud clamors of men who urge their lishment the date of the first issue must c. »mnctttor are equal, in accordance with the Declara- itor of THE TRIBUNE,in an article com- claims upon the ground of past support. the Supreme Court, ex-President Martin municated to McClure's Magazine of Sep- There was another meeting of anti-Ne- have been about Sept. 6, 1814, two years h. July, 18, tion of Independence, but that they are also braska editors (by that time known as" Re- . Being all that the exigencies of the Van Buren, 'l'homas H. Benton of Missouri. after the date of the massacre at Fort ["o"ar- VTilIiam Stu, tember, 18!l6, has given the following ac- publican ") at the old Tremont House in the times demand, whether estimated as to abil- Gov.