The Birth Pains of the Republican Party
Last updated 1 March 2019
This information is from an essay written by Dr. Clyde Allison Boice of Washington, Iowa. There is no date on the document.
Dr. Boice was born 6 April 1877 and died 6 August 1965. This document was transcribed by J. L. Breen. There is a link at the bottom of the page
to Crawfordsville history.
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A meeting at Crawfordsville, Iowa, the evening of March 28, 1854, was the first of record, which started the movement for an anti-slavery party. It was to be called "Republican”. No record was kept of those present, but we can name a few of them.
CLYDE A. BOICE, M. D.
Washington, Iowa
WHERE THE NEW PARTY WAS FORMED
(Convention in the Old U. P. Church, the birth of the Republican Party in the State. Interesting recollections of prominent people 61 years ago, by Miss Sarah Crawford.)Mr. Rankin had two men at one time at work in his brick kiln and had them some time before he found out they were enemies and spies. One night of a big snow storm, Marion Neal and Perry concluded to try a new cure for chilblains and corns. They walked from where Marion now lives down to Frank Strains barefoot. The next day there was a great commotion; all believing these were the footprints of a man and woman - slaves fleeing for freedom. They kept quiet and only now is the mystery solved.
One night I remember distinctly, we were all helping to clothe warmly thirteen to be driven by Walker Rankin and my brother, James, to Col. Bailey's. There were not sufficient wraps and Mrs. Rankin told me that I would have to bring my new shawl (dear to my heart) that the boys would bring it back but it was forgotten by them. You may know I never forgot that.
In 1854 was a year of great discussion and agitation. A new party must be formed --something more radical and definite, to put the question of slavery before the masses. We being related to Russell, I heard a great deal of talk on the subject. They were free-soilers; also Prof. Samuel Howe of Mount Pleasant and son, Oscar, held the same ideas. They were the greatest educators of our State at the time and were running a paper, I think the Observer, and for many years were in the thick of the fight. Afterwards Oscar was for many years a prominent teacher in New York City. In March I think a big convention was held in the old Seceder Church, now known as the U. P. Church and they came from far and near. The Howe’s were among the prominent agitators as well as S. E. Rankin and Russell, who many yet will remember, was brainy, brawny, alert, and quick, vindictive and witty. 'When a boy he read law in Edward M. Stanton’s office, he who afterwards became Lincoln's stalwart grim Secretary of War. He stumped the State of Ohio at the age of 19 years for Gen. Harrison. He had some peculiarities which made him noteworthy and to this day when the old crowd gets together his invections and witticisms are talked over and laughed over, and the one who can tell the most of them is the best fellow. One of his great hits was a debate with Henry Clay Dean in Fremont’s campaign. Russell related a dream of meeting him near the Pearly Gates. Those knowing Dean knew it was a dream, as he was never near anything so clean. Though brilliant he too had his peculiarities.
Russell was afterward Captain of Company I of the 25th Iowa. S. E. Rankin was a fine Christian gentleman, a lawyer of ability and a major in the Army. He and Russell often went to the supper table laughing at the event.
I am sure that my grandfather, W. P. Crawford, and my great grandfather, Andrew McKay, were at the Meeting.
The Howe’s were becoming prominent and bitter antagonists to slavery. They were strenuous in the belief of a new United party to remove one of the dark spots from Old Glory. They with our townsmen determined to call a convention in this place, and sometime in midwinter the clan gathered from far and near. A committee was appointed to draft resolutions, etc., and Oscar Howe, the bright intrepid young man, was made chairman and was sent over to Rankin’s parlor. I was sent to attend the fire and carry a pitcher of water, and I remember how young Howe asked me how we kept the colored people. I also remember we had a serious time getting home, for all the delegates Squire Moorehead, Joe and Mrs. Robert Young’s father, was a liberal entertainer, also a man of brains and afterward a member of our legislature and took part in the convention. Also John Crawford, who built our railroad, assisted in many ways. Mr. Rankin, Mrs. Mary Walker's father and S. E., were royal entertainers. A great interest was manifested by many others. They fought long and well, staying nearly the whole night in the church till all was finished and great was the applause.
Then there was the beginning of a bold front to the enemy of slavery, and the child was born which became master.
The following was prepared at my request by Doctor Ruth A Gallaher, Iowa City, Iowa: State Historical Society.
I am unable to locate much information concerning the paper named Observer. According to Velma Critz Stout's manuscript thesis on "Beginning of Iowa Journalism", a paper called the Iowa Freemen was started at Fort Madison late in 1847 or early in 1848. It was, she says, the first abolition paper west of the Mississippi. In March or April, 1848, the paper was moved to Mount Pleasant where Samuel L. Howe became a stockholder and joint editor. In 1849 the paper was renamed the Iowa Free Democrat and in 1850 it was called the Iowa True Democrat. At this time Howe was the editor and G. G. Galloway publisher. Mrs. Stout says the end of this paper is not known. There is a reference to it, however, in the Chicago Journal, June 13, 1854.
Howe’s son, W. P. Howe, says that his father published this paper for more than ten years -- Annals of Iowa (Third Series) Vol. I, pp. 570, 571. The History of Henry County, Iowa, (Western Historical Company, 1879) says that the Mount Pleasant Journal, then being published, originally appeared in 1856 as the Observer under the direction of G. G. Galloway. The Historical Department of Des Moines has, I believe, some scattered copies of the Iowa Free Democrat, but none later than 1852. We have no Iowa paper for 1854 and none of this paper.
The study of the convention at Crawfordsville is not entirely clear and it appears that some of the inconsistencies can be cleared up only by consulting some of the Iowa newspapers of 1854. None of them are in this library.
According to Fairall’s Manual of Iowa Politics, the Democrats held their State Convention at Iowa City on January 9, 1854, and nominated Curtis Bates for Governor, G. W. McCleary for Secretary of State, J. L. Sharp for Auditor of State, Martin L. Morris for State Treasurer, D. C. Cloud for Attorney General, and James D. Eads for Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Whig State Convention met at Iowa City on February 22, 1854, and nominated James W. Grimes for Governor, Simeon Winters (probably Simeon Waters) for Secretary of State, A. J. Stephens for Auditor, Eliphalit Price for Treasurer, and James W. Sennett for Attorney General.
F. I. Herriot in his James W. Grimes Versus the Southrons in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XV, pp. 326, 327, says that three of the candidates of the Whig party refused to run, Simeon Waters, nominee for Secretary of State; E. Price, nominee for State Treasurer; and George Shedd, nominee for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Realizing the seriousness of the situation Grimes and his workers negotiated an alliance with the Free-soilers when the “1atter met at Crawfordsville… on March 28 to nominate a state ticket”. George F. Magoun, however, persuaded them to endorse Grimes.
Theodore C. Smith, in his The Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest, says of the campaign: “The Free Democrats early put into the field Simeon Waters as their candidate for Governor. Hence the Free Democratic leaders, at Whig suggestions, called a State Convention at Crawfordsville to decide on the proper course. On March 28 long after deliveration [deliberation], it was resolved that the best way to rebuke the Nebraska swindle was to vote for Grimes.”
It seems clear, therefore, that the Crawfordsville meeting was on March 28, 1854, and that it was a combination of abolition or anti-slavery groups which agreed to support Grimes, but it did not pretend to form a new party. The elements were there but not a party.
I have not been able to find out when and by whom Simeon Waters had been nominated for Governor, nor why he, Eliphalit Price, and Dr. Shedd refused to run on the Whig ticket. Democrats were elected to all the offices for which these men had been nominated. They were anti-slavery, and The Whig party had now become anti-slavery so far as its candidate for Governor was concerned.
On March 29, 1854, the day after the meeting at Crawfordsville, Alvin E. Bovay of Ripon, Wisconsin, wrote to the New York Tribune urging Horace Greeley to promote the name "Republican Party” for a new party which would include several anti-slavery groups. The name was first actually adopted at a convention at Jackson, Michigan, on July 6, 1854.
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Crawfordsville: Birthplace of the Republican Party
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