Jackson — This city has not had much to hang its hat on historically.
At the top of that a short list is that Jackson is the birthplace to the political party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan—the Republican Party.
Perhaps that’s why, over the decades, city officials and newspaper editors clung so tightly to that long-disputed claim of being the “birthplace of the Republic Party.”
It’s a dispute that began almost as soon as the claim was made, as far back as 1858. That’s when U.S. Congressman William A. Howard, who was from Jackson, touted his city as the birthplace of the GOP.
“Under the Oaks”—which is now a park in Jackson—is recognized by the Michigan Historic District as the site where on July 6, 1854, the first Republican convention was held, Republican candidates were selected, “and the Republican party was born.”
For years, Jackson put that claim on signs at the city limits. Then Gov. John Engler came to Jackson on July 3, 1994, for the unveiling of a sign making the birthplace claim. In 2018, the city’s tourism organization introduced a new mascot named Jack, who is an elephant—the symbol of the GOP—as a nod to its historical birthright.
But over the past 170-plus years, there have been several other communities claiming to be the “birthplace of the Republican Party,” including Exeter, New Hampshire; Crawfordsville, Iowa; Strong, Maine; Allen, New York; and Ripon, Wisconsin.
The most serious challenger to Jackson’s claim is Ripon, Wisconsin.
While Jackson has its “Under the Oaks” monument, Ripon counters with “The Little White Schoolhouse.”
On March 20, 1854—about three months before the state convention held “Under the Oaks”—there was a meeting that “led to the formation of the Republican Party,” according to the nonprofit The Little White Schoolhouse. “Birthplace of the Republican Party” is inscribed on the building.
At this March 20 meeting, Ripon resident Alvan Bovay—a teacher, lawyer, and political activist—is credited with coming up with the name “Republican” for the new party.
“We acknowledge Jackson as the first Republican State convention,” said Ellen Sorensen, who has been an official with Ripon’s League of Women Voters as well with the Ripon Chamber of Commerce. “However, Republicans had to begin at a local level in order for them to coalesce at a state convention.”
Ripon also acknowledges the city of Jackson’s role on the official website of the Little White Schoolhouse.
It says, “A meeting in this simple, one story clapboard and frame schoolhouse on March 20, 1854, and another in Jackson, Michigan, on July 6, to protest passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which permitted the extension of slavery beyond the limits of the Missouri Compromise, drew dissatisfied Whigs, Free Soilers, and Democrats. These meetings were the first of those that led to the formation of the Republican Party.”
Now, did the people who came to “Under the Oaks” just pick up the baton from the Ripon activists? Were they even aware of the Ripon meeting? That’s almost impossible to know so many years later during a time where there was no reliable media and precious few documents.
As others have pointed out, there’s a difference between a local meeting in Ripon and the statewide convention in Jackson. Perhaps this dispute could be resolved by sharing the title: Could Ripon and Jackson both be the birthplace of the GOP?
Jack McHugh, a former legislative analyst with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said a gathering in Wisconsin can lay claim to having the idea of a Republican party, which he characterized as “a gleam in the eye.”
But he suggests it was in Jackson where the idealistic vision became concrete proposal, documented and forwarded with consequences that arguably have defined an important component of American democracy ever since.
Russell Blake, a professor of history at Ripon College, said the fog of history makes it really hard to name an undisputed birthplace of the GOP.
“My own view of this is that the really important thing here historically is that the Republican Party started in lots of smaller communities like Ripon, Wisconsin,” Blake said in a video put out by the city. “Whether Ripon was absolutely the first is really hard to tell for sure.”
“We were certainly one of the first, if not the first place, to do it,” Blake said. “But the really important thing is that, starting in the spring of 1854, you had meetings going on across the North so that, by the summer of 1854, you had state committees already formed, and so, by 1855, you had national candidates.”
“This party started really quickly from the grass roots,” Blake added.
In the end, where you plant your flag on this issue of the true birthplace of the Republican Party depends on if you want to give Ripon credit for the concept or Jackson for selecting the first statewide slate of GOP politicians for office.
Tom Gantert is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
