The Formation of the Ohio Republican Party
Those that do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. And the ORP seems hell bent on repeating history.
THE WHIGS
Before there was a Republican party in Ohio’s two-party system, there was the Whig party. While there is still a Democrat Party alive and well in Ohio, the Whig party is no more. What happened? How did a major party become irrelevant and cease to exist?
Most historians will use a blanket statement that “Northern Whigs were against Slavery and Southern Whigs were for slavery - and that split the party allowed for the formation of the “Know-Nothing Party” and the “Republican Party.” In asking why voters deserted the Whig Party at the state level, instead of why the national Whig organization disappeared and why the Republican coalition emerged, it becomes apparent that there is a much more nuanced answer especially in the State of Ohio.
DOUBLE-TALK, SLAVERY, AND THE SWAMP
As late as 1848 Whigs and Democrats were able to run different presidential campaigns in both sections of the country, opposing slavery in the North, and supporting it in the South. This double talk by leaders in the Whig party created distrust among Whig loyalists in Ohio where they believed they would realize real reforms. Because of the era - it took a long time for word of mouth and the news of the day to reach Ohio. Whigs did discover the difference between what candidates said in the North and what they would say in the South this started fracturing the party. The Whigs suffered massive defections to new political organizations in 1854 and 1855, and by 1856 the Republican Party dominated Northern politics.
However, the slavery issue alone did not account for voter shifts in Ohio. Crucial to the demise of Ohio Whiggery was a state-wide hostility toward the two-party political system as it existed in the 1850s. In the early 1850s party discipline was disintegrating among both Whigs and Democrats. In 1851 and 1852 a "Citizens" or "People's" ticket replaced the Whig organization in Cleveland, while in 1853 four parties ran candidates in the Cincinnati municipal election.
Many rank and file voters lost faith in their organizations because they believed the parties to be unresponsive, corrupt, and boss-controlled.
According to Charles Reemelin, a leading Cincinnati Democrat who later joined the Republican Party, as early as 1851 voters in his area were dissatisfied with "pay-to-play schemes and party appointments" parties, more interested in "personal gain" than what "ought to be done." The Whigs apparently were in only slightly better shape as the sentiment of the day was that party leaders worked in their own self-interest and engineered outcomeS that they personally benefitted from.
In February 1852, Joseph M. Root of Sandusky reported to Congressman Joshua Reed Giddings that, although the Democratically controlled Ohio General Assembly was "an aggregation of imbecility and presumption”, "state Whigs were in no condition "to take advantage" of the situation. Anti-party sentiment continued to gain strength in Ohio as editors and others joined in the chorus of discontent. In August of 1853,
James A. Briggs, a leading Cleveland Whig, and correspondent for the Columbus Ohio State Journal reported that in Cuyahoga County "the political cauldron" had started to boil, and "party ties" were loosening. "Party," decried Briggs, was a "despot" and the time had arrived for men to abandon party considerations and "fuse together" on behalf of the people to promote "their own interests." Writing in early 1853, the editors of the Cincinnati Daily Unionist, an independent labor paper, echoed the views of Briggs, charging that "party is the great State evil of the times because the interests of the country are sacrificed to the schemes of cliques and partisan objects." "The settled idea of politicians," continued the editors, was to "provide offices for their use" and to treat elections as "a kind of lottery in which prizes are determined."
Although anti-party feeling existed since the advent of the two-party system, it has been more widespread and influential at some times than at others.
Such was the case in Ohio during the 1850s, and this hostility to established parties and their leaders did much to prevent the Whigs from exploiting the antislavery extension sentiment. Because the people were angry with old officeholders and party leaders, they refused to turn to them and sought to express their hopes and fears through new organizations. The emerging Republican coalition in Ohio recognized this and cogently used the labels "Fusion" movement, "People's Ticket," "Independent," "American," "Republican," and "People's Republican" ticket in 1854 and 1855.
The newly formed Ohio Republican Party’s platform was highly important in defining what it stood for and bringing Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats into the fold. This type of platform is an unrecognizable platform of today’s Republican parties.
OHIO REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 1855
1. Resolved, That the people, who constitute the supreme power in the United States, should guard with jealous care the rights of the several States, as independent governments. No encroachment upon their legislative or judicial prerogatives should be permitted from any quarter.
2. Resolved, That the people of the State of Ohio, mindful of the blessings conferred upon them by the Ordinance of Freedom, whose anniversary our convention this day commemorates, have established for their political guidance, the following cardinal rules:
I. We will resist the spread of slavery under whatever shape or color it may be attempted.
II. To this end we will labor assiduously to render inoperative and void that portion of the Kansas and Nebraska bill which abolishes freedom in the territory withdrawn from the influence of slavery by the Missouri Compromise of 1820; and we will oppose, by every lawful and constitutional means, the existence of slavery in any National Territory, and the further increase of slave territory or slave States in this Republican Confederacy.
3. Resolved, That the recent acts of violence and civil war in Kansas, incited by the late acting Vice President of the United States, and tacitly encouraged by the Executive, demand the emphatic condemnation of every citizen.
4. Resolved, That a proper retrenchment in all public expenditures, a thoroughly economical administration of our State government, a just and equal basis of taxation and single districts for the election of members of the Legislature, are reforms called for by a wise State policy and justly demanded by the people.
5. Resolved, That a State Central Committee ..consisting of five be appointed by this Convention, and that said committee, in addition to its usual duties, be authorized to correspond with committees of other States for the purpose of agreeing upon a time and place for holding a National Convention of the Republican party, for the nomination of President and Vice President.
THAT IS RIGHT! A purpose-driven platform of just five items!
GLOOM LURKS OVER THE CURRENT ORP
Everything that has happened before will happen again - because ORP leaders refuse to learn from history. Party leaders are getting too big for their britches. Their scandals and their schemes are driving anti-swamp sentiment. The actions of the chairman of the ORP in recent weeks have illustrated quite convincingly that he is unconcerned with ethics, transparency, and engagement with the Ohio Republican voter. The Ohio Republican looks more like the Whig party of yesteryear rather than the reform-minded party bent on uniting conservatives and expressing American values of limited government and preserving State Sovereignty.
This organization is devoted to returning the Ohio Republican party back to a party of unity, pride, and integrity. We should aspire to be more than a marketing organization that slings mud to install the next special interest governor.
The crack in the armor for the Whigs was slavery and their lack of responsiveness and engagement further fueled their demise.
A MALCONTENT CAUCUS
Those that disagree with the establishment have been characterized as “malcontents” and that could be a fitting name for a reform caucus within the party. “THE CAUCUS OF MALCONTENTS” has a great ring to it. There are already the winds of change swirling around a platform for the malcontents and a focused platform could be developed quite easily to somewhat mirror the simplicity of the 1855 Platform of only five items that need to be focused on.
Reform of the Ohio Republican Party with the PROMISE TO OHIO.
Ending indoctrination in Ohio Education (getting rid of CRT, Common Core, SEL, identity recognition, and liberal/socialist indoctrination - so we have a future. Vouchers for parents to have a better choice of schools).
Healthcare Freedom (no abortion, no lockdowns, no mask mandates, no vaccine mandates).
Better Law Enforcement (end human trafficking and opioid trafficking)
Limited Government (Lower taxes and fewer laws and regulations)
The ORP has refused to focus the efforts of its candidates in giving them guidance through a platform of policies of what they are supposed to focus on when elected. They provide no organization and tell everyone to go do their own thing.
AS A PARTY WE DO NOT JUST WIN ELECTIONS. WE SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE STATE AND THE NATION. HAVING NO PLAN MEANS HAVING NO FUTURE.
Let’s support those future leaders that identify as a “Malcontent” and as “Republican” and we should only support members for the State Central Committee that will take the PROMISE TO OHIO. Let’s re-engage as malcontents that are unhappy with the direction Ohio is headed.
Thank you. You're dead on. Andrea Helfrich of the Central Committee accused me of being a Soros backed democratic operatives trying to infiltrate the ORP. She and her kind refuse to understand Conservative voters are done with their schemes and scandals. We're taking our Party back.