Beschreibung:

GREELEY, Horace (1811-1872), founder and editor of The New York Tribune. Autograph draft proclamation (unsigned), addressed to "the people of the state of New York," with deletions and corrections. No date [prior to July 1854]. Two sheets of foolscap paper, 12½ and 18 x 5½ in., with an added segment of later date boldly titled at top left: "Founding of the Republican Party...." The document had been folded into some 16 segments, with fraying and occasional small losses. Unexamined out of frame.
GREELEY, Horace (1811-1872), founder and editor of The New York Tribune. Autograph draft proclamation (unsigned), addressed to "the people of the state of New York," with deletions and corrections. No date [prior to July 1854]. Two sheets of foolscap paper, 12½ and 18 x 5½ in., with an added segment of later date boldly titled at top left: "Founding of the Republican Party...." The document had been folded into some 16 segments, with fraying and occasional small losses. Unexamined out of frame. THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY: HORACE GREELEY CALLS FOR A STATE CONVENTION TO OPPOSE THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act by Congress in May 1854 powerfully aroused and catalyzed anti-slavery forces across the nation. Assemblies and mass meetings were organized in many states to call for the repeal of the Act. Greeley wholeheartedly endorsed these protests, and is sometimes credited with naming the new movement. Later his Tribune became the unofficial organ of the party. The newly evolved party drew its membership from former Whigs, the Liberty Party, Democratic Free-Soilers, and other groups. Here, Greeley calls for a convention to meet at Syracuse on Wednesday 12 July; in the end the convention was moved to Saratoga and held on 16 August 1854. All but 3 of New York's 49 counties sent delegates to what has been termed the first statewide convention of the embryonic Republican Party. At Saratoga, Greeley chaired the committee on resolutions. Greeley writes: "The passage by Congress of the act organizing the new territories of Missouri and Kansas , involving the repeal...of the Missouri Compromise ...marks an era in the history of our country. That act was passed in defiance...of the Legislature of our state...her Senators and of a very large majority of her members of the House..." Those delegates, he contends, "voted in accordance with the earnest wishes of their constituents and of the great body of our people." In fact, "had the whole state been polled, a year ago," a majority would have called for repeal. "...So important an act, striking down compacts and guarantees, which had been understood...as fundamental and invariable, ought to be considered by the people of our State, and of the other Free States, for "there is danger...in "divisions, rivalries and cross-purposes," and certain delegates may not fully and vividly represent and embody the ardent wish of our people "concerning "the injury done to the cause of Equal Rights and the dishonor reflected on the American republic...." "We therefore...request that the Electors of each County...who disapprove of the repudiation of the Missouri Compromise ...without distinction of party assemble at the court house of their several Counties on the first Saturday in July next, then and there to give attendance to their convictions on this subject, and to select delegates...to the Assembly...at Syracuse on Wednesday the 12th of July, to take such action on the subject as shall be deemed timely and requisite...." For details of Greeley's important role in the founding of the Republican Party, see J. Isely, Horace Greeley and the Republican Party , 1965, Chapter 3. (2)