Kitty Ball wins Charlie Norwood Scholarship

Catherine "Kitty" Ball won the first annual Charlie Norwood Scholarship at Lincoln County High School Awards Night. The West Point bound senior's essay on "How has the Republican Party changed and not changed since Abraham Lincoln" took top honors.

The following is her essay in it's entirety.

Abraham Lincoln, an attorney and wordsmith, crafted his words carefully. They have held up well over the past 150 years. He once said: "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." He also declared, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my view of democracy."

Although some Americans of today might be surprised, Mr. Lincoln was a member of the Republican Party. In addition, and what some of those same Americans of today might find even more interesting, the Republican Party principles in 1860 were not very different from those it espouses today! While our founding fathers believed in the two party system, initially our two major political parties were not the Democrats and Republicans. The Republican Party had its origins in the 1856 Presidential Election and came from the ashes of the then Whig party.

The mid-nineteenth century was a challenging time for our fledgling nation. While slavery would soon be a dead issue due to its lack of economic feasibility, it was not dead yet, and served as a lightning rod for controversy, particularly as far as admission of states into the union. At the beginning of the decade, the country was at equilibrium with its slave and free states. However, with the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1850, Americans understood that this equilibrium would be disturbed.

Under the leadership of men such as John Brown and David Atchison, people from both the South and the North flooded into Kansas in order to vote for the state's right to be free or slave. Interestingly enough, about 6300 votes were cast but only about 2900 men were registered voters. However, the result of the election was that Kansas voted itself a slave state. The violence that ensued during this period was referred to as "Bleeding Kansas". This bloodshed over slavery could be construed as a portent of things to come.

In 1854, the passage of the Kansas -Nebraska Act, in effect, opened the Louisiana Purchase to slavery. Particularly in the Northeast, this created much anger. On March 20, 1854, this anger catalyzed itself into political action and the birth of the Republican Party as formed by a coalition of Whigs, Free-Soilers, and anti-slavery Democrats meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin. Abraham Lincoln joined this party in 1856, and worked hard, if unsuccessfully, to elect its presidential candidate. For the election of 1856, the Democrats decided to run James Buchanan as their candidate. He had one major positive attribute- he had been abroad during President Pierce's administration and had no part in the debacle of "Bleeding Kansas". A third party, the "Know Nothings" ran Millard Fillmore in the 1856 election. This party was basically antiimmigration and anti-Catholic.

The newly minted Republican Party chose to run soldier, explorer and celebrity John C. Fremont for the presidency. "Free Soil, Free Speech and Fremont" was their motto. Strongly supported by men like Longfellow and Emerson, he had strong popular support and swept the New England and New York, amassing 114 votes in the Electoral College to Buchanan's 174. Overall, this was not a bad showing for a new political party, especially one desirous of major changes from the status quo.

James Buchanan, however, was a good man but totally out of his depth. He was unable to steer the nation safely through his presidency. By 1860, the seeds of the War Between the States had been sowed. The whirlwind was upon us.

The Republican National Convention of 1860 was held in Chicago. Senator William Seward of New York appeared to be the front-runner; he had a great outpouring of popular support upon his nomination. However, surprisingly to some, there was an even greater popular outcry for the lanky gentleman from Illinois, Abe Lincoln. By the third ballot, Mr. Lincoln had secured the nomination.

The Republican Party Platform of 1860 called for exclusion of slavery in territories and noninterference in slave states. It promised a homestead act to grant free land to settlers. It wanted to enact a tariff to protect developing American industry, improved mail and telegraph lines and railroad subsidies to link the country and improve economic opportunity by improving infrastructure. In short, the party wanted freedom, free land, and economic development and opportunity for the population. It was dead set against the expansion of slavery, or any compromise that would expand it.

Republicans were responsible for passing the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments (which made slavery illegal, granted equal protection for all Americans, and gave African Americans the right to vote, respectively). Shortly thereafter, Republicans played a major role in granting women the right to vote with the Nineteenth Amendment. Supporting these amendments was controversial and put many Republicans' offices on the line. Yet through the years, the Republican Party has been there for the American people, doing what is moral and right.

The 2004 Republican Party Platform is succinct:"Every day we strive to fulfill Lincoln's vision: a country united and free, in which all people are guaranteed equal rights and the opportunity to pursue their dreams. His legacy goes beyond the borders of America. It can be seen in free governments all over the world". The core issues remain mostly the same- ushering in an ownership economy, building an innovative economy to compete in the world market, protecting our families. Safety in 1860 was a different set of issues than it is today. Terrorism, today's risk, was an unknown in 1860- yet it is certainly comparable in many respects to the risks and dangers of the War Between the States.

Party issues and platforms are the same despite the passage of 150 years. The Republican Party still wants the development of fiscal policies that serve the people by fostering capitalism. It wants our country to have the economic opportunity to allow our nation to take its rightful place as a world economic leader. It wants to foster the development of policy and programs, such as education and health care that enable our workforce to take advantage of our economic potential. Finally, the Republican Party wants to fulfill that most basic of issues covered by the compact people make with government, maintaining the safety of our nation. The Republican party of yesterday and today are one for the people of the great United States of America.

The world of 2008 has definitely changed from Mr. Lincoln's time. While additions have been made to the Republican platform, including policies on technology, homeland security, national education, and the like, the basic principles have remained the same: to help the American people and to do what is right. While President George W. Bush might not wear President Lincoln's tall black hat, President Bush and the rest of the Republican Party today remain true to the values of the Lincoln's Republican Party of yesterday. The Republicans have continued to help the American people and fight for equality in all senses. "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it," Abe Lincoln once said. He will be pleased to know that today's Republicans are trying to live with this same philosophy.

(Paid for by the Lincoln County Republican Party)