Birth of the Republican Party July 6, 1854

American Minute with Bill Federer

A decade prior to the Civil War there were two major political parties in the United States:

Democrats, who favored freedom of choice to own slaves;

and Whigs, who tried to be a big tent party to stem the loss of members to the Know-Nothing Party.

In Ripon, Wisconsin, anti-slavery activists met for the first time on February 28, 1854, then held their first State Convention in Jackson, Michigan, JULY 6, 1854.

This new political party stood against slavery, taking a moral stand for the value of human life.

Also, because of a movement in Utah to redefine marriage, this new party stood for marriage being between one man and one woman.

They named their party “Republican,” with the chief plank being “to prohibit…those twin relics of barbarism: POLYGAMY AND SLAVERY.”

Those attempting to redefine marriage were denounced by Republican President Ulysses S. Grant, December 4, 1871:

“In Utah there still remains a remnant of barbarism, repugnant to civilization, to decency, and to the laws of the United States…

Neither polygamy nor any other violation of existing statutes will be permitted…

They will not be permitted to violate the laws under the cloak of religion.”

On December 7, 1875, President Grant stated:

“In nearly every annual message…I have called attention to the…scandalous condition of affairs existing in the Territory of Utah, and have asked for definite legislation to correct it.

That polygamy should exist in a free, enlightened, and Christian country, without the power to punish so flagrant a crime against decency and morality, seems preposterous…

As an institution polygamy should be banished from the land…

I deem of vital importance to….drive out licensed immorality, such as polygamy and the importation of women for illegitimate purposes.”

Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes stated, December 1, 1879:

“Polygamy is condemned as a crime by the laws of all civilized communities throughout the world.”

President Hayes stated December 6, 1880:

“The sanctity of marriage and the family relation are the corner stone of our American society and civilization.”

Republican President Chester Arthur stated, December 6, 1881:

“For many years the Executive…has urged the necessity of stringent legislation for the suppression of polygamy…this odious crime, so revolting to the moral and religious sense of Christendom.”

Supreme Court Chief Justice Morrison Waite, appointed by Republican Ulysses S. Grant, rendered the Murphy v. Ramsey, 1885, decision:

“Every person who has a husband or wife living…and marries another…is guilty of polygamy, and shall be punished…

No legislation can be supposed more wholesome and necessary in the founding of a free, self-governing commonwealth…than that which seeks to establish it on the basis of the idea of the family,

as consisting in and springing from the union for life of ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN in the holy estate of matrimony; the sure foundation of all that is stable and noble in our civilization;

the best guaranty of that reverent morality which is the source of all beneficent progress in social and political improvement.”

In the comprehensive annotated John Quincy Adams-A Bibliography, compiled by Lynn H. Parsons (Westport, CT, 1993, p. 41, entry#194), former President John Quincy Adams wrote in Essay on Turks, 1827:

“Mohammed poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy.”

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Field, appointed by Republican President Abraham Lincoln, rendered the Davis v. Beason, 1890, decision:

“Bigamy and polygamy are crimes by the laws of all civilized and Christian countries…

They…destroy the purity of the marriage relation…degrade woman and debase man…

There have been sects which denied…there should be any marriage tie, and advocated promiscuous intercourse of the sexes as prompted by the passions of its members…

Should a sect of either of these kinds ever find its way into this country, swift punishment would follow.”

Justice Stephen Field concluded:

“The constitutions of several States, in providing for religious freedom, have declared expressly that such freedom SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED TO EXCUSE ACTS OF LICENTIOUSNESS.”

Republican President Theodore Roosevelt stated to Congress, January 30, 1905:

“The institution of marriage is, of course, at the very foundation of our social organization, and all influences that affect that institution are of vital concern to the people of the whole country.”
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For an in depth comparison of Political Parties-Past & Present, visit: http://www.wnd.com/2012/06/obamacare-decision-todays-dred-scott

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s bookshere.

129 — May 08 – This Day in Baptist History Past

Southern Baptist Convention begins
For many years Baptists throughout America, without sectional distinctions, had cooperated in the work of missions. Gradual differences began to surface which were caused by cultural and geographical locations, but the matter came to a head with the issue of slavery. The period from 1832 to 1845 was a most difficult time of irritation, and finally in 1845, division came as the churches of the South concluded that they could best perform the work of missions by operating separately from the churches of the North.
In response to a call from the Board of the Virginia Foreign Baptist Missionary Society, a convention met in Augusta, Georgia, May 8, 1845.
Dr. William B. Johnson had been a prime mover in the establishment of the Triennial Convention and now championed the Southern Baptist Convention. In the May 8th meeting in Augusta, Johnson’s plan was adopted fully, and he was elected the first president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He served two terms in that capacity, from 1845 to 1851.

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 188 – 189
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125—May 04 – This Day in Baptist History Past

Slavery, an American Tragedy
The issue of slavery in America was doubtless the most divisive issue ever to confront our nation. The matter was many faceted, for it was surely a social and moral problem, but simultaneously it projected itself in the political, economic, and religious arenas as well.  Baptists in the South had initially grown among that portion of the population that was in the lower economic class, and these were surely non slave-holders. This accounts for the fact that the Baptists in the Southern states provided much of the opposition to slavery that existed.
Agitation among the Baptists was stimulated by the British brethren after the English Parliament passed legislation to eliminate slavery in the British West Indies. In 1835 British Baptists sent two “fraternal delegates” to the Triennial Convention which was held in Richmond, Virginia.
These brethren . . . were introduced also for the first time, to first-hand information concerning
the American number-one problem — slavery.  Dr. Cos, one of the British delegates, preached
in the First Church on the Sunday morning preceding the opening of the Triennial Convention.
On that afternoon he went again to the First Church, where he witnessed with amazement                               and emotion, the great numbers of colored worshipers present. As this group clasped hands and          sang, their bodies swaying in the rhythm of the music, the Englishman’s enthusiasm broke the     bounds of traditional British reserve. He asked permission to speak to them; he clasped their hands; he saw with his own eyes the over ruling Providence of God in using the channel of slavery to bring these sons and daughters of Africa the light of the gospel.
Step by step the pressures mounted to abolish slavery, and on May 4, 1843, Baptist abolitionists met in Tremont Chapel (Boston) to organize a mission society which would support both foreign and home missionaries and would be “separated from all connection with the known evils of slavery.” The die was cast, and Baptists, like all other Americans, would be divided and experience the terrible results of the Civil War.
Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 181-182
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118 — April 28 – This Day in Baptist History Past

Baptists split over Slavery
Before the break of the southern brethren to begin their own convention, some of the northern brethren met and formed the American Baptist Anti-Slavery Convention. It held its first session in New York City, beginning on April 28, 1840. The northern Baptists addressed their southern equivalents as follows: “It is our firm conviction that the whole system of American slavery, in theory and practice, is a violation of the instincts of nature, — a perversion of the first principle of justice, —and a positive transgression of the revealed will of God. . . . Thus we behold, in all the Scriptures a virtual and total condemnation of American slavery.”
After much maneuvering on the part of brethren from the North and South to affect some compromise, a test case was presented to the Home Society when a slaveholder was presented as a missionary candidate. The candidate was rejected, and this brought about the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. The schism would prove permanent, but even then fraternal relations were continued by some, and the phenomenon can only be explained by the commonality of faith.
Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 173
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115 – April 25 – This Day in Baptist History Past

An Exciting Missionary Adventure

The die was cast on April 25, 1844, when Richard Fuller, prominent pastor from Charleston, South Carolina, presented a resolution at the Triennial Convention to restrict its action to missions and not to become involved in the problem of slavery.  From 1814 until 1845, missionary efforts had been primarily made through the Triennial Convention, but in 1845 the split between North and South occurred.  However, Baptist associations in various states had formed small, independent mission agencies as well.  Richard Henry Stone, born in Culpeper county, Virginia on July 17, 1837, he was sent as a missionary by a Georgia association to serve the Lord in Africa.  He united with the Salem Baptist church in Culpeper County and answered the call of the Baptists in Georgia for a missionary to Africa, he and his wife Susan sailed out of Baltimore on November 4.  They were three months on the journey, and landed at Lagos.  They disciplined themselves to learn the Ijayte language, but with failing health, the couple was forced to return to the States.  Mr. Stone then joined the confederate army, and served as a chaplain with the 49th Georgia, Benning’s Brigade.  In 1867, with the completion of the war, Mr. Stone returned to Africa and Lagos for two years.  The last twenty years of Mr. Stone’s life were spent in Virginia and Kentucky where he supported his family by teaching.  Mr. stone died on October 7, 1894, and he was buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper.

Dr. Dale R. Hart adapted from:  This Day in Baptist History III (David L. Cummins) p.p.  239   –   241

15 – January 15 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Who is the real slave?

 

1838 – The British Baptist Union wrote to the ministers of the Baptist churches in the U.S. urging them to use their influence to bring about full emancipation. The practice of slavery had been introduced into Virginia in 1619 and was, at first, resisted by the southern colonies. However in time, the tragedy of slavery became the most divisive issue ever to face our nation. Baptist leaders divided severely on the matter. J.H. Hinton, chairman, wrote: “We have not been ignorant that slavery existed in the States, entailed, we are humbled and ashamed to acknowledge, by British influence, authority and example. But we had, until of late, no conception of the extent to which multitudes of professing Christians in your land, by indifference, by connivance, by apology, or by actual participation are implicated in it.” Isaac Backus, who became famous as a Baptist pastor and historian, was raised in the Standing Order of New England (state church). Yet the family owned a slave and an Indian girl apprenticed as a servant. The famed diary of Backus reported the death of a slave of one of the members of the church in Middleborough, Massachusetts in the mid-eighteenth century. Two things were involved in shifting the slave population to the South. The cold winters made slavery unprofitable and the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made the institution of slavery to be profitably utilized. But we must ever remember that Jesus told us who the real slave is: He said “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. He also said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 20-21.

 

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140 — May 20 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

From Man’s Slave to God’s Free Bondman

 

George Leile was born a slave on a plantation in Virginia around 1750. He would later belong to a Baptist deacon in Georgia. After his dramatic conversion to Christianity in 1773, Leile was set free to become a traveling preacher. Ordained May 20, 1775, Leile is recognized as the first ordained black Baptist pastor in Georgia. In Savannah, he founded the first “African Baptist” church in North America, which is still in existence today.

 

After George’s master Henry Sharpe’s death in the war in 1778, George and his family moved to British occupied Savannah to avoid re-enslavement.  It was in Savannah that George Liele, alongside David George and Andrew Bryan, built a lasting congregation of black Baptists both slave and free. Their place of worship was initially a barn that was given to them by Jonathan Bryan, the master of Andrew Bryan.  The fruit of Liele’s ministry was being multiplied through Andrew Bryan as an upcoming leader in the church.  On January 20th, 1788, this black congregation was officially constituted a Baptist Church by Abraham Marshall under Pastor Bryan.  The church was initially named the First Bryan Baptist Church with a total of eighty members that grew to two hundred and fifty by 1792.  In 1794, the church built a frame structure on land they had purchased the year before. By 1802 the church had grown to over 700 members, changed its name to the First African Baptist Church, started the Second African Baptist Church, and in 1803 started the Ogeechee (Third) Baptist Church.

 

The English Baptist William Carey is commonly known as the “Father of the Modern Missions Movement,” but George Leile predated him by a decade. In 1783, Leile left his homeland and went to Jamaica, where he started the first Baptist church on the island.

 

Because of the influence of George Liele, the Englishmen William Knibb and Thomas Burchell returned to England to campaign to end slavery in Jamaica.  Although William Wilberforce had successfully convinced the English parliament to abolish the slave trade in 1807, they did not outlaw slavery itself.  It was not until 1833 that Parliament passed a law requiring all slaves in the entire British Commonwealth to be given their freedom. The last day of slavery for the British Empire was set to be July 31st 1838.  Liele did not live to see that day, as he died in 1828, but his influence continued to empower freedom.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I. (Thompson/Cummins) pp. 206 -207

 

 

95 –April 05 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

The Aristocrat, by Christ Apprehended, Served Humbly

The preacher who bought back his slaves and resettled them in the North

On April 5 1878 – Was the death of Dr. William H. Brisbane, who truly was the salt of the earth in that he influenced the society in which he lived by humbly and conscientiously dedicating himself to the cause of truth and righteousness.

At age fifteen he was sent to a military school at Middletown, Connecticut, from which he graduated with honors at the age of nineteen. Shortly after graduating, he was converted to Christ, and immediately he felt it his duty to preach the gospel. His fine culture and attainments and his dedication to the work placed him in the front ranks of the Baptist ministry of the South.

Because he was a large slaveholder, the subject of slavery had taken a deep and absorbing hold upon his mind early in his life. He struggled with this question honestly and prayerfully over a period of years, and he finally concluded that slavery was morally and spiritually wrong. Because he was a man of principle, Brisbane wanted to rectify his wrongdoing as a slaveholder justly and with compassion. He expended some of his wealth and purchased some land in Ohio, and after purchasing back some former slaves that he had sold, he went to Ohio and settled them in their new homes, supplying them abundantly with their immediate needs. Dr. Brisbane then became a resident of Cincinnati, where he labored with renewed vigor in the work of the ministry.

Brisbane later moved to Wisconsin where he preached the gospel for twenty-five years. In declining age, he was known widely as a friend and champion of every good cause.

Dr. Dale R. Hart:  Adapted  from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 139-140.

 

353 – Dec. 19 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

His young widow continued their faithful ministry
December 19, 1902 – Marilla Ingalls was buried at Thongze, Burma where she had given over fifty years of fruitful, loving ministry. Marilla was the second wife of Rev. Lovell Ingalls whose first wife died as they served in Burma and went with him as he returned to Burma to face the hostile conditions of that country as well as the disappointments of lack of support from the churches at home. Because of the separation of the churches of the North and South over the slavery issue, finances were scarce, thus affecting the ministry in Burma. Lovell Ingalls sent a letter to his mission, “Tell the churches that the missionaries cannot endure what they put upon them. We must come, and build houses and chapels without funds, and beg money, and the churches at home, and every member, and every preacher of the gospel are as much bound to give the gospel to every nation as we are. And God will hold them responsible in that great day.” After 19 years of ministry, Ingalls died at sea between Calcutta and Rangoon. His young widow continued their faithful ministry for forty-six more years. She had returned to the small jungle village of Thongze after returning to America to bring her husband’s daughter home for education. There she began the work of her life. Over one hundred Buddhist priests, the most difficult class in Burma to reach, became the humble followers of the despised Jesus. To the sick and suffering, she has been a doctor and a nurse; to the wronged and oppressed, both lawyer and judge; to pastor and preacher, the faithful theological professor. She left a strong native church, a Christian school, and Christian homes from which earnest pastors and preachers, evangelists and teachers, went out and spread the good tidings of salvation.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 529-31.

319 – Nov. 15 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

“…whatever be the consequences, I will speak.”

November 15, 1845 – Jacob Knibb, died after only four days of illness with the yellow fever. Over 8,000 assembled on the Island of Jamaica for the memorial service, because Knibb, known as “the lion-hearted” and having been exposed to the severest trials, had been the major instrument to bring spiritual and bodily liberty to the slaves. Opposition to knibb had come from the Roman and English clergy, the planters, the civil authorities and the soldiers. Knibb bravely met and conquered all his adversaries. Upon his departure from Bristol, England, his invalid mother sat at a window early one morning, watching her Baptist missionary son depart for the West Indies. Having bade farewell, she called him back and said, “Remember, William, I would rather hear that you perished at sea, than that you had disgraced the cause you go to serve.” With this admonition ringing in his heart, he arrived in Jamaica and was brought face to face with the horrors of slavery. His whole manhood revolted and he vowed that he would not rest until freedom was obtained. He wrote home, “The cursed blast of slavery has, like a pestilence, withered almost every moral bloom…” He also reported that the prayer meeting at 6 am every Wednesday. morning was attended by nearly a 1,000 slaves. Knibb was thrown into prison and was charged with inciting the slaves to rebellion. He declined to leave the island, though a way of escape was offered him. At last the Attorney General declared that there was no case against him. He returned to England on a holy crusade only to find that the missionary committee regarded slavery as a political question and required their representatives to remain silent on the subject. Knibb responded. “…whatever be the consequences, I will speak.” And speak he did. On July 31, 1838, 14,000 adult slaves and 5,000 children were liberated.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins /Thompson/, pp. 475-76.