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Posted on 10/12/2003 8:12:40 PM PDT by IYAAYAS
By Dan Tuohy Staff Writer
EXETER -- A teacher-turned-lawyer by the name of Amos Tuck, disgusted with his party for condoning slavery in the 19th century, first turned from a Democrat to an Independent Democrat.
And then, 150 years ago today at Major Blake's hotel in Exeter, Tuck set the foundation for what became the Republican Party.
The anniversary is marked by a somber note, coming two weeks after former Gov. Hugh Gregg died at 85. Besides being the caretaker of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary, Gregg successfully championed recognition for Exeter as the birthplace of the Republican Party.
Decades of research and lobbying led the Encyclopedia Britannica to honor Exeter's place in GOP history.
Despite the credits, Ripon, Wisc., continues to boast that it is the birthplace. It is a tourism attraction for that community's chamber of commerce, which greets thousands of visitors each year and sells souvenirs on its Web site.
"They can boast all they want, it doesn't change the facts," said Tracey McGrail, president of the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Republican Party gives credit to Exeter, Ripon, and Jackson, Mich. Before the New Hampshire Presidential Primary in 1996, several major Republican candidates, including former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, celebrated Exeter as the birthplace.
Tuck (1810-1879) was born in Parsonsfield, Maine, taught at Pembroke Academy, attended Dartmouth College, became an attorney, and served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and Congress.
Tuck was kicked out of the Democratic Party in 1843 for his opposition to slavery, according to Gregg's 1995 book, "Birth of the Republican Party," co-written by friend Georgi Hippauf.
Tuck and 13 other prominent New Hampshire leaders met on Oct. 12, 1853, to discuss the creation of a new party. There remains a question about the minutes of that meeting, which was secret, but Gregg believed the members kept it quiet because some of them at the time were seeking public office under the banner of different political parties. It was a conglomeration of Democrats, Whigs, Independent Democrats, and Free Soil Ticket members.
The 14 included David Currier of Auburn, a state lawmaker and deacon of the Central Congregational Church in Derry, and Daniel Homer Batchelder, a doctor from Londonderry.
As early as 1845, Tuck was calling meetings to discuss an independent movement.
In 1846, the movement led to the election of fellow abolitionist John P. Hale to the U.S. Senate and, in 1847, Tuck's election to Congress.
"From this period dates the Republican organization in the Granite State, though the name Republican was not adopted until the convention at Philadelphia (in 1856)," Tuck wrote in his autobiography. "The success in New Hampshire influenced the whole country."
Records of the early days of the party indicate several states, starting in early 1854, held conventions to form "Republican" committees.
Tuck himself defended Exeter as the birthplace to a group of Massachusetts Republicans commemorating their own "founding" of the Republican Party.
"You have no right, permit me to say, to write on the page of history that the Republican enterprise in this country began in 1848," he wrote in 1875. Tuck said New Hampshire leaders drafted a declaration of Republican principles as early as 1845.
Michael York, New Hampshire state librarian, said the recognition of Exeter is part of Gregg's long-standing legacy.
"Amos Tuck was an abolitionist and certainly a founding force of the Republican Party," York said. "He was just a pillar of morals."
New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner said the claims of Ripon or Jackson do little to sway the significance of the Oct. 12, 1853 meeting.
It was another in a series of historical political firsts in New Hampshire, long before the Granite State started the presidential election primary process in 1920.
"New Hampshire's political character and political tradition is rich," Gardner said. "We've played some pretty substantial roles in the way elections evolved in this country."
New Hampshire political writer Dan Tuohy may be contacted by phone at (603) 725-8022, or by e-mail at dtuohy@eagletribune.com.
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