Salmon Chase, Republican hero

Grand Old Partisan salutes Salmon Chase, one of the founders of the Republican Party, who died on this day in 1883.

Chase rose to prominence by serving as pro bono attorney for dozens of runaways, earning the sobriquet "Attorney General for Escaped Slaves."  In 1848, he helped organize the Free Soil Party, a precursor to the GOP, and was elected to the U.S. Senate the following year by a coalition of his party and anti-slavery Democrats.  Senator Chase thundered against the Fugitive Slave Act and other concessions to slave interests. 

In January 1854, Chase and another Free Soil Party senator, Charles Sumner, wrote the Appeal of the Independent Democrats, calling on Democrats to resist the pro-slavery policies of their leadership.  Published widely, the Appeal led most anti-slavery Democrats to abandon their party.

Failing to win reelection, because his Free Soil Party had faded away, Chase then helped organize the Republican Party and was elected Governor of Ohio in 1855.  Chase was a strong contender for the 1856 and 1860 Republican presidential nominations.

In 1861, Chase was elected to the U.S. Senate, but served only two days before resigning to become Secretary of the Treasury in the Lincoln administration.  Under his leadership, the U.S. Government financed the Civil War with minimal inflation.  It was the deeply religious Chase who placed the motto "In God We Trust" on the currency.

Many historians unfairly criticize Chase for vying for the 1864 Republican presidential nomination.  Far from some kind of fiendish plot, opposition by many Republicans to renominating Lincoln was normal politicking.  After all, a second term was against even Lincoln's previously stated principals, and every President since Van Buren had been denied another nomination.  Radical Republicans tended to favor Chase, who as a tremendously successful Treasury Secretary would actually have been a very good post-war Chief Executive.

Many historians also over-dramatize the prelude to President Lincoln's nomination of Salmon Chase, his political rival, as Chief Justice.  Lincoln, who never held a grudge, told friends he always intended to nominate Chase.  Upon receiving word of his nomination, the Senate confirmed him immediately and unanimously.  Chief Justice Chase's first act was to admit an African-American lawyer to practice before the Supreme Court.

BTW, for those wondering if Salmon Chase was named after a fish, see Matthew 1:4-5.

The way for Republicans to recover the political initiative is to draw upon the strength and clarity to be found in our Grand Old Party's heritage of civil rights achievement.

This article is adapted from the book Back to Basics for the Republican Party, the acclaimed history of the GOP cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country, showing office-holders, candidates and activists how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating our Party's heritage of civil rights achievement.  Each day, his Grand Old Partisan blog -- http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com -- celebrates 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.republicanbasics.com for more information.