OPINION:
“Liberty at Stake” tells the story of Joshua Glover and the connection to the groundbreaking gathering of Republicans in Ripon, Wisconsin. The mini-documentary will be featured at the RNC Film Festival in the Miller High Life Theatre on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
In 1852, Joshua Glover was a fugitive slave who fled and sought asylum in Racine, Wisconsin. Two years later, slave owner Benammi Garland invoked the Fugitive Slave Act to recapture Glover and return him to Missouri. He was aided by the police in his home jurisdiction.
On the night of March 10, 1954, Glover was seized in his cabin by Garland, a federal marshal and a group of other men. They threw him in the back of a wagon and took him to jail in Milwaukee.
Word spread through Racine. A telegram was sent to the editor of the Wisconsin Freeman and Wisconsin Free Democrat newspapers at the time. Side note: The Waukesha Freeman, which was founded in that same era, still serves the county I live in today. It, too, was founded on anti-slavery and pro-abolitionist views.
The editor of the newspaper rode around Milwaukee on horseback to spread the news and called on “all freemen who are opposed to being made slaves or slave catchers” to come to the courthouse in protest. Thousands gathered, and some tried to arrest the federal marshal for assault and battery. When they resisted, the angry crowd broke down the door to the jail and dragged Glover to the streets — and eventually to safety in Waukesha.
Wisconsin was filled with people opposed to slavery at the time. The church where my father was a pastor in Delavan held the first anti-slavery meeting in the state. Religious leaders across Wisconsin helped former slaves like Glover make their way to safety in Canada.
In 1854, newspaper editors around the state wrote in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska legislation. They opposed slavery and fought hard to keep it from expanding into the territories.
Visitors to Milwaukee this week will find the story of Joshua Glover and how people from Wisconsin took matters into their own hands to free him from jail of great interest. Artwork depicts the story along the freeway ramp to and from the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. There is a historical marker in Cathedral Square across from the old jail site. There are also displays at several museums in town.
Tensions had been building for some time in the North in the 1850s. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which opened the Kansas and Nebraska territories to slavery, was supported by Southern Democrats. The first meeting of those opposed to the expansion of slavery was held on March 20, 1854, at a little white schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. Lawyer Alvan E. Bovay led a group of party representatives who took a stand against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. They suggested the formation of a new party and eventually called themselves Republicans.
According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, “A convention to organize the new party was held in Madison, Wisconsin in July of 1854. The members resolved, ‘That we accept this issue, forced upon us by the slave power, and in the defense of freedom will cooperate and be known as Republicans.’” They went on to note that the “Wisconsin Republican Party was dominated by former Whigs. They played down their backgrounds to concentrate solely on the issue of slavery. It was the one issue all Republicans could agree on.”
In November of that year, Wisconsin Republicans captured a majority in the state Legislature, and the first Republican to the U.S. Senate was elected, Charles H. Durkee. Soon after, they elected a Republican governor.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court eventually declared the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional, saying it was “a wicked and cruel enactment.” The federal government challenged the ruling, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court again ruled it to be unconstitutional.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the Republican nominee for president. He was the first Republican to hold that office. His leadership held the country together through the Civil War, freed the slaves in the rebellious states through the Emancipation Proclamation, and pushed Republicans in Congress to pass the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution that freed former slaves, gave them property rights and allowed them to vote.
Those visiting Milwaukee and Wisconsin can be proud of the story of how people in the region helped to free Joshua Glover and then set out to form a new party truly devoted to freedom: the Republican Party.
All of that is in the interesting new documentary “Liberty at Stake.” Conventiongoers should see it on Monday at the Miller High Life Theatre. All others should look for it to be released online. It is the kind of history we should share with young people today.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019.
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