Small green signs surrounding Jackson, Mich., declare the city as the "Birthplace of the Republican Party." But if it were up to the Republican National Committee, those signs would be removed.
According to Chairman of the Jackson Republican Party Hank Choate, the RNC removed Jackson's status as the birthplace of the Republican Party from its website.
The fact that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus received a framed map of Ripon, a small town of 7,000 in eastern Wisconsin, with the words
"Birthplace of the GOP" inscribed in brass on the front of the map has a few raising their eyebrows. It doesn't help that Priebus is the former head of the Republican Party in Wisconsin.
Nor does it help that Priebus was the keynote speaker at a Ripon Society dinner last Thursday. The conservative think tank takes its name, according to its website, from "the birthplace of the Republican Party."
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder begged to differ last Monday at the Jackson County GOP's 116th annual Lincoln Day Dinner. Snyder gave the keynote speech. In it, he said he corrected Wisconsin officials about the Republican Party's beginnings.
"It just seems like a pretty stupid thing to do at this point in time," sophomore Baillie Jones said. Jones, a Hillsdale College Republican, said there are bigger fish to fry.
According to Choate, the "Who We Are" section of the RNC's website mentioned both Jackson and Ripon as playing significant parts in the formation of the Republican Party. Ripon hosted an informal meeting in a schoolhouse where citizens, upset with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, came up with the name "Republican" for a new political movement.
However, Jackson has the unique distinction of holding the first official meeting of Republicans on July 6, 1854.
That history no longer exists on the RNC's website.
Instead, it states "Republicans became a national party in 1856 by nominating John C. Fremont for President."
Choate said Jackson's role in the history of Republican Party is not on the website, but should be back up soon.
"But the party is bigger than where the birthplace is," he said.
At least four other cities claim to be the birthplace of the Republican Party.
According to the Michigan Historical Center, the Republican Party was birthed "Under the Oaks" in Jackson when a state convention of anti-slavery men was held. So many people arrived for the convention that it was moved out of a hall to an oak grove called "Morgan's Forty."
Lola Peterson has been a Jackson County political activist since 1976.
She raised $40,000 to help establish "Under the Oaks" as a park. She's proud of Jackson's claim but said the Republican party shouldn't get involved in petty bickering over its birthplace.
"You will find that adults will get worked out of shape over things they shouldn't quite worry about," she said.
Republican County Commissioner Parke Hayes said he'll always consider Jackson to be the Republican Party's birthplace.
"In the eyes of a lot of people it'll always be Jackson County," Hayes said. "Will it make a big difference? Probably not. But as far as I'm concerned, it's Jackson."
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