Under the Oaks

On July 6, 1854, a state convention of anti-slavery men met in Jackson to found a new political party. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had been published two years earlier, increasing resentment against slavery, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of May 1854 threatened to turn previously free territories into slave states. Because the day was hot and the large crowd could not fit in the hall, the meeting adjourned to an oak grove on "Morgan's Forty" on the outskirts of town. There, a statewide slate of candidates was chosen and the Republican Party was born. After winning an overwhelming victory in the elections of 1854, the party went on to dominate national politics throughout the nineteenth century.

Jackson, Michigan · United States