“This is essentially a People’s contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men — to lift artificial weights from all shoulders — to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all — to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.” — Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1861, Message to Congress
Two blocks from where I live in Chicago, history was made 156 years ago this past May.
The southeast corner of what is now Lake Street and Wacker Drive in the Loop was the site of the Republican National Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. The Republican Party was just six years old in 1860 and Chicago business leaders had hastily constructed an all-wooden structure to attract what was only the second Republican National Convention.
Known as the Wigwam, the building was always intended to be temporary, and from all accounts it sounds like it was a bit of a firetrap. But it served its purpose well that year when well over 10,000 delegates and spectators crammed the facility to the rafters.
Lincoln himself did not travel to Chicago and instead remained in Springfield where he anxiously monitored reports from his operatives via telegraph. Back then it was considered bad form for any potential nominee to be present at the convention.
Lincoln eventually secured the nomination on the third ballot. In Lincoln’s time there was nothing resembling the state-by-state primary system we have today. Back then the good-old-boys procured delegates in the smoke-filled rooms. And I literally mean old boys. America wouldn’t guarantee women the right to vote for another 60 years.
After the convention the Wigwam saw other uses but it soon fell into disrepair. Fire did finally claim the structure in 1867 (four years prior to the Great Chicago Fire). The only hint remaining of the Wigwam and what happened there is a plaque along the sidewalk in front of a modern office tower at 191 N. Wacker Drive, installed when the location was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2002.
We all know what happened after that 1860 convention. Lincoln went on to become one of, if not our greatest President. He freed the slaves, won the Civil War, and saved the Union.
Grateful African-Americans made the Republican Party their home for generations. And across the country, GOP organizations at all levels still strap themselves to Lincoln’s mantle at every opportunity. Here in his home-state the annual Lincoln Day Dinner is often the only fundraising event a county Republican organization has.
So we all know about the lip service. But how is the Party of Lincoln actually doing in the Land of Lincoln when it comes to preserving the leader’s legacy?
Judging by all of the empirical evidence, not so well.
The GOP’s good-old-boys of today would make the good-old-boys back in the Wigwam blush.
It’s hardly news that black voters these days have rewarded the GOP with paltry support every Election Day. Hispanic participation in the Illinois GOP isn’t much better. And let’s face it, participation in the Republican Party by white Illinoisans hasn’t exactly been anything to brag about either.
So what does Donald Trump have to do with all of this? A lot.
In our lifetime we have never had a Republican nominee who so gets it about the rigged system. And Mr. Trump is addressing the problem on two levels.
Trump has masterfully attacked the rigged system within both major political parties, and even better, he does a wonderful job exposing the rigged elements within our global economic system. He hits both themes at pretty much every one of his huge rallies.
Some say Trump is not a free trader. In truth Trump does believe in free trade, but it has to be fair trade. Overly complex trade agreements entered into by weak U.S. representatives who got bamboozled at the negotiating table have delivered deals which are disadvantageous to the average American. Trade resulting from these bad deals is neither fair nor free.
Donald Trump literally wrote the book on negotiation. Granted, as President he won’t have the luxury of being able to sit at every negotiating table. But hiring is another arena where Trump excels. He’ll bring on the best people and replace the pushovers with tough, seasoned professionals.
It’s all about bringing back jobs and getting America working again. Donald Trump is a builder and he knows how to inspire. From a speech in June:
“Americans are the people that tamed the West, that dug out the Panama Canal, that sent satellites across the solar system, that built the great dams and so much more. Then we really started thinking small. Something happened. Something happened to our mentality. We started thinking small. We stopped believing in what America could do, and became reliant on other countries, other people and other institutions. We lost our sense of purpose and daring. But that’s not who we are.”
Trump wants to keep building big things, and that’s a message that resonates with African-Americans and Hispanics as much as with anyone else. He’s been refreshingly honest about how his life up to now has been about accumulating wealth for himself and his family. Now at 70 years of age he wants to devote his skill set to helping all Americans climb the economic ladder.
Every election cycle Republican candidates talk about reaching out to minority communities – but that’s all it’s been, talk. In Mr. Trump we finally have a standard-bearer who can back-up the rhetoric with a decades-long record of creating thousands of real jobs for men and women of all races and creeds.
On the opposite bank of the Chicago River and just half-a-dozen blocks away from the site of Lincoln’s nomination is Trump International Hotel and Tower. The second tallest building in the City, it’s also considerably safer and more permanent than the old Wigwam.
The betterment which a Trump Administration will bring to the lives of all Americans left behind and taken-for-granted by the politicians of both parties can be just as strong and permanent.
And in four years Mr. Lincoln might just recognize that party of freedom, opportunity, and inclusiveness which he helped found.
Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party.