Celebrating the life of Lincoln ...
Lincoln Day Dinner focuses on party history, future

Secretary of State Trey Grayson, above, talked briefly to the assembly before dinner was served.

Keynote speaker state Sen. Dan Kelly talked on the life and legacy of our nation's 16th president.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008, 6 p.m. -- A crowd of nearly 100 assembled Saturday evening to honor the achievements of the nation's 16th president at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner at the Old Kentucky Home Country Club.

The event, hosted by the Nelson County Republican Party and organized by the Nelson County Organization of Republican Women, also attracted several elected officials and candidates, including state Sen. Brett Guthrie, the de facto GOP nominee for the 2nd District Congressional seat.

Guthrie spoke to the crowd prior to dinner, as did Secretary of State Trey Grayson.

Larry Cox, a representative of Sen. Mitch McConnell's office, read a letter from the senator to the dinner guests. In the letter, McConnell touched on the fact that Lincoln's ideology is alive today in the Republican Party.

"Democrats put their trust in government," McConnell said. "Republicans put their trust in people."

McConnell's letter also predicted a spirited and vigorous reelection campaign, adding that he offers experience to give Kentucky a competitive edge in a highly competitive environment. A video presentation highlighting some of McConnell's success stories in helping Kentuckians was also presented.

During his keynote speech, state Sen. Dan Kelley gave some in-depth history on Lincoln's conservative background, first as a member of the Whig party, then later as a member of the fledgling Republican party.

Lincoln attributed his antislavery stance to his earliest days as a child in Kentucky. Lincoln's parents attended a faction of the Baptist church that disapproved of slavery. He later said he was "naturally antislavery" and that he couldn't remember when he "did not so think, and feel."

The imagery of slavery that never left Lincoln's mind was the sight of seeing slaves boarded on boats while he was on a trip from Louisville to St. Louis. In a letter to his friend Joshua Speed, Lincoln confessed "that sight was a continued torment to me."

Lincoln spent four terms in the Illinois legislature before he was elected to Congress in 1847. Though Lincoln by that time had said he was losing interest in politics, it was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 that changed that, Kelley said.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act basically nullified the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by opening the possibility of slavery to new territories and states by local option. It was an act that Lincoln found immoral, Kelley said.

With the question of slavery fracturing Lincoln's Whig party, he joined the newly founded Republican party in 1856. He earned national status with his debates against Democrat Stephen Douglas while both were campaigning for the same U.S. Senate seat. Lincoln won the debates but lost the Senate seat (in those days the state legislature elected members to serve in the U.S. Senate).

Lincoln was his party's second choice for president; William H. Seward was the leading candidate, but he was seen as unlikely to win in states Republicans had last four years earlier. Lincoln won the nomination.

Worldwide, Lincoln is one of the most revered historical figures of all time, Kelley said. He said that Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln's Secretary of War, was indeed correct when he stated at Lincoln's death that "Now he belongs to the ages."

Lincoln's legacy is something we can all look to for inspiration, he said. Lincoln himself was the embodiment of the dream that a simple farmer's son country lawyer could aspire to be president of the United States.

The Lincoln Dinner events included a "Pin the Tail on the Democrat" fundraiser and a silent auction. For dessert, elaborately decorated birthday cakes were brought to each table, and "Happy Birthday" was sung to honor Lincoln's birthday and the yearlong celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.