The Republican Party was born here, "Under the Oaks"

On July 6, 1854, anti-slavery activists from across Michigan packed into a hall in Jackson for a state convention. It was so hot and so crowded that the meeting moved outside and finished in a grove of oak trees. There, the group adopted a platform against the spread of slavery, nominated a full slate of candidates for state office, and agreed to call themselves “Republicans.” Jackson has been known as the birthplace of the Republican Party ever since, and the spot — at Franklin and Second Streets — is marked today as a state historic site called “Under the Oaks.”

There’s a friendly rivalry over the claim. A few months earlier, in March 1854, a small group in Ripon, Wisconsin met in a one-room schoolhouse and is credited with first suggesting the name “Republican” — and Ripon calls itself the party’s birthplace too. The usual way to settle it: Ripon had the first small meeting, but Jackson held the first big state convention where the new party really took shape. Even folks in Ripon tip their hat to Jackson on that point.