CECIL COUNTY YOUNG REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP
Theodore Patterson, President
Chris Zeauskas, Vice President
Vacant, Treasurer
Josue Sierra, Communications Director
Michael Dawson, Political Director
Mackenzie Welsh, President – Cecil County Teen Age Republicans
CLUB HISTORY
The Cecil County Young Republican Club was started in December 2006. Ted Patterson, a college student from Perryville, and Michael Dunn, a young professional from Rising Sun serving as an aide to State Delegate Mike Smigiel, joined together to start the club that we have today. The club from early 2007 onward held meetings regularly and hosted candidate forums from time to time. During the 2008 Presidential election, the club supported Republican candidates around the county with election day operations, door-to-door campaigning, and long-term campaign strategy. John Brooks, an early club member from Port Deposit, worked with the Jim Mullin for County Commissioner campaign participating in club efforts to knock on more than 500 doors during the election cycle. Jim would end up winning his election as did the other local Republican running. In the spring of 2009, Club President Ted Patterson was awarded the William Paca Award from the Maryland Republican Party for the club’s work in support of conservative principles and Republican ideas. To date, the Cecil County Young Republicans have had 1 member serve on the local Republican Central Committee and 2 members run for public elected office.
Chris Zeauskas, current CCYR Vice President, is running for Cecil County Commissioner in the Elkton district. Michael Dawson, CCYR Political Director, is running for Cecil County Commissioner in the Perryville-Port Deposit district. During the 2010 election cycle the Cecil Young Republicans have knocked on more than 1,900 doors for Republican candidates. The YRs have a strong commitment to face-to-face connection with the citizenry. In December 2009, one of our own, Carrie Taylor, was elected President of the Cecil County Women’s Republican Club. Although we are sad to see her go, we look forward to working with her in the future as a representative of the Women’s Club.
PARTY HISTORY
The Republican Party was born in the early 1850′s by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. The first informal meeting of the party took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, a small town northwest of Milwaukee. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6th, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. The name “Republican” was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan.
In 1856, the Republicans became a national party when John C. Fremont was nominated for President under the slogan: “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont.” Even though they were considered a “third party” because the Democrats and Whigs represented the two-party system at the time, Fremont received 33% of the vote. Four years later, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to win the White House.
The Civil War erupted in 1861 and lasted four grueling years. During the war, against the advice of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The Republicans of the day worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the Fifteenth, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans.
The Republican Party also played a leading role in securing women the right to vote. In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to favor women’s suffrage. When the 19th Amendment finally was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin from Montana in 1917.
Presidents during most of the late nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century were Republicans. The White House was in Republican hands under Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush. Under the last two, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the United States became the world’s only superpower, winning the Cold War from the old Soviet Union and releasing millions from Communist oppression.