I was recently reviewing old posts for a 2023 project I’m planning and I came across the blog posts about my paternal 3rd great grandfather, Quincy Adam “Q.A.” BELL and the time he was “tarred and feathered” in the local newspapers for his involvement with the Radical Republican party. To review, you can view part 1 of those posts here, and part 2 here. Part 2 does include some significant updates to the original post, just FYI. I periodically do new searches for information about this event in hopes I’ll find more, but it’s difficult to find anything. I recently landed on some different search terms that I hadn’t tried before and noticed some things that I had previously missed. Just for reference, my line of descent goes from Quincy to his daughter Eliza to her daughter Bess WILLIAMS who is my great grandmother (no relation to my husband’s WILLIAMS).

Radical Repbulicanism & the Party Platform

I came across a newspaper article with the Radical Republican party platform written out and I began to wonder what exactly Radical Republicanism was and what was included in their party platform. Republicans have been vilified in the press for a couple of decades now and the current definition of “radical”…well…things didn’t sound good so I did some research. Radical Republicanism is defined by Britannica as a political party active during and after the Civil War that believed in emancipation of slaves. Later they would advocate for the “equal treatment and enfranchisement of the freed blacks”.¹ Pretty radical. (I say that sarcastically.) Missouri was deeply divided politically both during and after the Civil War – much like political parties are today. Living through these last few years, I clearly see how a radicalized press would be able to vilify their opponents. As in the 1870’s, there is prolific and constant name-calling and libelous statements from all parties toward each other. Tensions are high as are emotions, and everything thinks their opinion is correct – just like in 1870.

Let’s see exactly what this party’s platform was in 1870. They espoused:

• devotion to the Union;
• endorsement of President GRANT’s administration;
• reduction of taxes at the state and national government levels to a more appropriate price point;
• the immediate offering of “Railroad Lands” for sale so as to make the Land Grant fair to everyone;
• opposition to any additional Congressional Land Grants in territories west of Missouri in the aid of railroad companies or other monopolies unless the land was offered in the public market at the “customary government price”;
• denounciation all forms of repudiation and a demand for faith and integrity from the government;
• favoring the government to liberally take care of former Civil War soldiers as well as widows and orphans of deceased soldiers in exchange for the service these men (and women) gave to the country during war;
• a pledge to act in accordance with the state platform of the Radical Republican party;
• the granting of suffrage to the nation’s people of color as something necessary and just and never to be revoked;
• support for a reduction in tariff to an amount that would still provide government revenue but also be fair to the agriculture and manufacturing industries;
• and, that no one should be told or required to vote a certain way in regard to enfranchising “the rebels” (i.e. Confederates) and that party fidelity should not be based on how one votes on the issue but rather each person has the right to vote their conscience.

Below is the newspaper article listing the platform. I noticed that numbering went from 10th to 12th so I don’t know if an item was removed or if it was just an error.

For these views, they were deemed radical. The Republicans (not the Radical Republicans but the more mainstream faction of the party) held the majority in both the House and Senate in 1870. The Radical Republicans could never quite get organized and eventually ceased as a political party. Although third parties existed in 1870, America had not had a third-party president since 1850-1853 when President Millard Fillmore was in office. Here is a visual representation of political parties in the U.S. from 1870-1900 (although it doesn’t show many of the smaller, more fringe political parties):

This chart was found at NCpedia.org.³

I think this quote sums it up best along with the hashtag #EstablishmentElite:

In the election of 1872 the conflict between President U. S. Grant and Horace Greeley has been typically understood as a battle for the soul of the ruling Republican Party.

The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era by Andrew Slap.⁴

A battle for the soul of the ruling Republican Party. Much like 2016 was within the Republican Party, the mainstream Republican Party of 1870 wanted something completely different than the newer, smaller, and less-mainstream Republican factions. It seriously amazes me how much our current political climate mirrors that of my 3rd great grandfather Quincy’s. Will we ever learn from history? Welcome to one more reason why I do this blog. We are doomed to repeat what we do not know or understand.

One journal article described the Marshfield Convention as “[t]he first convention of significance…in the Fourth Congressional District.”⁵ This was exactly the convention that Quincy BELL attended. The very convention where he was selected to be a permanent officer for the Radical Republican Party Convention in the Fourth Congressional District of Missouri. Tensions were high, and arguments were frequent and emotional. It was a mess to say the least.

Final Thoughts

I know this isn’t much new information but this information combined with the updated information in the part 2 post linked above at least gives us some more insight about the situation that Quincy walked into in Marshfield in July of 1870. I feel like, in a roundabout way, it also gives us more insight into why a left-leaning newspaper would post an article about him being involved in legal troubles when there is no other information I can find to back that up. To be clear, I did look for me. I was able to schedule a research trip to Columbia, Missouri, to the State Historical Society of Missouri. I looked through the older newspapers that aren’t online and I looked through some books showing court records of Texas County, Missouri, and still haven’t found anything that corroborates that Quincy was in legal trouble of any kind. For now, I’m leaning toward saying Quincy never got into a “scrape” in Texas County and did not flee that county to avoid arrest. These unsupported accusations from a left-leaning newspaper opinion piece leveled against a right-leaning citizen, well…sounds like a pretty standard political hit piece to me. So, until supporting evidence is found regarding Quincy’s alleged criminal activities I’m going to withhold my judgment of him.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about our Union Quartermaster Sergeant, Quincy Adam BELL. He’s still a work in progress for me.

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Resources

1. Britannica.com – Radical Republican. Accessed online on 1 August 2022.
2. Newspapers.com; 30 July 1870, Buffalo Reflex, Buffalo, Missouri; Vol. 1, #48, Page 2. Accessed on 2 August 2022.
3. NCpedia.org. Accessed on 1 August 2022.
4. Slap, Andrew L., The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era, Reconstructing America (New York, NY, 2007; online edn, Fordham Scholarship Online, 10 Mar. 2011), https://doi.org/10.5422/fso/9780823227099.001.0001, accessed 1 Aug 2022.
5. Barclay, Thomas S. “The Liberal Republican Movement in Missouri”. Missouri Historical Review; Vol. 20, p. 515-564; 1926. Accessed on 1 August 2022 at Google Books.
6. The State Historical Society of Missouri. Accessed 3 August 2022.
7. Chronicling America. Accessed on 3 August 2022.