Owen Lovejoy was born in Albion, the son of a farmer who was also a Congregational minister. After graduation from Bowdoin, Owen moved to Illinois to join his brother, Elijah.

Owen witnessed his brother’s murder when he tried to defend the printing press of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society from a racist mob. Owen later worked with Abraham Lincoln to form the Illinois Republican Party and was elected to the U.S. Congress.

As you might expect Owen’s experiences and observations gave rise to some pretty strong opinions. Here’s an example: “The principle of enslaving human beings because they are inferior, is this: If a man is a cripple, trip him up; if he is old and weak, and bowed with the weight of years, strike him, for he cannot strike back; if idiotic, take advantage of him; and if a child, deceive him. This, sir, this is the doctrine of Democrats and the doctrine of devils as well, and there is no place in the universe outside the five points of hell and the Democratic Party where the practice and prevalence of such doctrines would not be a disgrace.”

Gov. Oliver Hazard Perry Throck Morton, governor of Indiana during the Civil War, began his political career as a Democrat. He later awoke to his youthful folly and repudiated his allegiance, as this quote clearly reveals: “Everyone who shoots down negroes in the streets, burns negro school-houses and meeting-houses, and murders women and children by the light of their own flaming dwellings, calls himself a Democrat.

“In short, the Democratic Party may be described as a common sewer and loathsome receptacle into which is emptied every element of treason, North and South, every element of inhumanity and barbarism which has dishonored the age.”

Mark Steyn summed up the Democratic Party’s historical problem in a recent conversation with Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly: “The slave states were Democratic states, the racist states until the 1960s were Democratic states. The Democratic Party was the largest and most powerful institution supporting slavery in the English-speaking world, and it is the only one that has survived to the 21st century.”

He noted that South Africa’s apartheid system began in 1948 and ended 45 years later.

Liberal Democrats have taken the lead in the current national frenzy for cleansing American memory of Confederate mementos. It is currently obvious, although it will soon be forgotten, that the frenzy was inspired by a murderous, demented twerp in Charleston, South Carolina.

The first target in this clean-up operation was the Confederate battle flag the killer proudly displayed on his personal blog. The focus has promptly and steadily widened to include a statue of Jefferson Davis in Kentucky, military bases named after Confederate generals, Robert E. Lee Park in Baltimore and, [no kidding] the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Most Republican politicians are willing to go along with dumping the stars and bars, but pull back from the more ambitious cleansing operations. It would be best to hold off until the victims are buried and the killer executed, but I would suggest that the Republican Party get to work demanding an apology by the Democratic Party to the descendants of the slaves and to all the descendants of all those Republican congressmen who voted for the slew of anti-lynching laws blocked by Democratic senatorial filibusters.

John Frary of Farmington is a former congressional candidate and retired history professor, a board member of Maine Taxpayers United and publisher of www.fraryhomecompanion.com. Email to jfrary8070@aol.com.