The Republican Party is one of the two main political parties in the United States.
How long has the Republican Party been around?
Who are some of the most notable Republican presidents?
In the early 1850s, the United States had two main political parties, the Whigs and
the Democrats.
The Whigs were experiencing turmoil over the issue of slavery and began to fall apart.
In 1854, many of the former Whigs, along with members of the Free Soil Party and some anti-slavery
Democrats, joined together to create a new anti-slavery party.
This new party came to be known as the Republican Party, and they held their first party convention
on July 6, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan.
The party’s first slogan reflected its anti-slavery ideology, “free soil, free labor, free men.”
It quickly became one of the two dominant parties in America, alongside the Democrats.
Following the 1858 elections, enough Republicans had been elected in the House of Representatives
to give the party a majority for the first time.
In 1860, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for president.
Lincoln won this election, making him the first Republican to hold the office of president.
Lincoln successfully guided the United States through the Civil War and is remembered today
as one of the nation’s greatest presidents.
Following the Civil War, eleven of the next fourteen presidents were Republicans.
Republicans of that era supported the gold standard, high wages for employees, high profits
for businesses, and the annexation of Hawaii.
During the late 1800s, under the leadership of President William McKinley, Republicans
firmly became known as the party of “big business” (this meant that they supported,
and were supported by, large corporations and the wealthy owners who ran those businesses).
However, Theodore Roosevelt’s “trust busting” (breaking up large monopolies) brought more
small business owners to the party as well.
In 1874, political cartoonist Thomas Nast drew an elephant to represent the Republican
Party for the first time.
Since then, the elephant has become a well-known mascot of the party.
This replaced the bald eagle, which was the original symbol of the party.
In 1876, a newspaper article referred to the Republican Party as “the grand old party”.
This term became a popular nickname for the Republican Party, and to this day, many people
will refer to it as the “GOP” (Grand Old Party).
The party even uses the GOP abbreviation as their modern official logo.
In the 1920s, Republican success continued with the elections of Warren G. Harding, Calvin
Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.
All three of these won the presidency with large victories.
The 1920s is often thought of as the high mark of Republican popularity.
Throughout the first 78 years of its existence, the Republican Party not only dominated the
presidency, but also controlled Congress as well.
From 1854 through 1932, Republicans held the majority in the Senate for sixty-two of those
years.
During that same timeframe, Republicans held the majority in the House of Representatives
for fifty-two years.
Republican fortunes began to change in 1929, following the stock market crash and the initial
stages of the Great Depression.
In 1932, with the election of Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, Republicans lost the presidency,
along with the majority in both houses of Congress.
In the latter half of the 20th Century, Republicans once again experienced success with the election
of Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.
In the 1972 election, Nixon won 49 of 50 states.
Reagan also won 49 of 50 states in his 1984 reelection campaign.
Today, Ronald Reagan is so highly regarded amongst Republicans that nearly all Republican
presidential candidates attempt to draw comparisons to him.
In Congress, after being the minority party for most of the previous 61 years, Republicans
managed to reclaim the majority in both houses in 1994.
Republican candidates campaigned under the “Contract with America”, which detailed
what they would do if elected.
This victory became known as the Republican Revolution.
The Republican Party is still a powerful force in American politics today.
Across the nation, there are many governors, mayors, representatives, and senators who
are members of the Republican Party.
There are also approximately 55 million Americans who are registered Republicans.