Republican Party (United States)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
1874 cartoon by Thomas Nast printed in Harpers Weekly and featuring the first use of the elephant as a symbol for the Republican party

The United States Republican Party is one of the two biggest political parties in the United States of America. The other large party is the Democratic Party. The United States also has many other small parties known as third parties.

The Republicans are often called "the right" or "conservatives". The Republican Party itself is also known as the GOP, which stands for "Grand Old Party." The symbol of the Republican party is the elephant. This symbol was first used in 1874 in a political cartoon (pictured).[1]

The Republican National Committee is the main organization for the Republican Party in all 50 states. Reince Priebus is the current RNC Chairman.

The Republican Party is not the same political party as the Democratic-Republican Party.

Contents

[change] History

The Republican Party was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854. Its formation was based around opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which would allow each territory to allow slavery if they wanted to. It was founded by previous members of the Free-Soil Party and the Whig Party. They wanted to stop the expansion of slavery because they believed that it was against the ideals of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Some founders wanted to abolish slavery everywhere in the United States. The first Republican candidate for president was John C. Fremont in 1856.

As the Whig Party collapsed, the Republicans became the second major party (the Democratic Party being the first). In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, was elected. For the rest of the second half of the 19th century, the country had mostly Republican presidents. From 1860 until 1912 the Republicans lost the presidential election just twice (non-consecutively to Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892).

Republicans believed in protectionism (the belief that raising taxes on trades with foreign nations would protect the U.S. economy) during the second half of the 19th century and during the early half of the 20th century.

After World War I, the 1920s had 3 Republican presidents: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. It was called the Republican Decade for that reason. Harding and Coolidge made a plan for the economy which lowered taxes, cut government spending, and regulated the economy less.

Near the end of the decade, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression was beginning. During the Great Depression, Republicans lost popularity and Democrats came into power and remained in power until 1953, when Dwight Eisenhower began his first of two consecutive terms as president. (He was re-elected in 1956.) Richard Nixon lost the election in 1960, but was elected president on the Republican ticket in 1968 and again in 1972.

Ronald Reagan, an actor who has been a conservative political activist for decades, was elected as president in 1980. This began a conservative era which would last until 1992. He served two terms and his successor George H.W. Bush served one term. Reagan renewed many ideas which had been left behind in the past, such as limited government in the economy and strengthening the military.

Bill Clinton (a Democrat) was elected president in 1992, but a new Congress was elected in 1994, and Republicans gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. They voted against many of Clinton's ideas and proposed ideas of their own such as a line item veto and a balanced budget amendment.

The Republicans lost control of Congress during 2006 (possibly due to Republican president George W. Bush's unpopularity). Democrat Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Those two factors weakened the conservative movement.

[change] Current Republican beliefs

Currently, the Republican Party is identified as conservative and right-wing.

Not all Republicans believe in all of the same things, but generally these are the things many Republicans support:

  • the 2nd Amendment (oppose gun control)
  • the death penalty, rather than a life sentence
  • the U.S. having a strong military.
  • the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  • a school voucher system (the government giving money to parents who send their kids to private school)
  • capitalism, laissez faire or supply-side economics
  • oppose illegal immigration
  • less government control of the economy
  • less government spending
  • lower taxes for everyone
  • oppose government run health care
  • the 9th and 10th Amendments (the federal government should have less power over the states)
  • abortion should be illegal or restricted
  • freedom of religion
  • oppose same-sex marriage

[change] U.S. presidents

Theodore Roosevelt

Republican Presidents during the 2000s

Republican presidents during the 1900s:

Abraham Lincoln

Republican presidents during the 1800s:

[change] Other famous Republicans

[change] References

  1. ↑ Cartoon of the Day: "The Third-Term Panic". Retrieved on 2008-09-01.

[change] Other websites

Flag of the United States.svg This short article about the United States can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.

Retrieved from "http://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Republican_Party_(United_States)&oldid=3393733"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Getting around
Print/export
Toolbox
In other languages