Republicans believed in protectionism (the belief that raising taxes on trades with other countries would protect the economy) during the second half of the 19th century and during the early half of the 20th century.Īfter World War I, the 1920s had three Republican presidents: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. From 1860 until 1912 the Republicans lost the presidential election just twice (non-consecutively to Democrat Grover Cleveland in 18). For the rest of the second half of the 19th century, the country had mostly Republican presidents. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, was elected. Frémont in 1856.Īs the Whig Party collapsed, the Republicans became one of two major political parties in the United States (the Democratic Party was the other major political party). The Republican Party's first candidate for President of the United States was John C. Some founders of the Republican Party wanted to abolish slavery everywhere in the United States. The founders of the Republican Party wanted to stop the expansion of slavery because they believed it was against the ideals of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The Republican Party was founded by past members of the Free Soil Party and the Whig Party who wanted to stop the expansion of slavery. The Republican Party was formed by people who did not like the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which would let each territory allow slavery. The Republican Party was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin in 1853, with the help of Francis Preston Blair. History 1874 cartoon in Harpers Weekly, first use of the elephant as symbol for the Republican party. A state where most voters vote for Republican politicians is called a 'red state'. The Republican Party is not the same political party as the Democratic-Republican Party. The Republican National Committee, or 'RNC', is the main organization for the Republican Party in all 50 states. This symbol was first used in 1874 in a political cartoon by Thomas Nast. The symbol of the Republican party is the elephant. Ideologically, it favours fiscal and social conservatism, opposing abortion, euthanasia, labor unions, affirmative action, marijuana legalisation, and a high minimum wage, whilst advocating low taxes, limited government, gun rights, free markets, and free trade, although it held protectionist opinions during its early days, in Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, and held anti-free trade opinions in Donald Trump’s presidency. The Republican Party itself is also called the GOP, which stands for 'Grand Old Party'. The Republicans are sometimes called 'the right' or ' conservatives'. The Republican Party is a center-right party, contrast to the center-left Democratic Party. The United States has many other small parties known as third parties. In a rush, Dowden shortened the name of Blaine’s planned speech from “Achievements of the Grand Old Party” to “Achievements of the GOP.The United States Republican Party is one of the two big political parties in the United States of America, along with the Democratic Party, the Republican Party's main opponent. “Abbreviate ’em, use initials, do anything, but hurry up!” came the reply. What shall I do?” Dowden asked his foreman. “My copy ends with ‘Grand Old Party,’ and I have two words left over after I’ve set the 10 lines. Dowden, a Cincinnati Gazette typesetter, with coining the initials after receiving a story about 1884 Republican presidential nominee James Blaine shortly before press time that ran too long. Safire’s Political Dictionary reports that the Republican’s GOP acronym began to appear in print in 1884. In his 1859 inaugural address, Kentucky’s Democratic Governor Beriah Magoffin proclaimed, “The grand old party has never changed its name, its purposes, or its principles, nor has it ever broken its pledges.” The following year a Democratic newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut, looked ahead to the presidential election of 1860 and warned that “this grand old party is divided and in danger of defeat.” The “grand old party” moniker was actually first adopted by the Republicans’ elder rival-the Democratic Party-which traced its roots back to Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.

Gop stands for meaning