Republican Party

One of the two primary political parties of the United States, organized in 1854 to oppose the extension of slavery.
The Democratic-Republican Party.

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A Sydney radical journal, ran for ten issues 1887-88; for part of the time, when it was under the management of Louisa Lawson, her son Henry was nominal publisher and had his first prose articles published there. The Republican is the subject of Lawson's poem 'The Cambaroora Star'.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

Republican Party

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One of two major U.S. political parties. It was formed in 1854 by former members of the Whig, Democratic, and Free Soil parties who chose the party's name to recall the Jeffersonian Republicans' concern with the national interest above sectional interests and states' rights. The new party opposed slavery and its extension into the territories, as provided by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Its first presidential candidate, John C. Frémont, won 11 states in 1856; its second, Abraham Lincoln, won the 1860 election by carrying 18 states. Its association with the Union victory in the American Civil War allowed it a long period of dominance nationally, though it was uncompetitive in the South for more than a century after the war. Republican candidates won 14 of 18 presidential elections between 1860 and 1932, through support from an alliance of Northern and Midwestern farmers and big-business interests. In 1912 the party split between a progressive wing led by Theodore Roosevelt and a conservative wing led by Pres. William Howard Taft; the rift enabled the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, to win that year's election. The Republican Party's inability to counter the impact of the Great Depression led to its ouster from power in 1933; in 1953 the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower brought a moderate wing of the party to prominence. The party's platform remained conservative, emphasizing anticommunism, reduced government regulation of the economy, and lower taxes; many members also opposed civil rights legislation. In the 1950s the GOP gained new support from middle-class suburbanites and white Southerners disturbed by the integrationist policies of the national Democratic Party. Richard Nixon, who narrowly lost the 1960 presidential race, won narrowly in 1968 and by a landslide in 1972, but he was forced to resign in 1974 as a result of the Watergate scandal. Ronald Reagan, who had assumed the leadership of the conservative wing of the Republican Party after Barry Goldwater's defeat in the presidential election of 1964, won the presidency in 1980 and 1984; he introduced deep tax cuts and launched a massive buildup of U.S. military forces. Reagan's vice president, George Bush, was elected in 1988 and enjoyed enormous popularity after success in the Persian Gulf War, but an anemic economy led to his defeat in 1992 by Democrat Bill Clinton. The defeat was offset in 1994, when the Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. In 2000 George W. Bush narrowly won the presidency in one of the closest and most controversial elections in U.S. history. In 2004 he won reelection. In part because of growing opposition to the Iraq War, Republicans lost control of both the House and the Senate following the 2006 midterm elections. In the 2008 presidential election Republican nominee John McCain was defeated by Democrat Barack Obama, and the Democrats increased their majorities in both the House and the Senate. The Republican Party continues to emphasize tax cuts, traditional social values, and a strong national defense.

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Oxford Dictionary of the US Military:

Republican party

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One of the two main U.S. political parties (the other being the Democratic party), favoring a right-wing stance, limited central government, and tough, interventionist foreign policy. It was formed in 1854 in support of the anti-slavery movement preceding the Civil War.)

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Oxford Dictionary of Politics:

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USA

The term has had a very confusing history. Around 1800 the party system coalesced into Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Broadly, the Federalists were urban and trade-orientated, while the Democratic-Republicans were rural and orientated towards the interests of small farmers. The Democratic-Republicans became the Democratic Party in 1828, Their opponents changed label from Federalist to Whig in the 1820s but this did not improve their fortunes. They coined the label Republican (probably because like Cortina or Escort it had vaguely good connotations without offending anybody) when the anti-Democrat forces coalesced on an anti-slavery campaign in 1854. The Republican victory in the presidential election of 1860 (see Lincoln) and the ensuing Union victory in the Civil War led to Republican dominance until 1876. The pact of that year, in which the Republicans were allowed to win a disputed presidential election on condition that federal forces withdrew from the South (see civil rights), reinstated the Democratic hegemony in the South. At federal level, the Republicans were again hegemonic from 1896 to 1932 because sectional interests captured the Democratic Party. This was overturned by the New Deal coalition, which lasted until the 1960s. In the late 1960s some commentators predicted The Emerging Republican Majority (title of a book by K. Phillips, 1970), but no coherent majority has emerged.

Ideologically, the Republican Party favours business and opposes welfare. Because US parties are so weak and open, it is hard to pin any other ideological label on to it. A large but not dominant faction attempts to hitch the party to the values of Christian fundamentalism. The party is sometimes known by the acronym GOP (for Grand Old Party). Its symbol is the elephant.

Gale Encyclopedia of US History:

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The Republican Party began at a protest meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin, on 28 February 1854 as a group of Antislavery activists, known as Free Soilers, met to start a new grassroots movement. The first party convention took place in Jackson, Michigan, that same year on 6 July. The group adopted the name of the political party of Thomas Jefferson, which later evolved more directly into the Democratic Party. The Republican Party emerged directly out of the Free Soil Party in the North, a movement embraced at various times by such Democrats as Martin Van Buren, who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency on the Free Soil Party ticket in 1848, and David Wilmot, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1845–1851). Numerically more significant was the Republican Party's support from disillusioned northern Whigs. With the collapse of the Whig Party in the 1850s, the Republicans emerged as one of the legatees of the Whig organization.

Ideological Roots

Ideologically the early Republican Party arose out of three traditions, the first of which was the reform tradition that followed on the heels of the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening was a religious revival movement that engulfed the early American republic in the first two decades of the nineteenth century. Many Second Great Awakening leaders came to abandon the orthodox Calvinist emphasis on predestination and human depravity in favor of a more optimistic view that the world could be made a better place by individuals seeking their own salvation. This doctrine connecting the individual to social progress was influential on a number of important reforms, many of them supported by the Whigs and others supported by third-party movements centered on a single issue. In temperance reform, public education, women's rights and antislavery efforts among others, this religious reform impulse was very important. Although most Republicans did not endorse equal rights for women, or immediate abolition of Slavery for that matter, they were more likely to see themselves as "their brother's keepers," a role entirely consistent with the Puritan tradition and anathematic to many others of a libertarian bent. This reform tradition helped inspire many of those who opposed slavery's extension into the territories. The Liberty Party and the Free Soil Party had previously served as the political vehicles for this movement. Nearly all the Republican leaders except Abraham Lincoln had strong connections to some of these antebellum reform movements.

The second important influence on the Republicans was the economic policies sponsored by Henry Clay and his allies in the Whig Party. Clay believed that the government should act to develop the American economy by promoting protective Tariffs on "infant" industries such as textiles and iron. These protective tariffs would pay for internal improvements to the transportation infrastructure, such as roads, rivers, harbors, and most importantly in the 1850s, railroads. A rechartered Bank of the United States would provide a uniform currency with its bank-notes and would channel investment throughout the Union.

The third influence on the Republican Party was Nativism. Since the 1790s the United States had gone through periods in which some Americans sought to de-fine national identity tribally rather than by adherence to ideas or institutions. Founders such as John Jay thought only Protestants would make good Americans. With the tremendous influx of Irish and Germans, many of them Catholics, in the 1840s and 1850s, some Protestant Americans feared that American institutions would be "overrun" or destroyed entirely by illiterate paupers whose allegiance was to the Vatican.

Early Presidential Elections

The Republican Party nominated John C. Fremont as its first presidential candidate in 1856. Fremont was a hero of the Mexican-American War. Although the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, enjoyed a landslide victory in that year, the Republicans made important gains in Congress and in the northern tier of states from New England to Wisconsin. While the Republicans in Congress and in the northern states tended to be radical free soilers, the party needed a candidate who appealed to northern moderates for the presidential election of 1860. In a field dominated by antislavery activists like William E. Seward and Salmon P. Chase, one candidate stood out: Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. Lincoln had shown himself to be a formidable debater and campaigner in the U.S. Senate contest against Stephen Douglas in 1858. He stood as a principled opponent of slavery's extension into the territories and he also stood with other economic interests that the Whigs had once favored and the Republican Party now represented: protective tariffs, a homestead law, federal land grants for higher education, federal sponsorship of internal improvements, and, most importantly, federal aid for a transcontinental railroad. Unlike some of the Know-Nothing converts to Republicanism, Lincoln opposed restrictions on immigration or any discrimination against Catholics.

The Republican Party was victorious in 1860 because it understood an electoral lesson the Democrats failed to remember: the presidential elections of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were won in the Lower North, a region from New Jersey to Illinois. With those electoral votes, no candidate could be defeated. Without them, no candidate could win. Despite the fact that Lincoln won in a four-way race with only 39 percent of the popular vote, he would still have won in the Electoral College if all his opposition had united on a single candidate. For the rest of the century, the Republican Party represented the Lower North, and insofar as it represented its constituency well, it found itself usually in control of the presidency and the Senate, and for a significant portion of the time, in control of the House of Representatives.

Lincoln's reelection in 1864 was by no means assured until the string of Union victories in that year inspired confidence among wavering voters. Union voters strongly supported the Republicans, over the former commander of the Army of the Potomac, George McClellan. In the years after Lincoln's assassination, northern public opinion turned strongly against the conciliatory Reconstruction policy of Lincoln, and the inconsistent harsh and tepid policy of Andrew Johnson. With southern states reimposing chattel slavery in all but name and electing former Confederate generals to represent them in Congress, the tide of northern opinion turned against appeasement. In the elections of 1866 and 1868 the Radical faction of the Republicans gained control of the congressional party and used its power to enact sweeping changes in the post–Civil War United States. The Radicals, including Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, sponsored the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, which provided equal rights under the law and manhood suffrage for African Americans. Stevens went so far as to propose that freedmen who were heads of households be given forty acres and a mule from confiscated land of high Confederate military and civilian officers, by which they might establish their economic independence.

The Gilded Age

The next ten years after the Civil War saw Republicans' attempts to recreate a new society in the South, with black voters and officeholders supporting the Republican Party. After the election of 1876, however, with a compromise worked out to avoid disputed southern electoral votes to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republicans withdrew their support for the federal army's enforcement of Reconstruction. Within a short time the South began restricting black voting. Outside the mountain South, Republicans had almost no support among southern whites. The pattern of support for Republicans was set at this time until well into the twentieth century. Republicans enjoyed strong support among Yankee Protestants in every region of the United States, from New England and upstate New York, through the upper Midwest and into the Northwest. German Lutherans, Scots-Irish Presbyterians, and African Americans in the North tended to vote Republican as did mountain southerners. Among the newer immigrants, the Republican Party enjoyed some support among Italians, French Canadians, and Russian Jews. Many skilled laborers, particularly in industries that enjoyed tariff protection voted for the Grand Old Party, as it came to be known in the Gilded Age. Only two groups proved almost entirely immune to the attractions of the Republican Party: southern whites and Irish Catholics.

The Republican Party in the Gilded Age divided into two groups, set apart more by federal civil service patronage than by principle: the "Half Breeds" and the "Stalwarts." In the late-nineteenth century, in addition to protectionism, the Republican Party was best known for its advocacy of a high-profile foreign policy, particularly in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Republicans sponsored American annexation of Hawaii and a group of Republicans were the most vociferous advocates of war with Spain to liberate Cuba. Many of these same Republicans argued for retention of the conquered territories of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Dissident voices against American overseas expansion and against "corruption" began to defect in the mid-1880s to the more reform minded Democrats. These Republican defectors became known as "Mugwumps."

Populism and Progressivism

In the 1896 election, the Republicans successfully faced a challenge from the agrarian or "Populist" wing of the Democratic Party and the "People's Party." These Populists argued for an expansionary monetary policy based on the valuation of silver. In the midst of the depression of 1893, an easing of credit appealed to farmers in the South and West, but an inflationary money policy was adverse to the interests of wageworkers. With promises of prosperity and protectionism, the Republicans under William McKinley successfully appealed to workers, and new immigrants, particularly those non-evangelicals most alienated by William Jennings Bryan's religiously inspired rhetoric. The Republican Party held power for the better part of the next thirty-six years outside the South, interrupted only by Woodrow Wilson's two terms as president.

The Republican Party was divided over Progressivism. After McKinley's assassination, Theodore Roosevelt called for new initiatives in economic policy, designed to assert the power of the federal government in economic regulation. Roosevelt viewed the federal government as the arbiter when concentrated economic power threatened to overturn the limiting powers of the market.

At the end of Roosevelt's first elected term, he announced he would not seek reelection, and anointed William H. Taft as his successor. Although Taft embarked on a vigorous prosecution of trusts, Roosevelt soon grew disillusioned with him. Roosevelt's challenge to Taft in 1912, first within the Republican Party and then in forming the Progressive Party, split the Republican vote and allowed Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the White House. After the outbreak of World War I, Republicans proved eager to enter the war on the side of the Allies, but the party reverted to Isolationism after the end of the war.

Twentieth Century

From 1918 to 1932 the Republican Party was predominant in part because of the profound cultural alienation of Americans after World War I. Warren G. Harding promised a return to "normalcy" (not a word until Harding coined it). Republicans at this time linked themselves to the enduring values of the rural Old America: isolationism, nativism, Protestantism, Prohibition, and protection.

Under Calvin Coolidge, the Republicans rolled back corporate taxes and cut spending, reducing the size of government. Despite the Teapot Dome scandal affecting the Harding administration, Republicans continued to enjoy strong political support in 1924 and in 1928, in part because of the unprecedented prosperity of the United States in the 1920s. The Republican presidential and congressional elections gathered landslide support in all regions of the United States except the South.

The election of Herbert Hoover in 1928 was an important victory for the Republicans. While the Republicans had already won two elections in the 1920s, Hoover's victory was more substantive. Hoover had been director general of the American Relief Administration in the aftermath of World War I. In the midst of general prosperity, Hoover campaigned on the slogan, "A Chicken in Every Pot, a car in every garage." A Quaker, Hoover represented old-fashioned Protestant rectitude against everything his political opponent Al Smith stood for: urbanism, cosmopolitanism, and Catholicism. Hoover won an over-whelming victory. Smith captured only the heavily Catholic states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Louisiana, and the Deep South states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, that scorned Republicans more than they feared Catholics.

As the Great Depression deepened, Hoover's inability to mount an effective mustering of moral and rhetorical resources was his most significant failure. Hoover was a lukewarm Republican Progressive and, as such, he tried a few half-hearted attempts to stimulate the economy, most notably with the National Recovery Administration. His worst failing was his insistence on old fashioned budget balancing, calling for tax increases as the economy shrank, and reducing government spending as revenues declined. The Republican Congress responded with an equally shortsighted policy: a ruinous increase in protective tariffs under the Smoot-Hawley tariffs, a vindictive form of trade policy that generated trade reprisals from America's principal trading partners and made economic recovery—for Europe, Japan, and America—that much more difficult.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victories in 1932 and 1936 pushed the Republicans into near-eclipse. The Democrats cemented the loyalties of a new generation of Americans in the cities, particularly southern and eastern Europeans, Catholics, Jews, and, for the first time in American politics, the most reliably Republican of all ethnic blocs: African Americans. With Roosevelt's campaign for a third term in 1940, the Republicans nominated a likeable, internationalist former Democrat, Wendell Willkie, who reduced the Democratic majorities. In 1946 the Republicans were able to regain control of Congress for the first time in sixteen years. Thanks to the cooperation of President Harry Truman and Senator Arthur Vandenberg, bipartisan internationalism prevailed in foreign policy, and Republicans were instrumental in supporting the Marshall Plan for European economic development, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the military alliance of Western Europe and North America organized against the Soviet Union, and the United Nations. A group of Republicans in Congress under the leadership of Representative Richard Nixon of California held investigations into the charges that the Roosevelt and Truman administrations had coddled Communists in their midst. This accusation and particularly the charges against State Department undersecretary Alger Hiss created ill will between Truman and the Republicans.

The Korean War and Republican charges of "Korea, Communism, and Corruption," helped defeat the Democrats in both the presidential and congressional elections of 1952. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the popular Allied commander of the European theater in World War II was elected president but his coattails did not allow for the control of Congress after the first two years. Republicans in the White House and in Congress proved unwilling, or unable to rein in Senator Joseph McCarthy's congressional investigations of Communists in government. Mc-Carthy's hearings sometimes appeared both farcical and brutal at the same time. Only after the public became aware of his excesses did the repressive climate end.

In 1956, despite a heart attack, Eisenhower was elected to a second term. He provided international stability and attempted to engage in serous disarmament talks with Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union. In domestic policy, Eisenhower made great gains. Working in collaboration with a bipartisan coalition in Congress, the president promoted federal aid to education, sent troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation, and supported a national network of inter-state highways. Nevertheless, Eisenhower's detached style of governing and the recession of the late 1950s contributed to a fall in his popularity.

In 1960 Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated Republican Richard Nixon. With Nixon's defeat, a group of new conservatives organized to overturn the Republican "Eastern Establishment." United under the banner of Senator Barry Goldwater, these conservatives secured Goldwater's nomination over the Establishment candidate Nelson Rockefeller. Although Goldwater was resoundingly defeated by Lyndon Johnson in 1964, the Republican Party was changed forever by the 1964 election: hereafter the party was more conservative, more issues-oriented, and more western and southern.

Richard Nixon was able to win election to the presidency in 1968 against a divided and discredited Democratic Party and with third-party candidate George Wallace taking the Deep South. In his first term Nixon united the conservatives and the moderates, and for the first time in the Republican Party's history, brought in large numbers of white southerners. This coalition, combined with conservative white ethnics in the North, brought Nixon a landslide victory in 1972. With the Watergate scandal and Nixon's resignation, the Republicans were badly defeated in congressional races in 1974 and Gerald Ford was defeated in the presidential race of 1976 by Jimmy Carter.

In 1980 Carter's difficulties with the Iranian government's refusal to return American hostages and the divisions within the Democrats weakened his claim on reelection in 1980. Ronald Reagan was elected president and succeeded in securing his legislative agenda, as no president had done for nearly twenty years. Working with a Republican Senate and a Democratic House of Representatives, Reagan sponsored a dramatic cut in taxes for those in the higher income brackets. His effort to scale back spending proved less effective, however. Nevertheless Reagan achieved impressive foreign policy triumphs. He negotiated substantial arms reduction with President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union. He was triumphantly reelected in 1984, and he remained very popular personally, despite his administration's involvement in trading arms to Iran for hostages.

His successor, George H. W. Bush, was also successful in presiding over a coalition of Americans, Arab states, and Europeans that achieved a military victory against Iraq, when that country invaded Kuwait. Bush remained at record levels of public approval until shortly before the 1992 election. In a three-way race with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, Bush was defeated.

In the first two years of the Clinton presidency the Republicans played a defensive strategy. With Clinton's failure to pass any form of his proposed health care legislation, the Republicans in Congress organized to defeat the Democratic majority in both houses. In what amounted to a public vote of no confidence in the Democratic Party, the Republicans took control of the Senate, and, for the first time in forty years, the House of Representatives as well. Under the effective electoral strategy of Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the Republicans maintained their majority in both houses for the rest of the decade. Their legislative strategy proved less effective. Republicans allowed the government to be shut down on two occasions in 1995, inconveniencing and alienating the public. Gingrich was unable to secure the passage of his Contract with America, which promised term limits and greater legislative accountability. The Republican candidate for president, former Kansas senator Robert Dole, was resoundingly defeated in 1996.

President Clinton's admission of contradictions between his sworn testimony and his actual behavior in his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky allowed the Republican leadership to launch the impeachment of Clinton on the grounds that he committed perjury. In his Senate trial, however, Clinton was acquitted because a majority of the Senate, including some moderate Republicans, refused to vote for his removal.

The election of 2000, between Vice President Albert Gore and Texas governor George W. Bush, resulted in an indeterminate result. After much investigation, the disputed electoral votes of Florida were awarded to Bush in a U.S. Supreme Court decision split straight down ideological lines. The Republicans only enjoyed complete control of the Congress for a few months after the election. The defection of Senator James Jeffords of Vermont to Independent allowed the Democrats to organize the Senate, and the government was once again under divided control.

Bibliography

Belz, Herman. A New Birth of Freedom: The Republican Party and Freedmen's Rights, 1861 to 1866. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1976.

Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852– 1856. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Marcus, Robert D. Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880–1896. New York, Oxford University Press, 1971.

Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854–1964. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.

McKinney, Gordon B. Southern Mountain Republicans, 1865– 1900: Politics and the Appalachian Community. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978.

Merrill, Horace Samuel, and Marion Galbraith Merrill. The Republican Command, 1897–1913. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1971.

Mohr, James C., ed. Radical Republicans in the North: State Politics during Reconstruction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.

Montgomery, David. Beyond Equality: Labor and the Radical Republicans. New York: Knopf, 1967.

Rae, Nicol C. The Decline and Fall of the Liberal Republicans: From 1952 to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

———. Conservative Reformers: Republican Freshmen and the Lessons of the 104th Congress. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1998.

Richardson, Heather Cox. The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post–Civil War North, 1865–1901. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996.

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Republican Party

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Republican Elephant

One hundred and fifty-five years ago today, the first official meeting of the Republican Party took place in Jackson, Michigan. It was organized by disgruntled members of the Democratic and Whig parties in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which would serve to repeal the anti-slavery laws in the Northern states. It quickly became the second largest political party in the United States. The Republicans ran John C. Fremont as their first candidate for President in 1856. He lost that race to Democrat James Buchanan. In 1860, Fremont once again announced his candidacy, but withdrew in favor of Abraham Lincoln, who became the first Republican President of the United States.

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Columbia Encyclopedia:

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Republican party, American political party.

Origins and Early Years

The name was first used by Thomas Jefferson's party, later called the Democratic Republican party or, simply, the Democratic party. The name reappeared in the 1850s, when the present-day Republican party was founded. At that time the crucial issue of the extension of slavery into the territories split the Democratic party and the Whig party, and opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 organized the new Republican party. Jackson, Mich., is called the birthplace of the party (July 6, 1854) and Joseph Medill is credited with having suggested its name, but these distinctions are also claimed for other places and other men.

By 1855 the new party was well launched in the North. Anti-slavery Whigs such as William Seward and Thurlow Weed were dominant in the new grouping, but elements of the Know-Nothing movement, together with the Free-Soil party, abolitionists, and anti-Nebraska Democrats also supplied strength. The party's national organization was perfected at Pittsburgh in Feb., 1856, and its first presidential candidate, John C. Frémont, made a creditable showing against victorious James Buchanan. The party opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the extension of slavery, denounced the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott Case, and favored the admission of Kansas as a free state.

The Civil War and Reconstruction Years

Generally belligerent toward the South, the Republicans were regarded by Southerners with mingled hatred and fear as sectional tension increased. They were successful in the elections of 1858 and passed over their better-known leaders to nominate Abraham Lincoln in 1860. The party platform in 1860 included planks calling for a high protective tariff, free homesteads, and a transcontinental railroad; these were bids for support among Westerners, farmers, and eastern manufacturing interests.

Lincoln's victory over Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell was the signal for the secession of the Southern states, and the Civil War followed. Union military failures early in the war and conservative opposition to such measures as the Emancipation Proclamation caused the party to lose ground in the Congressional elections of 1862. But despite mutterings against his leadership, Lincoln, renominated on the Union (Republican) ticket in 1864, defeated Gen. George B. McClellan.

Although a separate ticket headed by the radical Frémont withdrew before the election in 1864, the cleavage within the party between radicals and moderates widened as the war progressed. Radicals such as Benjamin F. Wade, Henry W. Davis, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Edwin M. Stanton advocated a punitive policy for the South, while Lincoln and the moderates were inclined to leniency. The division was made complete when, after Lincoln's assassination, his successor, Andrew Johnson, adopted a moderate program of Reconstruction. Johnson, a Jacksonian Democrat from Tennessee, had been added to the ticket in 1864 to strengthen the idea of a Union party. Ultimately his policies and attempts to implement them antagonized his supporters among the moderate Republicans and paved the way for the triumph of the radicals in the congressional elections of 1866. The height of radical power was reached in 1868 with the impeachment of Johnson, which was defeated by only a one-vote margin.

The nomination of the war hero Ulysses S. Grant assured Republican success over the Democrats led by Horatio Seymour in the presidential election of 1868. The radicals were supreme under Grant, but their excesses and the open scandals of the administration created a new schism, leading to the formation of the Liberal Republican party. Its candidate, Horace Greeley, although supported by the Democrats, was not popular enough to defeat Grant in 1872, and corruption became even more widespread.

The election of 1876 indicated that radical Republicanism had lost much of its popular support. The Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden, received a popular plurality of over 250,000 votes, but the disputed electoral votes of Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana, the only Southern states still under Republican control, were awarded to Rutherford B. Hayes, and the Republican was declared President-elect. With the election, however, Republican domination of the South and radical rule of the party were definitely ended.

The Late Nineteenth Century

In the period that followed, the two parties differed little in their programs. Each party had numerous almost irreconcilable factions, and each avoided taking any real stand on controversial issues, which were generally left to lesser political groups such as the Granger movement and the Greenback party. The Republicans favored a protective tariff and the Democrats a tariff for revenue only, but even this traditional distinction was not rigidly kept. However, the Republican tariff policy was the work of leaders of the new industrial capitalism, whose influence in party councils began to be strongly felt under Grant.

The Republican "old guard," led by Roscoe Conkling, while failing to secure a third nomination for Grant in 1880, nevertheless temporarily blocked the presidential aspirations of James G. Blaine. Another ex-Union general, James A. Garfield, was nominated and was elected over a Democratic general, Winfield S. Hancock. Assassinated shortly after taking office, Garfield was succeeded by Vice President Chester A. Arthur.

In these postwar elections, the party, always supported by the Grand Army of the Republic, denounced all Democrats as former Copperheads and claimed to have alone saved the Union. But "waving the bloody shirt," as this type of propaganda was styled, was not enough to elect Blaine in 1884. The reform wing of the party, led by Carl Schurz, deserted Blaine for the conservative Democrat Grover Cleveland, who was elected. This defection by the mugwumps illustrated the lack of real issues between the two parties; it was the man and not the party that counted. Benjamin Harrison defeated Cleveland in 1888 but lost to him in 1892. The growing Populist party, with its radical program, had a peculiar position in those elections, receiving in each section of the country the support of the party not in power.

McKinley through Coolidge

When, in 1896, the Democratic party was captured by the radicals under William Jennings Bryan, its presidential candidate in 1896, 1900, and 1908, the Republican party became openly the champion of the gold standard and conservative economic doctrines. The conservatives, skillfully guided by national chairman Marcus A. Hanna, won with William McKinley in 1896 and 1900, and under such leaders as Nelson W. Aldrich, Thomas B. Reed, Joseph G. Cannon, Thomas C. Platt, and Matthew S. Quay, the party prospered. Theodore Roosevelt, successor to the assassinated McKinley, easily defeated the conservative Democrat Alton B. Parker in 1904, and the vigorous foreign policy of his administration fostered the belief that the Republicans stood for the imperialism represented by the recent Spanish-American War.

Under Roosevelt's Republican successor and friend, William Howard Taft, "dollar diplomacy" flourished, but a new rift appeared in the party. Insurgents led by Senator Robert M. La Follette balked at the party's conservatism and when the regulars renominated Taft in 1912, most of the dissidents withdrew and in the Bull Moose convention chose Roosevelt to lead the new Progressive party ticket. Because of this division, the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, was elected President and, narrowly reelected in 1916 over Charles Evans Hughes, he served through World War I. The party, however, won the Congressional elections of 1918, and Republican opposition was a large factor in defeating Wilson's peace program. By straddling the issue of the League of Nations and calling for a return to "normalcy," the party easily elected Warren G. Harding in 1920. His administration rivaled Grant's for corruption, but after Harding died in office, his successor, Calvin Coolidge, was returned over John W. Davis and La Follette.

Depression and World War II

The Republican victory with Herbert C. Hoover in 1928 marked the first time since the end of Reconstruction that the party had carried states of the old Confederacy; this came about chiefly because the Democratic candidate, Alfred E. Smith, was a Roman Catholic and an opponent of prohibition. Hoover and the Republicans were blamed for the disastrous economic depression that soon enveloped the country, and the Democrats, under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, were swept into office in 1932. The frustrated Republicans were never able to break the remarkable hold of Roosevelt and the New Deal on the electorate and regularly went down to defeat every four years, with Alfred M. Landon (1936), Wendell Willkie (1940), and Thomas E. Dewey (1944).

Isolationists held the upper hand in the party before World War II, and in 1940 two Republicans, Henry L. Stimson and Frank Knox, were virtually read out of the party for accepting posts in Roosevelt's cabinet. But the party supported the nation's war effort and after the war, led by Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, joined the Democratic administration in a bipartisan foreign policy. In 1948 the Republican party was supremely confident of defeating Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman. However, Dewey, the party's first unsuccessful candidate ever to be renominated, was defeated by a close margin.

Eisenhower and Nixon

In 1952, the more liberal element among the Republicans was able to deny the conservatives' choice, Robert A. Taft, choosing instead the popular war hero, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as their presidential nominee. Campaigning against the domestic policy of the Truman administration and its prosecution of the war in Korea, Eisenhower swept to a landslide victory over the Democratic candidate, Adlai E. Stevenson. The domestic program of the Eisenhower adminstration was moderately conservative, and in foreign policy the internationalist approach of the previous Democratic administration was continued. Despite the President's overwhelming personal popularity and his landslide reelection over Stevenson in 1956, a feat that included carrying several Southern states for the second consecutive time, the Democrats retained control of Congress through the 1960 elections.

In 1960, an incumbent Vice President, Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president for the first time since 1836. Although the Republican party had become a minority in registration, Nixon failed by fewer than 200,000 votes to defeat John F. Kennedy. In 1964 the conservative wing of the party engineered the nomination of Senator Barry Goldwater, who was, however, defeated in a landslide by Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968 the party rebounded and won a narrow victory with party stalwart Richard Nixon over Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey, who was handicapped by disaffection over the Vietnam War. In 1972, President Nixon was triumphantly reelected, defeating George McGovern on a record of favoring a strong defense with a limited détente with the Soviet Union and China, and a conservative domestic program featuring a decentralization of political power.

The party, however, suffered a series of massive setbacks with the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew upon his conviction for tax evasion and revelations of major White House involvement in the Watergate affair, which led finally to the resignation of President Nixon. Nixon's successor, Gerald R. Ford, attempted to disassociate the party from the scandals, but Watergate appeared to be a major factor in the substantial Republican losses in the 1974 elections and in the subsequent defeat of Ford by the Democrat Jimmy Carter.

The Reagan-Bush Years to the Present

In 1980, the conservative Ronald Reagan, a former supporter of Barry Goldwater, regained the presidency for the Republicans and reversed long-standing political trends by instituting a supply-side economic program of budget and tax cuts. He also advocated increased military spending and presided over the largest military buildup during peacetime in American history. The Iran-contra affair, which broke in late 1986, marred the last years of his tenure, though his vice president, George H. W. Bush, was nonetheless able to defeat the Democratic nominee, Michael Dukakis, in the 1988 election. The Reagan years were marked by the increasing influence of social conservatives in the party, a trend that continued into the 21st cent.

Bush was generally recognized as strong on foreign policy. He was widely lauded for his role in orchestrating the coalition of forces against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. He also largely continued Reagan's policy toward the Soviet Union. On the domestic side, however, Bush's administration was perceived as being slow to respond to such problems as stagnant economic growth, rising unemployment, and the unaffordability of health care for many Americans. Bush's high popularity after the Persian Gulf War dropped rapidly, and he lost the 1992 presidential election to the Democrat, Arkansas's Governor Bill Clinton.

In the 1994 congressional and state elections, however, the Republican party scored major victories and increased its hold in the South. Republicans unseated long-time Democratic incumbents, winning control of both houses of Congress (for the first time since the 1950s) and claiming several governorships. Newt Gingrich, who spearheaded the Republicans' congressional election campaign with his conservative "Contract with America" program, became speaker of the House. While bills were passed on the key program components, many items were thwarted or defeated in Congress or by the president.

The 1996 elections saw incumbents generally retain their offices. Former Senate majority leader Bob Dole won the Republican nomination for the presidency, but he and his running mate, Jack Kemp, were never able to reduce significantly President Clinton's substantial lead. In the House and Senate, Republicans retained their majorities, slightly diminished in the former and slightly increased in the latter. The 1998 mid-term elections saw the Republican margin in the House reduced, despite expectations that they would benefit from the effects of the Lewinsky scandal; the results led to Gingrich's resignation from office.

In the 2000 elections, the party's presidential nominee, George W. Bush appeared generally to lead in the polls in what ultimately became a popular-vote loss to Democrat Al Gore. Despite not winning the popular vote. Bush secured the presidency with a victory in the electoral college when he won Florida by an extremely narrow margin and outlasted Gore's unsuccessful court challenge of the Florida vote-counting process. The party did not fair as well in other races for national office, and the Democrats made gains in Congress, although the Republicans retained control there.

The party lost control of the Senate as a result of a defection in mid-2001, but regained it after the Nov., 2002, elections. In 2004, Bush was renominated without opposition, and he subsequently soundly defeated the Democratic nominee, John Kerry. The Republicans also increased their majorities in both houses of Congress, as retiring Senate Democrats from the South were replaced by Republicans. Public discontent with congressional scandals and the war in Iraq led to reversals in the congressional elections of 2006, however, and the party lost control of both houses of Congress, albeit narrowly in the Senate.

Those losses were amplified in 2008 when Democrat Barack Obama, aided by a national economic crisis, defeated Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and led the Democrats to their largest national victory since 1976. Continuing economic uncertainty and a lackluster recovery led to significant Republican gains in the 2010 midterm elections that reversed many previous Democrat gains. The party won control of the House of Representative as well as additional U.S. Senate seats and governorships. At the same time, however, the rise of the conservative movement known as the Tea Party, which had a significant influence on many Republican primary races and contributed subsequently to many general election victories, led to some tensions and splits with the party.

Bibliography

See H. L. Trefousse, The Radical Republicans (1968); E. Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men (1970); F. L. Burdette, The Republican Party (2d ed. 1972); E. Lindop, All about Republicans (1985); W. Gienapp, The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-56 (1988); F. Schwengel, The Republican Party (1988); L. L. Gould, Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans (2003).

West's Encyclopedia of American Law:

Republican Party

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The Republican party was founded in 1854 by a group of renegade Democrats, Whigs, and political independents who opposed the expansion of slavery into new U.S. territories and states. What began as a single-issue, independent party became a major political force in the United States. Six years after the new party was formed, Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln won the U.S. presidential election. The Republican party and its counterpart, the Democratic party, became the mainstays of the nation's de facto two-party system.

Lincoln's victory in 1860 signaled the demise of the Whig party and the ascendance of Republican politics. From 1860 to 1931, the Republicans dominated U.S. presidential elections. Only two Democrats were elected to the White House during the seventy-year period of Republican preeminence.

The early Republican party was shaped by political conscience and regionalism. Throughout the early and mid-nineteenth century, states in the North and South were bitterly divided over the issues of slavery and state sovereignty. In 1854 the enactment of the Kansas-Nebraska Act inflamed political passions. Under the act residents of the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska could decide whether to permit slavery in their regions. In effect, the act invalidated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited the extension of slavery in new areas of the United States. Opponents of slavery condemned the measure, and violence erupted in Kansas.

Antislavery parties had already sprung up in the United States. The abolitionist Liberty party began in 1840, and the Free Soil party was formed in 1848. In much the same spirit, the Republican party arose to protest the Nebraska-Kansas Act. The new group drew support from third parties and disaffected Democrats and Whigs. After organizational meetings in 1854 in Ripon, Wisconsin, and Jackson, Michigan, the Republican party was born.

In 1856 the Republicans nominated their first presidential candidate, John C. Frémont, a former explorer who opposed the expansion of slavery in new U.S. territories and states. Although defeated in the national election by Democrat James Buchanan, Frémont received one-third of the popular vote.

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln from Illinois was the Republican presidential nominee. Lincoln appealed not only to antislavery voters but to business owners in the East and farmers in the Midwest. The Democratic party was in turmoil over slavery. The northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas, who tried to sidestep the issue, and the southern Democrats backed John C. Breckinridge, who denounced government efforts to prohibit slavery. Lincoln defeated both candidates.

Although Lincoln's election was a triumph for the Republicans, his support was concentrated primarily in the North. Shortly after Lincoln's victory, several southern states seceded from the Union, and the bloody U.S. Civil War began.

Throughout the war Lincoln and his policies took a drubbing from the press and public. When Lincoln ran for reelection, the Republican party temporarily switched its name to the Union party. Lincoln sought a second term with Democrat Andrew Johnson as his running mate in order to deflect criticism of the Republican party. Johnson, from Tennessee, was one of the few southerners to support the preservation of the Union. Despite his critics Lincoln defeated the Democratic nominee, George B. McClellan, who ran on a peace platform.

After the North's victory in 1865, the Republicans oversaw Reconstruction, a period of rebuilding for the vanquished South. Lincoln favored a more conciliatory attitude toward the defeated Confederacy. Radical Republicans, however, sought a complete overhaul of the South's economic and social system. After Lincoln's assassination in 1865, the Republicans' Reconstruction policies — such as conferring citizenship and voting rights to former slaves — created long-lasting resentment among many southern whites.

Republicans depended upon the support of northern voters and courted the vote of emancipated slaves. The party fanned hostility by reminding northern voters of the South's disloyalty during the war. The Republicans were the dominant party in the United States from 1860 to 1931, and the party's base among southern whites began to grow in the 1950s, when political loyalties began to shift.

During their long period of political dominance, Republicans sent the following candidates to the White House: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield (died in office), Chester A. Arthur (vice president who succeeded Garfield), Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley (died in office), Theodore Roosevelt (vice president who succeeded McKinley and was later elected on his own), William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.

During the 1880s and 1890s, there was an important shift in party affiliation. Struggling Republican farmers throughout the Midwest, South, and West switched their political allegiance to the Democrats who promised them government assistance. The financially strapped farmers were concerned about the depressed national economy. Many turned to the populist movement headed by Democrat William Jennings Bryan. A brilliant orator, Bryan called for the free coinage of silver currency, whereas the Republicans favored the gold standard.

Despite his popularity Bryan was defeated by Republican William McKinley in the 1896 presidential election. The Democrats appealed to farmers, but the Republicans had captured the business and urban vote. After the U.S. economy improved during the McKinley administration, supporters dubbed the Republican party "the Grand Old Party," or the GOP, a nickname that endured.

After President McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency. He pursued ambitious social reforms such as stricter antitrust laws, tougher meat and drug regulations, and new environmental measures. In 1912 Roosevelt and his followers broke off from the Republicans to form the Bull Moose party. The third party split helped Democrat Woodrow Wilson defeat Republican candidate William Howard Taft.

After eight years of Democratic power, during which the U.S. fought in World War I, the Republicans returned to the White House in 1920 with Warren G. Harding. Unable to stave off or reverse the Great Depression, the Republicans lost control of the Oval Office in 1932.

During the Great Depression, the public became impatient with the ineffectual economic policies of Republican President Herbert Hoover. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt swept into the White House with a promise of a New Deal for all Americans. From 1932 to 1945, Roosevelt lifted the nation from its economic collapse and guided it through World War II. During Roosevelt's administration the Republican party lost its traditional constituency of African Americans and urban workers. Harry S. Truman followed Roosevelt in office and in 1948 withstood a strong challenge from Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won the presidency in 1952 and 1956. A popular World War II hero, Eisenhower oversaw a good economy and a swift end to the Korean War. Eisenhower was succeeded in 1960 by Democrat John F. Kennedy who defeated Eisenhower's vice president, Republican nominee Richard M. Nixon. In 1964 Republicans nominated ultraconservative Barry M. Goldwater who was trounced at the polls by Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson, the incumbent. Johnson, Ken- nedy's vice president, had assumed the presidency after Kennedy's assassination in 1963.

When Republican Richard M. Nixon was elected president in 1968, he began the reduction of U.S. military troops in Southeast Asia. Nixon opened trade with China and improved foreign relations through a policy of detente with the former Soviet Union. During his term the shift of southern Democrats to the Republican party accelerated. (In fact, from 1972 to 1988, the South was the most Republican region of the United States.)

The nadir for the Republican party occurred in 1974 when Nixon left office in the midst of the Watergate scandal, a botched attempt to burglarize and wiretap the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Implicated in the scandal's cover-up, Nixon became the only president in U.S. history to resign from office. He was succeeded by Vice President Gerald R. Ford of Michigan who served the remainder of Nixon's term and pardoned the disgraced president.

Ford lost the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter of Georgia. A sour economy and the bungling of foreign affairs (most notably the Iran hostage crisis) led to Carter's defeat in 1980 by Republican challenger Ronald Reagan and his running mate, George Bush.

The Republicans controlled the White House for twelve years, with Reagan serving two terms and Bush one. During Reagan's tenure, southern Democrats turned in droves to the Republican party, embracing Reagan's politically conservative message. Pointing to widespread ticket-splitting, many analysts believe voters embraced the charismatic Reagan, not the party. Bush became president in 1988 but was defeated in 1992, by Democrat Bill Clinton of Arkansas.

Although considered the party of business and the suburbs, the GOP has made significant inroads in traditionally Democratic areas such as labor and the South. An extremely conservative element dominated the Republican party in the 1980s, but a more moderate wing began to exert influence in the late 1990s. Many of these moderates were elected to Congress in 1994, giving the Republicans control of both houses for the first time in more than 40 years.

See: election campaign financing; independent parties.

Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: History:

Republican party

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A political party that began in 1854 and is today one of the two major political parties in the United States. Originally, it was composed mainly of northerners from both major parties of the time, the Democrats and the Whigs, with some former Know-Nothings as well. The first Republicans were united by their opposition to the expansion of slavery. Their first winning presidential candidate was Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

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The Republican Party, one of the two principal political parties of the United States, was founded in 1854 by those opposing the extension of slavery into new territories. The party mustered enough support to elect their candidate in 1860, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). During the 1880s party members nicknamed themselves the Grand Old Party; the vestige of this nickname is still around today, as the GOP. There have been 17 Republican presidents.

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The Republican Party is the other major political party in the United States. It is represented by the Republican National Committee (RNC), which is the national party organization for the Republicans. The RNC functions as DNC’s counterpart, and accomplishes many of the same functions. The Republican Party is also referred to as the GOP, although the acronym’s meaning has changed with time. In 1875, GOP stood for the “Gallant Old Party,” 1876 references called it the “Grand Old Party,” and during the 1964 presidential campaign, “Go-Party” was briefly used as the meaning behind the acronym. The Republican Party tends to take a more conservative stand on issues, maintaining that the federal government should not play a major role in individuals’ lives. Most Republicans favor lower taxes and less government spending on social programs, as well as less government intervention in business and the economy.

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Republican Party (United States)

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"GOP" redirects here. For other uses, see GOP (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with American Republican Party, Democratic-Republican Party, or National Republican Party.

Republican Party

Chairman	Reince Priebus (WI)
Senate Leader	Mitch McConnell (Minority Leader) (KY) Jon Kyl (Minority Whip) (AZ)
House Leader	John Boehner (Speaker) (OH) Eric Cantor (Majority Leader) (VA) Kevin McCarthy (Majority Whip) (CA)
Chair of Governors Association	Bob McDonnell (VA)
Founded	1854
Preceded by	Whig Party Free Soil Party
Headquarters	310 First Street NE Washington, D.C. 20003
Student wing	College Republicans
Youth wing	Young Republicans Teenage Republicans
Ideology	Conservatism (American) • Social conservatism • Fiscal conservatism • Economic liberalism • Libertarian conservatism
International affiliation	International Democrat Union
Official colors	Red
Position in national political spectrum	Center-right
Seats in the Senate	47 / 100
Seats in the House	242 / 435
Governorships	29 / 50
State Upper House Seats	1,001 / 1,921
State Lower House Seats	3,021 / 5,410
Website
www.gop.com
Politics of United States Political parties Elections

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP (Grand Old Party). The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S. political spectrum and is considered center-right, in contrast to the center-left Democratic Party.^[1]^[2]^[3]

In the 112th Congress, elected in 2010, the Republican Party holds a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, and a minority of seats in the Senate. The party holds the majority of governorships, as well as the majority of state legislatures, and control of one chamber in five states.

Contents

1 History
- 1.1 20th century
2 Name and symbols
3 Structure and composition
4 Ideology and political positions
5 National defense and military spending
6 Other international policies
7 Voter base
8 Trends
9 2012 election
10 State and territorial parties
11 See also
12 Footnotes
13 References
14 External links

History

Main article: History of the United States Republican Party

Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President (1861–1865)

Founded in Northern States in 1854 by anti-slavery activists, modernizers, ex-Whigs and ex-Free Soilers, the Republican Party quickly became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the briefly popular Know Nothing Party. The main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil. The first public meeting where the name "Republican" was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20, 1854 in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin.^[4]

The first official party convention was held on July 6, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. By 1858, the Republicans dominated nearly all Northern states. The Republican Party first came to power in 1860 with the election of Lincoln to the Presidency and Republicans in control of Congress and the northern states. It oversaw the saving of the union, the destruction of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877.^[5]

The Republicans' initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest. With the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 Presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states. Early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan "free labor, free land, free men."^[6]

"Free labor" referred to the Republican opposition to slave labor and belief in independent artisans and businessmen. "Free land" referred to Republican opposition to plantation system whereby the rich could buy up all the good farm land and work it with slaves, leaving the yeoman independent farmers the leftovers. The Party had the goal of containing the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the Slave Power and the expansion of freedom.^[7]

Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of saving the Union and destroying slavery during the American Civil War and over Reconstruction. In the election of 1864, it united with pro-war Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket.

The party's success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s. Those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the spoils system; the Half-Breeds pushed for reform of the civil service.

The GOP supported business generally, hard money (i.e., the gold standard), high tariffs to promote economic growth, high wages and high profits, generous pensions for Union veterans, and (after 1893) the annexation of Hawaii. The Republicans supported the pietistic Protestants who demanded Prohibition. As the Northern post-bellum economy boomed with heavy and light industry, railroads, mines, fast-growing cities and prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to sustain the fast growth.

Nevertheless, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers. The high McKinley Tariff of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections, even defeating McKinley himself.

After the two terms of Democrat Grover Cleveland, the election of William McKinley in 1896 is widely seen as a resurgence of Republican dominance and is sometimes cited as a realigning election. McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the Panic of 1893, and that the GOP would guarantee a sort of pluralism in which all groups would benefit.

20th century

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (1901–1909)

Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (1953-1961)

Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (1981–1989)

The Republicans were cemented as the party of business, though mitigated by the succession of Theodore Roosevelt who embraced trust busting. He later ran on a third party ticket of the Progressive Party and challenged his previous successor William Howard Taft. The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a platform of opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests.

Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in 1920, 1924, and 1928 respectively. The Teapot Dome scandal threatened to hurt the party but Harding died and Coolidge blamed everything on him, as the opposition splintered in 1924. The pro-business policies of the decade seemed to produce an unprecedented prosperity until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded the Great Depression.

The New Deal coalition of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower. African Americans moved into the Democratic Party during Roosevelt's time. After Roosevelt took office in 1933, New Deal legislation sailed through Congress at lightning speed. In the 1934 midterm elections, 10 Republican senators went down to defeat, leaving them with only 25 against 71 Democrats. The House of Representatives was split in a similar ratio.

Republicans in Congress heavily criticized the "Second New Deal" and likened it to class warfare and socialism. The volume of legislation, and the inability of the Republicans to block it, soon elevated the level of opposition to Roosevelt. Conservative Democrats, mostly from the South, joined with Republicans led by Senator Robert Taft to create the conservative coalition, which dominated domestic issues in Congress until 1964. The Republicans recaptured Congress in 1946 after gaining 13 seats in the Senate and 55 seats in the House.

The second half of the 20th century saw election or succession of Republican presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. The Republican Party, led by House Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich campaigning on the Contract with America, was elected to majorities to both houses of Congress in the Republican Revolution of 1994.

The Senate majority lasted until 2001, when the Senate became split evenly but was regained in the 2002 elections. Both Republican majorities in the House and Senate were held until the Democrats regained control in the mid-term elections of 2006. In the 21st century, the Republican Party has been defined by social conservatism, a preemptive war foreign policy intended to defeat terrorism and promote global democracy, a more powerful executive branch, supply-side economics, support for gun ownership, and deregulation.

In the Presidential election of 2008, the party's nominees were Senator John McCain, of Arizona, for President and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President. They were defeated by Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. In 2009, Republicans Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell were elected to the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia.

2010 was a year of political success for the GOP, starting with the stunning upset win of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts special Senate election for the seat held for many decades by the Kennedy brothers. November 2010 saw a GOP, retaking control of the House, increasing their number of seats in the Senate, and gaining a majority of governorships.^[8]

In state legislatures Republicans gained 680 seats, the biggest gain by either party since 1966, which surpassed Democratic gains in the election of 1974. Republicans now hold approximately 3,890 of the total state legislative seats in the U.S., about 53 percent. That is the most seats in the GOP column since 1928. The Republicans will now control at least 54 of the 99 state legislative chambers, the highest number since 1952.^[9]

Name and symbols

1874 Nast cartoon featuring the first notable appearance of the Republican elephant^[10]

The red "GOP" logo used by the party for its website

The party's founding members chose the name "Republican Party" in the mid-1850s as homage to the values of republicanism promoted by Thomas Jefferson's Republican party.^[11] The idea for the name came from an editorial by the party's leading publicist Horace Greeley, who called for, "some simple name like 'Republican' [that] would more fitly designate those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery."^[12] The name reflects the 1776 republican values of civic virtue and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.^[13]

The term "Grand Old Party" is a traditional nickname for the Republican Party, and the abbreviation "G.O.P." (or "GOP") is a commonly used designation.^[14]

The traditional mascot of the party is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.^[15] In the early 20th century, the usual symbol of the Republican Party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic rooster. This symbol still appears on Indiana, New York,^[16]^{[dead link]} and West Virginia^[17]^{[dead link]} ballots.

After the 2000 election, the color red became associated with the GOP, although the party has not officially adopted it. That election night, for the first time, all of the major broadcast networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map: states won by Republican nominee George W. Bush were colored red, and states won by Democratic nominee Al Gore were colored blue. Although the assignment of colors to political parties is unofficial and informal, they have come to be widely recognized by the media to represent the respective political parties (see Political color and Red states and blue states for more details).

Structure and composition

Further information: Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is responsible for promoting Republican campaign activities. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. Its current chairman is Reince Priebus. The chairman of the RNC is chosen by the President when the Republicans have the White House or otherwise by the Party's state committees.

The RNC, under the direction of the party's presidential candidate, supervises the Republican National Convention, raises funds, and coordinates campaign strategy. On the local level, there are similar state committees in every state and most large cities, counties and legislative districts, but they have far less money and influence than the national body.

The Republican House and Senate caucuses have separate fundraising and strategy committees. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) assists in House races, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in Senate races. They each raise over $100 million per election cycle, and play important roles in recruiting strong state candidates, while the Republican Governors Association (RGA) assists in state gubernatorial races; it is currently chaired by Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia.

Ideology and political positions

Conservatism in the United States
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History Timeline
People Calvin Coolidge · Herbert Hoover · Dwight D. Eisenhower · Richard Nixon · Gerald Ford · Ronald Reagan · George H. W. Bush · George W. Bush · Barry Goldwater · Irving Babbitt · Russell Kirk · William F. Buckley, Jr. · Irving Kristol · Jerry Falwell
Parties Republican Party · Constitution Party · The American Party ·
Variants Old Right · Black conservatism · Christian Right · Reaganomics · Tea Party movement
See also Bibliography

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Further information: Factions in the Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party includes fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, neoconservatives, moderates, and libertarians. Prior to the formation of the conservative coalition, which helped realign the Democratic and Republican party ideologies in the mid-1960s, the party historically advocated classical liberalism, paleoconservatism, and progressivism.

Economic policies

Republicans emphasize the role of free markets and individual achievement as the primary factors behind economic prosperity. To this end, they favor laissez-faire economics, fiscal conservatism, and the promotion of personal responsibility over welfare programs.

A leading economic theory advocated by modern Republicans is supply-side economics. Some fiscal policies influenced by this theory were popularly known as Reaganomics, a term popularized during the Presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan. This theory holds that reduced income tax rates increase GDP growth and thereby generate the same or more revenue for the government from the smaller tax on the extra growth.^[18] This belief is reflected, in part, by the party's long-term advocacy of tax cuts. Many Republicans consider the income tax system to be inherently inefficient and oppose graduated tax rates, which they believe are unfairly targeted at those who create jobs and wealth. They believe private spending is usually more efficient than government spending. Republicans oppose the estate tax.

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Most Republicans agree there should be a "safety net" to assist the less fortunate; however, they tend to believe the private sector is more effective in helping the poor than government is; as a result, Republicans support giving government grants to faith-based and other private charitable organizations to supplant welfare spending. Members of the GOP also believe that limits on eligibility and benefits must be in place to ensure the safety net is not abused. Republicans introduced and strongly supported the welfare reform of 1996, which was signed into law by Democratic President Clinton, and which limited eligibility for welfare, successfully leading to many former welfare recipients finding jobs.^[19]^[20]

The party opposes a government-run single-payer health care system, believing such a system constitutes socialized medicine, and is in favor of a personal or employer-based system of insurance, supplemented by Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid, which covers approximately 40% of the poor.^[21] The GOP has a mixed record of supporting the historically popular Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs. Congressional Republicans and the Bush administration supported a reduction in Medicaid's growth rate;^[22] however, congressional Republicans expanded Medicare, supporting a new drug plan for seniors starting in 2006.

In 2011, House Republicans overwhelmingly voted for a proposal named The Path to Prosperity and for major changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and the 2010 Health Care Legislation. Many Republicans support increased health insurance portability, laws promoting coverage of pre-existing medical conditions, a cap on malpractice lawsuits, the implementation of a streamlined electronic medical records system, an emphasis on preventative care rather than emergency room care, and tax benefits aimed at making health insurance more affordable for the uninsured and targeted to promote universal access. They generally oppose government funding for elective abortions.^[23]

Republicans are generally opposed by labor union management and members, and have supported various legislation on the state and federal levels, including right to work legislation and the Taft-Hartley Act, which gives workers the right not to participate in unions, as opposed to a closed shop, which prohibits workers from choosing not to join unions in workplaces. Some Republicans are opposed to increases in the minimum wage, believing that such increases hurt many businesses by forcing them to cut jobs and services, export jobs overseas, and raise the prices of goods to compensate for the decrease in profit.

Separation of powers and balance of powers

United States Bill of Rights

Many contemporary Republicans voice support of strict constructionism, the judicial philosophy that the Constitution should be interpreted narrowly and as close to the original intent as is practicable rather than a more flexible "living Constitution" model.^[24] Most Republicans point to Roe v. Wade as a case of judicial activism, where the court overturned most laws restricting abortion on the basis of a right to privacy inferred from the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Some Republicans have actively sought to block judges whom they see as being activist judges and have sought the appointment of judges who claim to practice judicial restraint. Other Republicans, though, argue that it is the right of judges to extend the interpretation of the Constitution and judge actions by the legislative or executive branches as legal or unconstitutional on previously unarticulated grounds. The issue of judicial deference to the legislature is a matter of some debate — like the Democrats, most Republicans criticize court decisions that overturn their own (conservative) legislation as overstepping bounds and support decisions that overturn opposing legislation. Some commentators have advocated that the Republicans take a more aggressive approach and support legislative supremacy more firmly.^[25]

The Republican Party has supported various bills within the last decade to strip some or all federal courts of the ability to hear certain types of cases, in an attempt to limit judicial review. These jurisdiction stripping laws have included removing federal review of the recognition of same-sex marriage with the Marriage Protection Act,^[26] the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance with the Pledge Protection Act, and the rights of detainees in Guantanamo Bay in the Detainee Treatment Act. The Supreme Court overruled the last of these limitations in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

Compared with Democrats, many Republicans believe in a more robust version of federalism with greater limitations placed upon federal power and a larger role reserved for the States. Following this view on federalism, Republicans often take a less expansive reading of congressional power under the Commerce Clause, such as in the opinion of William Rehnquist in United States v. Lopez. Many Republicans on the more libertarian wing wish for a more dramatic narrowing of Commerce Clause power by revisiting, among other cases, Wickard v. Filburn, a case that held that growing wheat on a farm for consumption on the same farm fell under congressional power to "regulate commerce ... among the several States".

President George W. Bush was a proponent of the unitary executive theory and cited it within his Signing statements about legislation passed by Congress.^[27] The administration's interpretation of the unitary executive theory was called seriously into question by Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, where the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the President does not have sweeping powers to override or ignore laws through his power as commander in chief,^[28] stating "the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails".^[29] Following the ruling, the Bush administration has sought Congressional authorization for programs started only on executive mandate, as was the case with the Military Commissions Act, or abandoned programs it had previously asserted executive authority to enact, in the case of the National Security Agency domestic wiretapping program.

Environmental policies

The Republican Party has long supported the protection of the environment. For example, Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was a prominent conservationist whose policies eventually led to the creation of the modern National Park Service.^[30] Republican President Richard Nixon was responsible for establishing the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.^[31] More recently, California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the support of 16 other states, sued the Federal Government and the United States Environmental Protection Agency for the right to set vehicle emission standards higher than the Federal Standard,^[32] a right to which California is entitled under the Clean Air Act.

This association however has shifted as the Democratic Party came to also support environmentalism. For example, Democratic President Bill Clinton did not send the Kyoto Protocol to the U.S. Senate for ratification, as he thought it unfair to the United States.^[33] President George W. Bush also publicly opposed ratification of the Kyoto Protocols on the grounds that they unfairly targeted Western industrialized nations such as the United States while favoring developing Global South polluters such as China and India.

In 2000, the Republican Party adopted as part of its platform support for the development of market-based solutions to environmental problems. According to the platform, "economic prosperity and environmental protection must advance together, environmental regulations should be based on science, the government’s role should be to provide market-based incentives to develop the technologies to meet environmental standards, we should ensure that environmental policy meets the needs of localities, and environmental policy should focus on achieving results processes."^[34]

The Bush administration,^[35] along with several of the candidates that sought the Republican Presidential nomination in 2008,^[36]^[37]^[38] supported increased Federal investment into the development of clean alternative fuels, increased nuclear power, and well as fuels such as ethanol, as a way of helping the U.S. achieve energy independence, as opposed to supporting less use of carbon dioxide-producing methods of generating energy. McCain supports the cap-and-trade policy, a policy that is quite popular among Democrats but much less so among other Republicans. Some Republicans support increased oil drilling in currently protected areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a position that has drawn sharp criticism from some activists.

Social policies

Social services

Some Republicans favor faith-based initiatives. There are some exceptions, especially in the Northeast and Pacific Coast states.

Race

They are generally against affirmative action for women and some minorities, often describing it as a quota system, believing that it is not meritocratic and that is counter-productive socially by only further promoting discrimination. Many Republicans support race-neutral admissions policies in universities but support taking into account the socioeconomic status of the student.^[39]^[40]

Capital punishment

Most of the GOP's membership favors capital punishment and stricter punishments as a means to prevent crime.

Gun rights

Republicans generally support gun ownership rights and oppose laws regulating guns, although some Republicans in urban areas sometimes favor limited restrictions on the grounds that they are necessary to protect safety in large cities.

Education

Most Republicans support school choice through charter schools and school vouchers for private schools; many have denounced the performance of the public school system and the teachers' unions. The party has insisted on a system of greater accountability for public schools, most prominently in recent years with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Many Republicans, however, opposed the creation of the United States Department of Education when it was initially created in 1979.

Some in the religious wing of the party support voluntary organized prayer in public schools and the teaching of intelligent design in science classes.

Abortion and related issues

A majority of the GOP's national and state candidates are pro-life and oppose elective abortion on religious or moral grounds.

Although the GOP has voted for increases in government funding of scientific research, some members actively oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research beyond the original lines because it involves the destruction of human embryos (which many consider ethically equivalent to abortion), while arguing for applying research money into adult stem cell or amniotic stem cell research. The stem cell issue has garnered two once-rare vetoes on research funding bills from President Bush, who said the research "crossed a moral boundary".

Marriage

The 2004 Republican platform expressed support for the Federal Marriage Amendment to the United States Constitution to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman. Generally speaking, most Republicans have opposed government recognition of same-sex unions such as with same-sex marriage. This opposition formed a key method of energizing conservative voters, the Republican base, in the 2004 election. A New York Times and CBS News collaborative poll released in April 2009 reported that 18% of Republicans favored recognition of same-sex marriage.^[41] An August 2010 Fox poll found 19% support.^[42] Historically, most Republicans have opposed permitting LGBT people to serve openly in the military and supported the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. However, majorities of 52% and 58% among Republicans in both 2004 and 2009 opposed the policy and supported open enlistment, according to Gallup polling.^[43]

Groups pushing for LGBT issues inside the party include Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud. Fox News national exit polls of self-described LGBT voters found that 24% voted Republican in 2004 and in 2006. That value was 19% and 31% in 2008 and 2010, respectively.^[44] In 2011, 28% of Republicans supported gay marriage.^[45]

National defense and military spending

Although the Republican Party has always advocated a strong national defense, historically they disapproved of interventionist foreign policy actions. Republicans opposed Woodrow Wilson's intervention in World War I and his subsequent attempt to create the League of Nations. They were also staunchly opposed to intervention in World War II until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Dwight Eisenhower

In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower was drafted by the Republican party to counter the candidacy of non-interventionist Senator Robert Taft. Eisenhower's campaign was a crusade against the Truman administration's policies regarding "Korea, Communism and Corruption."^[46]

Ronald Reagan

Grenada

On October 25, 1983, at the request of the regional governments, Reagan ordered Operation Urgent Fury, a military invasion of the small, Caribbean island of Grenada, where over a thousand American students and their families were in residence. A Marxist coup d'état had overthrown the established government and shot its leader Maurice Bishop. This was the first actual rollback that destroyed a Communist regime and marked the continued escalation of tensions with the Soviet Union known as the Second Cold War. Democrats had been highly critical of Reagan's anti-Communism in Latin America, but this time Reagan had strong support from the voters and leading Democrats said the invasion was justified.^[47] It built the President's image of decisive strong action a year before the 1984 election, when Mondale said he too would have ordered the invasion. Indeed Mondale attacked Senator Gary Hart, his chief opponent for the Democratic nomination, as isolationist and weak on fighting dictatorships.^[48]

Cold War

Reagan escalated the Cold War, accelerating a reversal from the policy of détente, which began in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.^[49] Reagan then ordered a massive buildup of the United States Armed Forces^[50]

Covert operations

Under a policy that came to be known as the Reagan Doctrine, Reagan and his administration also provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist resistance movements in an effort to "rollback" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The policy was politically controversial, with liberal Democrats especially angry with Reagan's operations in Latin America.^[48] Covert operations elsewhere, especially in Afghanistan against the Soviets, however, usually won bipartisan support.^[51]

George H. W. Bush

Gulf War 1990–91

Main article: Gulf War

On August 1, 1990, Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait. President Bush formed an international coalition and secured UN approval to expel Iraq. On January 12, 1991, Congress voted approval for a military attack, Operation Desert Storm, by a narrow margin, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The vote in the House was 250–183, and in the Senate 52–47. In the Senate 42 Republicans and 10 Democrats voted yes to war, while 45 Democrats and two Republicans voted no. In the House 164 Republicans and 86 Democrats voted yes, and 179 Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent voted no.^[52] The war was short and successful, but Hussein was allowed to remain in power. Arab countries repaid all the American military costs.^[53]

In the 1990s, Republicans opposed the intervention of the United States in the Balkans under President Bill Clinton^[54] and in 2000, George W. Bush ran on a platform that opposed these types of involvement in foreign conflicts.

George W. Bush

Invasion of Afghanistan

After the September 11 attacks in 2001 in New York, Bush launched the War on Terrorism, in which the United States led an international coalition invaded Afghanistan, the base of terrorist Osama bin Laden. This invasion led to the toppling of the Taliban regime. The U.S killed bin Laden in 2011. There was bipartisan support. Indeed Obama had criticized Bush in the 2008 campaign for not being aggressive enough in Afghanistan.

Invasion of Iraq

In 2003, George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq, in conjunction with coalition partners, most notably Great Britain. The invasion was described by Bush as being part of the War on Terrorism. Saddam Hussein was captured and executed, but his supporters staged an insurgency that dragged on for years. It was a major election issue in 2004 (when Bush was reelected) and in 2006 and 2008 (when the Democrats won).^[55]

Policies

As a result, some in the Republican Party support unilateralism on issues of national security, believing in the ability and right of the United States to act without external support in matters of its national defense. In general, Republican thinking on defense and international relations is heavily influenced by the theories of neorealism and realism, characterizing conflicts between nations as struggles between faceless forces of international structure, as opposed to being the result of the ideas and actions of individual leaders. The realist school's influence shows in Reagan's Evil Empire stance on the Soviet Union and George W. Bush's Axis of evil.

Republicans secured gains in the 2002 and 2004 elections, with the War on Terror being one of the top issues favoring them. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, some in the party support neoconservative policies with regard to the War on Terror, including the 2001 war in Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The doctrine of preemptive war, wars to disarm and destroy potential military foes based on speculation of future attacks rather than in defense against actual attack, has been advocated by prominent members of the Bush administration, but the war within Iraq has undercut the influence of this doctrine within the Republican Party. Rudy Giuliani, mayor of New York at the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, has stated his support for that policy, saying America must keep itself "on the offensive" against terrorists.

The George W. Bush administration took the position that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to unlawful combatants, saying they apply to soldiers serving in the armies of nation states and not terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda. The Supreme Court overruled this position in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that the Geneva Conventions were legally binding and must be followed in regards to all enemy combatants. Prominent Republicans such as John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul strongly oppose the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, which they view as torture.

Other international policies

Israel

The Republican leadership supports a strong Israel, but supports efforts to secure peace in the Middle East between Israel and its Arab neighbors.^[56]

Trade

The party, through former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, has advocated reforms in the United Nations to halt corruption such as that which afflicted the Oil-for-Food Program. Most Republicans oppose the Kyoto Protocol. The party promotes free trade agreements, most notably North American Free Trade Agreement, Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement and now an effort to go further south to Brazil, Peru and Colombia, although some have a protectionist view of trade.

Immigration

Republicans are divided on how to confront illegal immigration between a platform that allows for migrant workers and easing citizenship guidelines, and border enforcement-first approach. In general, pro-growth advocates within the Republican Party support more immigration, and traditional or populist conservatives oppose it. In 2006, the White House supported and Republican-led Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform that would eventually allow millions of illegal immigrants to become citizens, but the House, also led by Republicans, took an enforcement-first approach, and the bill failed to pass the conference committee.^[57]

Political status of Puerto Rico

The Republican Party has expressed its support for the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico to exercise their right to determine a future permanent non-territorial political status with government by consent, full enfranchisement and to be admitted to the union as a fully sovereign U.S. state. Puerto Rico has been under U.S. sovereignty for over a century and Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917; but the island’s ultimate status still has not been determined and its 3.9 million residents still do not have voting representation in their national government. The following is the appropriate section from the 2008 party platform (unchanged from the 2004 and 2000 platforms).^[58]^[59]^[60]

We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state after they freely so determine. We recognize that Congress has the final authority to define the constitutionally valid options for Puerto Rico to achieve a permanent non-territorial status with government by consent and full enfranchisement. As long as Puerto Rico is not a state, however, the will of its people regarding their political status should be ascertained by means of a general right of referendum or specific referenda sponsored by the U.S. government.

Voter base

As of 2010^[update], Gallup polling found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, 29% as Republicans, and 38% as independents.^[61]

Business community. The GOP is usually seen as the traditionally pro-business party and it garners major support from a wide variety of industries from the financial sector to small businesses. Republicans are about 50 percent more likely to be self-employed, and are more likely to work in management.^[62]

Gender. Since 1980, a "gender gap" has seen slightly stronger support for the GOP among men than among women. In the 2006 House races, 43% of women voted for GOP, while 47% of men did so.^[63] In the 2010 midterms, the "gender gap" was reduced with women supporting GOP and Democratic candidates equally 49% to 49%.^[64]^[65]

Race. While historically the party had been supporters of rights for African Americans since the 1860s, it lost its leadership position; the GOP has been winning under 15% of the black vote in recent national elections (1980 to 2008). The party has recently nominated African American candidates for senator or governor in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, though none were successful. In the 2010 elections, two African American Republicans were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.^[66] The Republican Party abolished slavery under Abraham Lincoln, defeated the Slave Power, and gave blacks the vote during Reconstruction in the late 1860s. Until the New Deal of the 1930s, blacks supported the GOP by large margins.^[67] Most black voters switched to the Democratic Party in the 1930s when the New Deal offered them employment opportunities, and major figures, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, began to support civil rights. They became one of the core components of the New Deal Coalition. In the South, blacks were able to vote in large numbers after 1965, when a bipartisan coalition passed the Voting Rights Act, and ever since have formed a significant portion (20-50%) of the Democratic vote in that region.^[68]

In recent decades, the party has been moderately successful in gaining support from Hispanic and Asian American voters. George W. Bush, who campaigned energetically for Hispanic votes, received 35% of their vote in 2000 and 44% in 2004.^[69] The party's strong anti-communist stance has made it popular among some minority groups from current and former Communist states, in particular Cuban Americans, Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, and Vietnamese Americans. The election of Bobby Jindal as Governor of Louisiana has been hailed as pathbreaking.^[70] He is the first elected minority governor in Louisiana and the first state governor of Indian descent.^[71] In the 2008 presidential election, John McCain won 55% of white votes, 35% of Asian votes, 31% of Hispanic votes, and 4% of African American votes.^[72] In the 2010 House election, the GOP won 60% of the white votes, 38% of Hispanic votes, and 9% of the African American vote.^[73]

For decades, a greater percentage of white voters identified themselves as Democrats, rather than Republicans. However, since the mid-1990s whites have been more likely to self-identify as Republicans than Democrats.^[74]

Family status. In recent elections, Republicans have found their greatest support among whites from married couples with children living at home.^[75] Unmarried and divorced women were far more likely to vote for Kerry in 2004.^[76]

Income. Low-income voters tend to favor the Democratic Party while high-income voters tend to support the Republican Party. President George W. Bush won 41% of the poorest 20% of voters in 2004, 55% of the richest twenty percent, and 53% of those in between. In the 2006 House races, the voters with incomes over $50,000 were 49% Republican, while those under were 38%.^[63]

Military. Republicans hold a large majority in the armed services, with 57% of active military personnel and 66% of officers identified as Republican in 2003.^[77]

Education. Self-identified Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats to have 4-year college degrees. The trends for the years 1955 through 2004 are shown by gender in the graphs below, reproduced from a book published by Joseph Fried.^[78] These graphs depict results obtained by Fried from the National Election Studies (NES) database.

Regarding graduate-level degrees (masters or doctorate), there is a rough parity between Democrats and Republicans. According to the Gallup Organization: "[B]oth Democrats and Republicans have equal numbers of Americans at the upper end of the educational spectrum — that is, with post graduate degrees..."^[78] Fried provides a slightly more detailed analysis, noting that Republican men are more likely than Democratic men to have advanced degrees, but Democratic women are now more likely than Republican women to have advanced degrees.^[79]

Republicans remain a small minority of college professors, with 11% of full-time faculty identifying as Republican.^[80]

Age. The Democrats do better among younger Americans and Republicans among older Americans. In 2006, the GOP won 38% of the voters aged 18–29.^[63]

Sexual Orientation. Exit polls conducted in 2000, 2004 and 2006 indicate that about one quarter of gay and lesbian Americans voted for the GOP. In recent years, many in the party have opposed same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples, inclusion of sexual orientation in federal hate crimes laws, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, while supporting the use of the don't ask, don't tell policy within the military. Some members of the party, particularly in the Northeast and Pacific coast, support civil unions and adoption rights for same-sex couples.^[81] The opposition to gay rights largely comes from the socially conservative wing of the party.^[82]

Religion. Religion has always played a major role for both parties but, in the course of a century, the parties' religious compositions have changed. Religion was a major dividing line between the parties before 1960, with Catholics, Jews, and Southern Protestants heavily Democratic, and Northeastern Protestants heavily Republican. Most of the old differences faded away after the realignment of the 1970s and 80s that undercut the New Deal coalition. Voters who attend church weekly gave 61% of their votes to Bush in 2004; those who attend occasionally gave him only 47%, while those who never attend gave him 36%. Fifty-nine percent of Protestants voted for Bush, along with 52% of Catholics (even though John Kerry was Catholic). Since 1980, large majorities of evangelicals have voted Republican; 70–80% voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, and 70% for GOP House candidates in 2006. Jews continue to vote 70–80% Democratic. Democrats have close links with the African American churches, especially the National Baptists, while their historic dominance among Catholic voters has eroded to 54-46 in the 2010 midterms.^[72] The main line traditional Protestants (Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians) have dropped to about 55% Republican (in contrast to 75% before 1968). Their church memberships have declined in that time as well as the conservative evangelical churches have grown. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons, are overwhelmingly Republican and vote in line with the Christian right - George W. Bush received 89% of the Mormon vote.^[83] Bush also received almost 80% of the Muslim vote in the 2000 Presidential election. However, his support among Muslims declined sharply and, by the 2004 election, at least half of those voters supported Democratic candidate John Kerry or a third party candidate.^[84]

This map shows the vote in the 2004 presidential election by county. All major Republican geographic constituencies are visible: red dominates the map, showing Republican strength in the rural areas, while the denser areas (i.e., cities) are blue. Notable exceptions include the Pacific coast, New England, the Black Belt, and the heavily Hispanic parts of the Southwest.

Location. Since 1980, geographically the Republican "base" ("red states") is strongest in the South, the Midwest, and Mountain West. While it is currently weakest on the Pacific Coast and northeast, this has not always been the case; historically the northeast was a bastion of the Republican Party with Vermont and Maine being the only two states to vote against Franklin Roosevelt all four times. The Midwest has been roughly balanced since 1854, with Illinois becoming more Democratic and liberal because of the city of Chicago (see below) and Minnesota and Wisconsin more Republican since 1990. Ohio and Indiana both trend Republican. Since the 1930s, the Democrats have dominated most central cities, while the Republicans now dominate rural areas and the majority of suburbs.^[85]

The South has become solidly Republican in national elections since 1980, and has been trending Republican at the state level since then at a slower pace.^[86] In 2004, Bush led Kerry by 70%-30% among Southern whites, who made up 71% of the Southern electorate. Kerry had a 70-30 lead among the 29% of the voters who were black or Hispanic. One-third of these Southern voters said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80-20; but were only 72% Republican in 2006.^[63]^[69]

The Republican Party's strongest focus of political influence lies in the Great Plains states, particularly Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota, and in the Mountain states of Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah (Utah gave George W. Bush more than 70% of the popular vote in 2004). These states are sparsely populated with few major urban centers, and have majority white populations, making it extremely difficult for Democrats to create a sustainable voter base there. Unlike the South, these areas have been strongly Republican since before the party realignments of the 1960s. The Great Plains states were one of the few areas of the country where Republicans had any significant support during the Great Depression.

Conservatives and Moderates. Republican "conservatives" are strongest in the South, Mountain West and Midwest, where they draw support from social conservatives. The moderates tend to dominate the party in New England, and used to be well represented in all states. From the 1940s to the 1970s under such leaders as Thomas E. Dewey, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller, and Richard Nixon, they usually dominated the presidential wing of the party. Since the 1970s, they have been less powerful, though they are always represented in the cabinets of Republican presidents. In Vermont, Jim Jeffords, a Republican Senator became an independent in 2001 due to growing disagreement with President Bush and the party leadership. In addition, moderate Republicans have recently held the governorships in several New England States, while Lincoln Chafee, a former moderate Republican senator is currently the independent governor of Rhode Island. Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, and Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts are notable moderate Republicans from New England. From 1991 to 2007, moderate Republicans served as Governor of Massachusetts.

Some well-known conservative radio hosts, including national figures such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Laura Ingraham, Michael Reagan, Howie Carr, and Michael Savage, as well as many local commentators, support Republican causes, while vocally opposing those of the Democrats.^[87]

Trends

As of 2004^[update], the Republican Party had remained fairly cohesive, as both strong economic libertarians and social conservatives opposed the Democrats, whom they saw as the party of bloated and more secular, liberal government.^[88] Yet, some libertarians have argued that the GOP's policies have grown increasingly restrictive of personal liberties, and has contributed to increasing corporate welfare and national debt.^[89] Some social conservatives have expressed dissatisfaction with the party's support for economic policies that they see as sometimes in conflict with their moral values.^[90]

2012 election

Main article: Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012

As the presidential campaign season headed toward the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary in January 2012, one candidate after another surged, then fell back,^[91] with Mitt Romney holding steady in the mid-20s as the favorite of the moderates. In the USA Today/Gallup Poll, six hopefuls at one time or another were the top choice of GOP voters in 2011: former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, real-estate tycoon Donald Trump, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Texas governor Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.^[92] The surprise of the Iowa caucuses on January 3, 2012, was the sudden rise of Rick Santorum, who was 8 votes behind the leader Romney at 25% each, with Ron Paul a strong third at 21%. The first primary in New Hampshire on January was won by Romney, taking 39%, over Paul (23%) and Jon Huntsman (17%).^[93]

State and territorial parties

Footnotes

^ Grigsby, Ellen (2008). Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science. Florence: Cengage Learning. pp. 106–7. ISBN 0495501123. "In the United States, the Democratic Party represents itself as the liberal alternative to the Republicans, but its liberalism is for the most the later version of liberalism—modern liberalism."
^ Arnold, N. Scott (2009). Imposing values: an essay on liberalism and regulation. Florence: Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0495501123. "Modern liberalism occupies the left-of-center in the traditional political spectrum and is represented by the Democratic Party in the United States."
^ Levy, Jonah (2006). The state after statism: new state activities in the age of liberalization. Florence: Harvard University Press. p. 198. ISBN 0495501123. "In the corporate governance area, the center-left repositioned itself to press for reform.""
^ "''The Origin of the Republican Party'', A.F. Gilman, Ripon College, 1914". Content.wisconsinhistory.org. http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR=46379&CISOSHOW=46363. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
^ Gould
^ Gienapp, W (1989). The Origins of the Republican Party. p. 168.
^ "Free soil, free labor, free men". 1970.
^ Donald T. Critchlow, The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America (2011) pp 280-312
^ Smith, E (2010-11-03). "Republicans Exceed Expectations in 2010 State Legislative Elections". Ncsl.org. http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=21634. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
^ "The Third-Term Panic". Cartoon of the Day. 2003-11-07. http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
^ Rutland, RA (1996). The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush. p. 2. ISBN 0826210902.
^ The Origins of the Republican Party
^ Gould, pp. 14–15
^ The first reference to the Republican Party as the "grand old party" is dated to 1876; the first use of the abbreviation "GOP" is dated 1884. See "Grand Old Party," Oxford English Dictionary
^ Cartoon of the Day: "The Third-Term Panic". Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
^ accessdate=2010-06-17 "Schenectady County". Schenectady County, New York: schenectadycounty.com. http://www.schenectadycounty.com/FullStory.aspx?m=320&amid=930 accessdate=2010-06-17.
^ "Home". Wvsos.com. http://www.wvsos.com/elections/ballots/barbourgen.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
^ "Diving into the rich pool". The Economist. 2011-09-24. http://www.economist.com/node/21530093. Retrieved 2012-01-13.
^ Welfare Reforms Reduce Poverty at the Wayback Machine (archived April 28, 2006)
^ Welfare Reforms Reduce Welfare Dependence at the Wayback Machine (archived February 26, 2006)
^ Unsettling Scores: A Ranking of State Medicaid Programs, P. 15^{[dead link]}
^ Wachino, V (2005-03-10). "The House Budget Committee's Proposed Medicaid and SCHIP Cuts Are Larger Than Those The Administration Proposed". Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. http://www.cbpp.org/3-10-05health.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
^ "Bobby Jindal on the Issues". Ontheissues.org. http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Bobby_Jindal.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
^ "Supreme Court". On the Issues. http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/judges.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
^ McCarthy, AC. "Judicial Restraint". Nationalreview.com. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTZmYzY4YzkzYzYxMjY4MzAxZjI4NDdjMmVlYTNmMDQ. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
^ "House to debate court stripping". Washington, D.C.: Washington Times. 2004-07-22. http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040722-121146-3494r.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
^ Savage, Charlie (2006-04-30). "Bush challenges hundreds of laws". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
^ Cole, D. "Why The Court Said No". New York Review of Books. Nybooks.com. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19212. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
^ Opinion of the court, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, p. 72
^ Filler, Daniel. "Theodore Roosevelt: Conservation as the Guardian of Democracy". http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/filler/filler.html. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
^ Nixon, Richard (1970-07-09). "Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970". http://www.epa.gov/history/org/origins/reorg.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
^ Schwarzenegger, Arnold (2007-12-07). "California will Sue Federal Government". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/20/california.emissions/. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
^ Bush, George W. (2001-03-13). "Text of a Letter from the President". http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010314.html. Retrieved 2007-11-09. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Encourage Market-Based Solutions to Environmental Problems". OnTheIssues. 2000-08-12.
^ "Fact Sheet: Harnessing the Power of Technology for a Secure Energy Future". 2007-02-22. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070222-2.html. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
^ Kudlow & Company (2007-03-26). "Interview with Rudy Giuliani". http://www1.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/interview_with_rudy_giuliani_1.html. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
^ "Issue Watch: Achieving Energy Independence". Archived from the original on 2007-11-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20071107193334/http://www.mittromney.com/Issue-Watch/Energy. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
^ "The Candidates: Rep. Duncan Hunter". Washington Post.com. 2007-10-12. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/10/01/DI2007100101460.html. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
^ "Bush criticizes university 'quota system'". CNN. 2003-01-15. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/15/bush.affirmativeaction/. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
^ Eilperin, Juliet (1998-05-12). "Watts Walks a Tightrope on Affirmative Action". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa051298.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
^ "Signs G.O.P. Is Rethinking Stance on Gay Marriage". The New York Times. April 28, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/us/politics/28web-nagourney.html. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
^ "Fox News Poll". Fox News. August 13, 2010. http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/081310_RoundupPoll.pdf.
^ Morales, Lymari (June 5, 2009). "Conservatives Shift in Favor of Openly Gay Service Members". Gallup. http://www.gallup.com/poll/120764/conservatives-shift-favor-openly-gay-service-members.aspx.
^ "GOP Gains Traction Among Gay Voters By Focusing on Economy, Analyst Says". Fox News. November 6, 2010. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/06/gop-gains-traction-gay-voters-focusing-economy-analyst-says/.
^ "For First Time, Majority of Americans Support Gay Marriage". Fox News. May 22, 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/22/time-majority-americans-support-gay-marriage/.
^ Gibbs, Nancy (November 10, 2008). "When New President Meets Old, It's Not Always Pretty". [[Time (magazine)|]]. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html.
^ Steven F. Hayward, The age of Reagan: The conservative counterrevolution, 1980-1989, p. 323
^ ^a ^b Robert Kagan, A twilight struggle: American power and Nicaragua, 1977-1990 (1996) p. 346
^ "Towards an International History of the War in Afghanistan, 1979–89". The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 2002. http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.event_summary&event_id=12594. Retrieved May 16, 2007.
^ "LGM-118A Peacekeeper". Federation of American Scientists. August 15, 2000. http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/icbm/lgm-118.htm. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
^ Jagmohan Meher, America's Afghanistan war (2004) p 133 online
^ Dilip Hiro, Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War (2003) p. 300
^ Gary R. Hess, Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq (2009) pp 153-219
^ www.spectator.org, March 21, 2011, "Republicans on Kosovo" by W. James Antile,III
^ Hess, Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq (2009) pp 221-76
^ "Authorization Required". canadiancoalition.com. http://canadiancoalition.com/adbusters01/.
^ Blanton, Dana (2006-11-08). "National Exit Poll: Midterms Come Down to Iraq, Bush". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,228104,00.html. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
^ "2004 Republican Platform". Gop.com. http://www.gop.com/media/2004platform.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-01. ^{[dead link]}
^ "An Introduction to Puerto Rico's Status Debate". Let Puerto Rico Decide. 1998-03-04. http://www.letpuertoricodecide.com/status.php. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
^ 2008 Republican Platform
^ "Democratic Party ID Drops in 2010, Tying 22-Year Low". Gallup.com. http://www.gallup.com/poll/145463/Democratic-Party-Drops-2010-Tying-Year-Low.aspx. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
^ Fried, pp. 104–5, 125.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Exit Polls". CNN. 2006-11-07. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
^ "Exit Poll Analysis: Vote 2010 Elections Results". ABC News. 2010-11-02. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vote-2010-elections-results-midterm-exit-poll-analysis/story?id=12003775. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
^ Weeks, Linton (2010-11-03). "10 Takeaways From The 2010 Midterms". NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131039717. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
^ L.A. Holmes (2010-04-07). "Black Republicans Win First Congress Seats Since 2003". FoxNews.com. http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/03/black-republicans-win-first-congress-seats-2003. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
^ In the South, they were often not allowed to vote, but still received some Federal patronage appointments from the Republicans
^ Harvard Sitkoff, A New Deal for Blacks (1978).
^ ^a ^b "Exit Polls". CNN. 2004-11-02. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.4.html. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
^ "Americas | Profile: Bobby Jindal". BBC News. 2009-02-25. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7907412.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
^ "'Bobby Jindal may become first Indian-American to be US prez'". Deccanherald.com. 2009-10-23. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/31998/bobby-jindal-may-become-first.html. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
^ ^a ^b "Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History". Pew Research Center. April 30, 2009
^ "The Latino Vote in the 2010 Elections". Pew Research Center. 2010-11-03. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1790/2010-midterm-elections-exit-poll-hispanic-vote. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
^ Fried, p. 321.
^ Affordable Family Formation–The Neglected Key To GOP’s Future by Steve Sailer
^ Unmarried Women in the 2004 Presidential Election^{[dead link]} (PDF). Report by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, January, 2005. Page 3: "The marriage gap is one of the most important cleavages in electoral politics. Unmarried women voted for Kerry by a 25-point margin (62 to 37 percent), while married women voted for President Bush by an 11-point margin (55 percent to 44 percent). Indeed, the 25-point margin Kerry posted among unmarried women represented one of the high water marks for the Senator among all demographic groups."
^ "Lobe, J. (January 1, 2004). Military More Republican, Conservative Than Public — Poll. LewRockwell.com.". http://google.com/search?q=cache:GDeFkKSDCpoJ:www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe43.html+army+percent+Republican&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
^ ^a ^b Fried, pp. 74–5.
^ Fried, pp. 76–7.
^ "Kurtz, H. (March 29, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. The Washington Post.". 2005-03-29. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html. Retrieved 2007-07-02.
^ Republican Party on the Issues "Civil_Rights Republican Party on the Issues". http://www.ontheissues.org/Republican_Party.htm#Civil_Rights Republican Party on the Issues. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
^ "A Common Missed Conception: Why religious people are against gay marriage.". http://www.slate.com/id/2091413/.
^ Robert Booth Fowler et al., Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices (2004)
^ Brian Beutler (2010-08-18). "GOP Muslims Fear Failure Of Bush Outreach Efforts After Anti-Mosque Furor | TPMDC". Tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/republican-muslims-to-gop-youre-on-thin-ice.php. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
^ "Election 2004". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
^ Earl Black and Merle Black. Politics and Society in the South (2005)
^ Alison Dagnes, Politics on demand: the effects of 24-hour news on American politics (2010) p 53
^ Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation (2004).
^ "Evans, B. (December 15, 2005). Ex-Rep. Barr Quits GOP for Libertarians. The Associated Press". http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2730251. Retrieved 2007-07-11. ^{[dead link]}
^ How Huckabee Scares the GOP. By E. J. Dionne. Real Clear Politics. Published December 21, 2007. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
^ The current poll results are at Real Clear Politics
^ Page, Susan (November 21, 2011). "Gingrich rises, Cain drops in new poll". USA Today.
^ "Romney Wins New Hampshire Primary". Fox News. 2012-01-10. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/10/new-hampshire-republican-primary/.
^ "Republican • National • Committee". As.gop.com. http://as.gop.com/StatesMapPage.aspx. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
^ "Republican • National • Committee". Gu.gop.com. http://gu.gop.com/StatesMapPage.aspx. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
^ "Republican • National • Committee". Mp.gop.com. 2007-09-01. http://mp.gop.com/StatesMapPage.aspx. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
^ [1]^{[dead link]}
^ "The Republican Party of the Virgin Islands". Virepublicanwomen.com. http://www.virepublicanwomen.com/id2.html. Retrieved 2012-01-17.

References

Main article: Bibliography of the Republican Party

American National Biography (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries.
Aistrup, Joseph A. The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South (1996)
Barone, Michael. The Almanac of American Politics 2010: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2009).
Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002)
Brennan, Mary C. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP (1995)
Conger, Kimberly H. The Christian Right in Republican State Politics (2010) 202 pages; focuses on Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri
Crane, Michael. The Political Junkie Handbook: The Definitive Reference Books on Politics (2004) covers all the major issues explaining the parties' positions
Critchlow, Donald T. The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America (2nd ed. 2011)
Donald, David. Lincoln (1999)
Ehrman, John, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan (2005)
Fried, J (2008). Democrats and Republicans—Rhetoric and Reality. New York: Algora Publishing.
Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2005)
Frum, David. What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America (1996)
Gould, Lewis (2003). Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans. ISBN 0375507418.
Jensen, Richard. Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854–1983 (1983)
Judis, John B. and Ruy Teixeira. The Emerging Democratic Majority (2004) two Democrats project social trends
Kleppner, Paul, et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), applies party systems model
Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
Levendusky, Matthew. The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans (Chicago Studies in American Politics) (2009)
Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854–1966. 2d ed. (1967)
Perlstein, Rick. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (2002) broad account of 1964
Perlstein, Rick. Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2009)
Reinhard, David W. The Republican Right since 1945 (1983)
Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996)
Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005)
Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future (2001) textbook.
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)
Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775–2000 (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period:
- includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
Shafer, Byron and Richard Johnston. The End of Southern Exceptionalism (2006), uses statistical election data & polls to argue GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change
Steely, Mel. The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich Mercer University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-86554-671-1.
Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983)
Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America (2004).

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