Republican Party

The Republican Party was founded on March 20, 1854 by Zachariah Chandler and Salmon P. Chase due to the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas and President Franklin Pierce made and signed the bill. In Ripon, Wisconsin, U.S. Whig Party and Free Soil Party members, abolitionists and other supporters created the Republican Party. It is also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP).

It supports lower taxes, free market capitalism, immigration restrictions, increased military spending, strong central government, small government, gun rights, abortion restrictions, deregulation and labor union restrictions. In its early days, it was anti-slavery.

In the Election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican President. This result led many southerners and slave owners to believe that he would ban slavery as soon as he entered office. Lincoln, although against slavery, decided that he wouldn't ban slavery in places it already existed, but would instead not allow it to spread to new places. Despite this though, many of the Southern States left the Union and became known as the Confederate States of America, and the Civil War started.

On April 9, 1865, the last notable Confederate General, Robert E. Lee surrendered and the Civil War officially ended after four years and the Union was reestablished. This victory is one of the reasons why from the Election of 1860 to the Election of 1912, there was only two non-republican presidents, Andrew Johnson and Grover Cleveland.

At first, most people supported the Republicans, excluding that of the Southern States who saw the Republicans as the ones who had taken their slaves and defeated the Confederacy. Later on though, they started losing the support of workers and farmers as many prominent business men were starting to be seen as the head of the party, and many believed they worked for their own interests rather than the interests of the poor and non-affluent.

In 1912, the Republican lost due to a division in the party by Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, causing Woodrow Wilson to be president and then get re-elected in the Election of 1916. In 1921, the Republicans took back the White House, with Warren G. Harding's victory over that of the Democratic nominee, James M. Cox. They held the position until 1933, when the failed presidency of Herbert Hoover led to the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Election of 1932.

The Republican Party has had many candidates which has made the party seem untrustworthy as people like Richard Nixon gave it a bad name, but it is still very relevant in today's world.