The Republican Party

The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party or GOP, is one of two major political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. TheRepublican Party’s origins date to the mid-nineteenth century amid the divisive national debate over slavery; specifically, the Republican Party was started in the Midwest by a group of political figures who opposed the expansion of slavery into newly acquired territories that had been granted statehood. Since the 1850s, the Republican Party has expanded its political influence nationwide. Numerous Republicans have been elected president of the United States, and the party has been successful in state and local politics from coast to coast. At the presidential level, Republicans had

The Republican Party established itself as the dominant force in national politics for the next several decades, winning fourteen out of seventeen presidential elections between 1860 and 1928. Republican support during this era was particularly strong among African Americans, whose loyalty to the GOP had derived in large part from the anti-slavery positions of Lincoln and the Radical Republicans’ efforts to ensure the protection of rights for newly freed slaves in the

The Republican Party of the nineteenth century was known for its abolitionist agenda; the GOP of the early twentieth century largely reflected a pro-industrialist/capitalist focus; and beginning in the 1980s the party became increasingly known for its conservative views on various social issues such as abortion, gun control, immigration, school prayer, and same-sex marriage. Another profound shift in Republican ideology centered around US military intervention in other regions of the world. Despite a history of generally espousing non-interventionism in foreign conflicts, under George W. Bush’s leadership the GOP articulated a philosophy of “preemptive” military action, if deemed necessary, amid the “War on Terror.” Also, the party’s strong support among African Americans—a staple since the mid-nineteenth century—has eroded considerably. Analysis of exit polls reveals that black voters have consistently cast less than 10 percent of their ballots for Republican presidential candidates over the past forty