Republican Party

Republican Party official logo, 2012

### Founding

The Republican Party, also known as the GOP, was founded in 1854, making it one of two oldest modern contemporary parties in the United States, and is the successor of the Whig Party. The GOP was founded by anti-slavery activists who're fighting the Kansas-Nebraska Act, as the act allowed for an expansion of slavery into the Western United States. Since the Reagan-era of the 1980s, conservatism became dominant in the Republican Party.

### 1850s-1880s - Civil War and Reconstruction

Starting in the 1850s, the Republican party became the only major political rival to the Democratic Party. In the 1860, Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, won the United States presidential election. Due to Lincoln being anti-slavery, the South felt that their way of life - that being slavery - was under attack. This resulted in wealthy plantation owners seceding from the United States, leading to the United States Civil war.

Three years into the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared every slave living in Confederate land under firm Union control to be freed. The Proclamation controversially also allowed freedmen to enlist in the Union Army. This gave the Union a massive boost in manpower, and freedmen the ability to fight for their own freedom as well as their families.

In 1864, the Union won the United States Civil War, which started reconstruction - the United States attempt at rebuilding the South and its economy. However, the Democratic South refused to give freedmen equal rights, leading to the South's creation of the Black Codes - laws that attempted to keep freedmen as close to slave status as possible. This led to the Republican dominated congress to create the Reconstruction Act, which established Martial Law in the South. During this time, the North created the Freedman's Bureau, which was a partially successful initiative to give education, housing, healthcare, and more to Freedmen whilst also mending racial tensions in the South.

The election of 1877 resulted in an electoral vote tie between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Sam Tilden. Though Sam Tilden won the popular vote, the Democratic and Republican parties made a deal - Hayes would win the election if martial law in the South ended. Hayes agreed to the deal, granting him a presidency whilst ending reconstruction in the United States. This led to Republicans fleeing the South, giving Democrats super-majorities in Southern states. This led to the establishment of Jim Crow laws and widespread voter suppression of Republicans in the South.

### 1890-1930 - The Progressive Era

In the 1800s, the Republican Party shifted from a focus on civil rights to a focus on business. During this time period, Republicans created legislation that gave more power to smaller businesses, such as Sherman's Antitrust Act, which outlawed monopolies and Ponzi schemes. Theodore Roosevelt, cracked down on monopolies during his presidency from 1901 - 1909, which earned him the nickname "Trust Buster". Support of these policies grew after the Great Depression and Wall Street Crash of 1929, which caused Americans to lose faith in a free market and believe in the more regulated market the Republicans were pushing towards. In 1914, the Republicans passed the FTC Act, which created the Federal Trade Commission. After the election of FDR to the Oval Office in 1932, Republicans lost most of their federal power until the late 1940s.

### 1945-1980 - A New Deal

In 1946, Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since 1932, and in 1948 nominated Thomas Dewey to be the Republican presidential nominee. Though Dewey was expected to win by a landslide, he lost in a massive upset to incumbent Harry Truman, who became President after FDR died in office. From 1948-1952, congressional Republicans cooperated with President Truman's agenda, leading to the creation of NATO, the Marshall Plan, and the inevitable beginning of the Cold War.

In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Progressive-Republican won the Republican nomination for president and went on to defeat Adlai Stevenson. Eisenhower's administration represented the moderate wing of the Republican party, which appealed to most Americans during this time. Eisenhower Republicans priorities were to balance the Federal Budget, end the Korean War, to increase the Nuclear Arsenal of the United States, and to establish greater foreign trade connections, all of which were successful. Eisenhower also began the Space Race, established the Interstate Highway System, and maintained peace with Red China despite unanimous advise from his Generals telling him to deploy nuclear weapons in China. However, Eisenhower escalated the Cold War and was the catalyst for the Vietnam War.

In 1964, Barry Goldwater was nominated by the Republican Party to be President. Goldwater was a stark contrast from Eisenhower - he was a hawkish conservative, unlike the moderate and progressive Eisenhower. Goldwater lost the presidential election to Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide, but he shifted the Republican Party from Moderation to Conservatism.

Republicans regained control of the White House with the election of Richard Nixon in 1968, who was Eisenhower's Vice President and continued his policies. Nixon led to the US Armed Force's withdraw from Vietnam, as well as the increase of state power and an increase of Social Security benefits. Nixon also supported an expansion of civil rights, even supporting controversial policies such as affirmative action. After a riot at a Herbert Humphrey rally - Nixon's Democratic opponent in his reelection campaign, Nixon sailed to reelection.

### 1980-1994 - Reaganites

In 1980, Ronald Reagan, a Republican, defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter who was seeking reelection. Reagan was seen as a tough-on-crime Conservative, who established major tax cuts and gun control legislation during his tenure as President. Reagan's election was caused by the growth in conservatism that Barry Goldwater created in 1964. Reagan's conservative policies led to the GOP becoming very conservative, even more so than Goldwater Republicans. Reagan is also known for deregulation Wall Street, escalating the War on Drugs, and effectively ending the Cold War.

Reagan was succeeded by George H.W. Bush, who was Reagan's Vice President. Bush beat Michael Dukakis in a landslide. Bush was seen as the continuation of Ronald Reagan, who was also a conservative. In 1989, Bush ordered an invasion of Panama after a United States service member was killed by the Panamanian military. During Bush's presidency, the Iron Curtain fell and the Berlin wall was taken down, though both events were mostly a result of Reagan's diplomatic contacts with the USSR in the years prior. Bush also sparked the Gulf War, invading Iraq for attacking Kuwait. The United States Armed Forces were aided by NATO coalition forces such as France and Britain. Notably, a recession occurred during Bush's presidency, which snowballed into large public discontent for both Bush's handling of the economy and Reaganomics.

### 2000-2016 - The Bush Era

In 2000, George W. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore in the controversial 2000 presidential election. This election is controversial due to the fact that Bush lost the popular vote by a slim margin, but won the electoral vote after the Supreme Court ruled that Bush had won Florida's electoral votes in Bush v Gore. Months after taking office, Bush had to deal with his first crisis - 9/11. He responded by declaring a war on terror, which led to the first United States invasion of Afghanistan, justified by the fact that the Taliban was harboring terrorists that organized 9/11. The Taliban was quickly toppled in two months. However, the Taliban would eventually retake Afghanistan 20 years later. In 2002, Bush declared war on Iraq, claiming that Saddam Husein - then leader of the country, had access to "weapons of mass destruction" and "must be stopped". The initial invasion took only two months, but no weapons of mass destruction were found. This led to significant condemnation of the war. Saddam Hussein was also executed under the Bush presidency, which was mostly popular in the United States.

Bush's presidency was also defined by tax cuts, which cut 1.35 billion dollars in taxes. He also pushed for and passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which established personalized education systems and state testing in public schools. As a result of 9/11, Bush established the Department of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act, and the opening of the now closed Guantanamo Bay. Bush won reelection against John Kerry in 2004, campaigning on the idea that he was a strong "wartime leader" and his tax cuts bolstered the economy. Soon after 2004, however, Bush's approval rating would slowly decline until the end of his presidency.

In 2008, Bush was term limited and John McCain, a senator from Arizona, became the Republican nominee for president. McCain faced off against Barack Obama, a young senator from Illinois, but lost due to Bush damaging the GOP's reputation.