The Republican Party was born in Wisconsin in the 1850’s. A combination of anti-slavery activists and individuals who thought that all western lands should be given to settlers free of charge formed the basis. In 1860 they successfully elected their presidential nominee…Abraham Lincoln.
During Lincoln’s presidency the country was divided by the Civil War. While the war was still raging and against the advise of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves. After the war ended, the Republicans went on to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the law and the Fifteenth, which secured voting rights for African Americans. The Democrats opposed all three of these Amendments. All of the first African American Congressmen were Republicans.
In 1896, the Republicans were the first major party to argue for securing women the right to vote. Senator A. A. Sargent of California introduced a proposal to give women the right to vote. The proposal was defeated four times in the Democratic-controlled Senate. It was passed only after the Republican Party gained control of both houses. When the Nineteenth Amendment was finally added to the Constitution, 26 of the 36 state legislations that voted to ratify were under Republican control. Eight of those states which voted it down were controlled by Democrats. In 1917, the first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress was Republican Jeanette Rankin of Montana.
When the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed Congress, a greater percentage of Republicans officeholders voted for it than Democrats.
While FRD and Truman are well-known for their roles in World War II, the majority of U.S. Presidents since then have been Republicans. In 32 of the last 48 years there has been a Republican in the White House. President Reagan is credited with bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting liberation of tens of millions of people in Eastern Europe.
In 1964 Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman ever nominated for president at the Republican convention in San Francisco. In 1981 Sandra Day O’Conner was appointed to the Supreme Court by Republican President Ronald Reagan. In 2001 Colin Powell was the first African-American to be appointed Secretary of State. In 2005 Condaleza Rice became the first African-American woman to ever serve in that same capacity.
The GOP acronym stands for “grand old party” and was first used in 1876. The elephant was first used as an unofficial party symbol in 1874 by political cartoonist Thomas Nast. Much of the Midwest used the eagle for the Republicans and this is still common in Indiana. After the 2000 elections, the color red became associated with Republicans. That night all of the major networks used red for the Republicans and blue for the Democrats. Neither political party requested or preferred one color over the other.
We thank the Wall Township Republican Club for most of this historical information.