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Origin of
"Republican"
History of the
Republican Party
Origin of the
Republican Elephant
Origin
of 'Republican'
The designation of Republicanto
one of the two modern American political parties came into modern usage
in 1854. But its origin goes back to the time of Jefferson and was tied
in with the use of the Democrat.
Originally, republican
was a vague, neutral term, because the Constitution had guaranteed to
every state "a republican form of government." Jefferson, in
his first inaugural address in 1801 said, "We are all Federalists;
we are all Republicans." On the other hand, since the Federalists -
the party of the second president, John Adams, - were accused of being
aristocrats, democrat offered itself as the natural counterpart of this
term.
But men objected to being
called "democrats," because the word brought up visions of mob
rule in revolutionary France. Consequently, the Federalists used
"democrat" in a derisive, negative sense to throw at their
"republican" rivals. Jefferson's followers thus preferred to
be called "Republicans," although the official name of his
party was Democratic-Republican.
With the decline of the
Federalists, political affiliations became a matter of personalities
rather than parties. It must have been especially confusing to voters in
1824, when the four candidates for president were all members of the
Republican Party. When Andrew Jackson won election four years later, his
wing of the party decided to end all confusion and reintroduce
"democrat" as a partisan label; immigrants also were drawn to
this party in the decades ahead, because of the advocacy of 'democracy'
- a semantic coincidence that Democrats did not mind trumpeting at
election time.
In the meantime, the wing
opposing Jackson under Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun first adopted
the National Republican in 1832 and abandoned it altogether two years
later for the English name, Whig, hoping to hang Jackson with the
unpopular name of Tory - the pro-British party during the American
Revolution.
Thus the overused
republican vanished as a popular political term for the next two
decades. It became synonymous with democrat, especially in the South,
where democratic still retained its connotation of mob rule.
Nevertheless, opponents of both Democrats and Whigs, such as the Native
American Party in 1843, tried to resurrect republican:
"Our friends will
understand us as cutting adrift from both the political parties of the
day - that we are neither Whigs or Democrats, but Republicans."
Similarly in 1848, the
campaign of General Taylor (a Whig) tried to capitalize on the changing
mood:
"A new and mighty
party is rearing its gigantic form before the world. It is not merely
the Whig party, nor the Democratic party - not the Native party nor the
slavery party - it is the great Taylor Republican party."
The anti-Taylor Whigs,
however, claimed that Taylor had "appropriated" the Whig name,
and they called themselves "Republicans." It seemed everyone
wanted to be Republicans!
The modern use of
Republican followed all this confusion some 20 years later. Alvan E.
Bovay, born on July 12, 1818, in Adams, Jefferson County, NY suggested
in 1852 to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley that a new
party - formed of disaffected Democrats, Whigs and Free Soldiers - take Republican
as its name:
"Urge them to
forget previous political names and organization, and to band together
under the name I suggested to you at Lovejoy's Hotel in 1852...I mean
the name Republican."
These groups met at
Ripon, Wisconsin on February 28, 1854, and the name was adopted at a
state party convention at Jackson, Michigan on July 6, when it was:
"Resolved
that...we will cooperate and be known as Republicans until the contest
be terminated."
James A. Woodburn,
professor of American history and politics at Indiana University, wrote
in 1903, that a direct philosophical link can be drawn between
Jefferson's Republicans and the modern Republican party:
The new party fell
back to the old and honored name of Republican, the name which had been
preferred and approved by Jefferson for the party which he founded, and
the new anti-slavery restrictions now called upon the nation to walk
again in the path marked out by Jefferson, the original Free-Soiler,
who, with other Republicans of his day, had so persistently striven to
prevent the extension of slavery to Western territory - an attempt that
had won such notable success in the important (Northwest) ordinance of
1787.
As of the evolution of
Jackson's Democrat party - often called the Democracy up until the Civil
War - Republicans continued to argue for a slight alteration, and one
used today by the Republican National Committee. As reported in the Ohio
State University Lantern in its October 7, 1995 issue:
"Lately (then
Republican National Committee Chairman Leonard) Hall has tartly referred
to the "Democrat" party rather than using the more common
term, the "Democratic" party...Hall says he dropped the "ic"
from Democratic because "I think their (the Democrats') claims that
they represent the great mass of the people, and we don't, is just a lot
of bunk."
Indeed, it can be argued
that the Republican party can rightfully claim the name
Democratic-Republican in the wake of the "formation" of the
so-called "new" Democrat party by presidential candidate
Senator George McGovern's radical followers.
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History
of the Republican Party
The Republican Party evolved
during the 1850's when the issue of slavery forced divisions within the
existing Whig and Democratic-Republican parties. Faced with political
turmoil, a new party - dedicated to states rights and a restricted role
of government in economic and social life - began making history.
Alan Earl Bovay, one of the
founders of the Republican Party, believed a new party should be formed
to represent the interests of the North and the abolitionists. He
decided to call that party "Republican" because it was a
simple, yet significant word synonymous with equality. Thomas Jefferson
had earlier chosen "Republican" to refer to his party, which
gave the name respect borne of historical significance.
Evidence indicates there were
several groups across the country that met to discuss the formation of a
new party. Thus, the location of the first meeting has been disputed. It
is known that Whig Party defectors met privately in February, 1854, in
Crawfordsville, Iowa, to call for the creation of a new political party.
Some evidence indicates an earlier meeting was held in Exeter, New
Hampshire. The first public meeting was held in March of 1854 at a small
church in Ripon, Wisconsin, when Alan Bovay rallied anti-slavery forces
and adopted resolutions opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
A second meeting was held in a
one-story schoolhouse in Ripon on March 20, 1854. Fifty-four citizens,
including three women, dissolved their local committees and chose five
men to serve as the committee of the new party: Alan Bovay, Jebediah
Bowen, Amos Loper, Abram Thomas and Jacob Woodruff. Said Mr. Bovay:
"We went into the little meeting Whigs, Free Soldiers, and
Democrats. We came out Republicans and ...were the first Republicans in
the Union."
In July of the same year, when the
meeting hall was too small, the "Anti-Nebraska Convention" met
in a grove of oak trees in Jackson, Michigan, to write a national
platform and concentrate its efforts to counter the Democrats plan to
extend slavery to new territories joining the Union. The new party
adopted a platform, nominated candidates for state offices, and produced
two anti-slavery resolutions, one of which stated, "Resolved...in
view of the necessity of battling against the schemes of an aristocracy,
the most revolting and oppressive with which the Earth was ever cursed
or man debased, we will cooperate and be known as Republicans."
In 1856, "Free Soil, Free
Labor, Free Speech, Freemont" was the slogan of the Republican
Party. At its first national convention in Philadelphia, the party
nominated John C. Freemont for president (Abraham Lincoln was proposed
for vice-president, but Senator William L. Dayton won the nomination).
Although the party lost the election to the Democrats, it captured a
third of the total vote, boosting its optimism for the 1860 election.
President Lincoln
The Republican Party had existed
for only six years when Lincoln displaced the Democrats and gave the
Republicans their first presidential victory. Immediately following his
election, Lincoln was confronted with the secession of seven Southern
states followed by the outbreak of civil war. Barely one month after the
inauguration, the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, launching the
bloodiest war in our nation's history. Preserving the Union was
Lincoln's greatest challenge - and no doubt one of his greatest
achievements -but by no means his only accomplishment. In 1865, Lincoln
submitted to the states the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution
which, coupled with his Emancipation Proclamation, dealt the death blow
to slavery. During his presidency, the Department of Agriculture, the
Bureau of Internal Revenue, and a national banking system were
established. Lincoln also signed the Homestead Act, opening the American
frontier to settlement through public land grants, and the Land Grant
College Act, donating land to the states for agricultural and technical
colleges. On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes
Booth at Ford's Theater. He died several hours later across the street
at the Peterson House.
Under the rules of the
Constitution, Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency. He
proposed the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed voting rights
regardless of race, creed, or previous condition of servitude.
Additionally, it was during Johnson's presidency that U.S. continental
expansion was completed when his Secretary of State, William H. Seward,
bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.
In 1868, Civil War hero Ulysses S.
Grant was nominated for president by the Republican Party, who won
easily and was re-elected in 1872. The Grant Administration continued
the Republican commitment to sound monetary policies, and established
the Department of Justice and the Weather Bureau. President Grant did
not run for re-election in 1876 because Republicans, embracing a
tradition established by George Washington, had gone on record opposing
a third term for any president.
Rutherford B. Hayes, successful
three-term governor of Ohio and Civil War General, won the presidency by
a one-electoral-vote margin in 1876 against Samuel J. Tilden in the most
bitterly disputed election in American history. Cooperation between the
White House and the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives was
nearly impossible after the election. Nevertheless, Hayes managed to
keep his campaign promises - withdrawing federal troops from the South,
taking measures to reverse inequalities suffered by women, and adopting
the merit system within the civil service.
In 1880, the party won the last of
six successive presidential elections with the election of another Civil
War hero, James A. Garfield. A few months after his inauguration,
Garfield was assassinated and Vice President Chester A. Arthur succeeded
him. Among Arthur's accomplishments were the rebirth of the Navy and the
Pendleton Act. The Pendleton Act set up a bipartisan Civil Service
Commission, established written examinations for certain government
positions, and protected employees from being fired for political
reasons.
In 1884, the Republicans lost the
White House for the first time in 24 years. However, the party had
become a permanent force in American politics. The Republican Party had
preserved the sanctity of the Union, and had led the nation through
Reconstruction.
In 1888, Republican candidate
Benjamin Harrison was elected to the presidency, heralding a new era for
the common man, industry, and a strong America with a growing
international reputation for military power. Rapid industrialization
prompted the Harrison Administration to check excessive profiteering
with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, but adverse reaction to policies of
high protective tariffs - the main campaign issue of 1892 - led the
country to elect Democrat Grover Cleveland to another term.
A New Century
Promising a national rebuilding
effort and sound money policies, the party regained the presidency with
William McKinley in 1896. Republican leadership continued through four
successive presidential terms (1896-1901); Theodore Roosevelt
(1901-1908); and William Taft (1908-1912).
Under these Republican
Administrations, America adopted the gold standard, won the
Spanish-American War, introduced the open-door policy with China,
purchased and resumed construction of the Panama Canal, and established
the United States as a world military power. Americans welcomed Teddy
Roosevelt's strong stand on protecting wildlife and public lands,
accepted his creation of the Department of Labor, and applauded his
legal action against corporate trusts. America's foreign policy was
accurately portrayed by his motto: "Speak softly and carry a big
stick."
Discord struck the Republican
Party in the 1912 elections as Teddy Roosevelt led his supporters on the
"Bull Moose" ticket against President Taft. Playing to the
advantage of a split Republican vote, the Democrats won the election
with Woodrow Wilson, who promised to keep the U.S. out of World War I.
Shortly after his re-election in 1916 the U.S. entered the war. By
mid-1918, the Republican Party won control of Congress and Wilson's
popularity began to wane as World War I dragged on.
Women's Rights
Perhaps the most significant
accomplishments of the Republican-controlled Congress was the adoption
of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution granting women the right
to vote. Responsive to the role of women in both party politics and
government, Republicans were the first to recognize women in their
platform: "The Republican Party is mindful of its obligations to
the loyal women of America for their noble devotion to the cause of
freedom. Their admission to wider fields of usefulness is viewed with
satisfaction, and the honest demand of any class of citizens for
additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration."
(1872)
During the Roaring Twenties, three
successive Republican Presidents kept a lid on government spending and
taxes: Warren G. Harding (1920-1924); Calvin Coolidge (1924-1928); and
Herbert Hoover (1928-1932). While Republicans controlled the White House
and Congress, the U.S. economy expanded as free enterprise stimulated
business and industry. The Republicans' sound money policies brought
growing prosperity and steadily cut the federal debt.
In 1929, the Wall Street crash
signaled disaster for the Republicans as President Hoover emerged as the
scapegoat for the Great Depression. Hoover's anti-Depression solutions
went unheeded as people turned to the Democrats for a "New
Deal."
Under Franklin Roosevelt's
"New Deal" the federal government gained power and size while
deficit spending rose as a result of increased government involvement in
the economy.
The next 20 years were a time of
rebuilding for the Republican Party. The effort included establishing a
greater role for women. In 1937, Miss Marion E. Martin was named first
assistant chairman of the Republican National Committee, launching a
tradition that the RNC chairman and co-chairman be of opposite sex.
In the post-Depression era, five
presidential terms were shared by only two presidents. The Democrats
ignored the two-term tradition upheld by the Republican Party and handed
the presidency to Roosevelt for an unprecedented four terms. Following
Roosevelt's death, Vice President Harry S. Truman became president. It
was not until 1946, with the 80th Congress, that the Republicans won a
majority in both the Senate and the House. Notably, it was this Congress
that produced the first balanced federal budget in 17 years.
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Origin of the Republican Elephant
This symbol of the party was born in the
imagination of cartoonist Thomas Nast and first appeared in Harper's
Weekly on November 7, 1874.
An 1860 issue of Railsplitter and an 1872
cartoon in Harper's Weekly connected elephants with Republicans, but it
was Nast who provided the party with its symbol.
Oddly, two unconnected events led to the birth of the Republican
Elephant. James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald raised the cry of
"Caesarism" in connection with the possibility of a thirdterm
try for President Ulysses S. Grant. The issue was taken up by the
Democratic politicians in 1874, halfway through Grant's second term and
just before the midterm elections, and helped disaffect Republican
voters.
While the illustrated journals were depicting
Grant wearing a crown, the Herald involved itself in another
circulation-builder in an entirely different, nonpolitical area. This
was the Central Park Menagerie Scare of 1874, a delightful hoax
perpetrated by the Herald. They ran a story, totally untrue, that the
animals in the zoo had broken loose and were roaming the wilds of New
York's Central Park in search of prey.
Cartoonist Thomas Nast took the two examples of
the Herald enterprise and put them together in a cartoon for Harper's
Weekly. He showed an ass (symbolizing the Herald) wearing a lion's skin
(the scary prospect of Caesarism) frightening away the animals in the
forest (Central Park). The caption quoted a familiar fable: "An ass
having put on a lion's skin roamed about in the forest and amused
himself by frightening all the foolish animals he met within his
wanderings."
One of the foolish animals in the cartoon was
an elephant, representing the Republican vote - not the party, the
Republican vote - which was being frightened away from its normal ties
by the phony scare of Caesarism. In a subsequent cartoon on November 21,
1874, after the election in which the Republicans did badly, Nast
followed up the idea by showing the elephant in a trap, illustrating the
way the Republican vote had been decoyed from its normal allegiance.
Other cartoonists picked up the symbol, and the elephant soon ceased to
be the vote and became the party itself.
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