Tag Archives: Republican Party

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP (Grand Old Party), is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

The GOP was founded in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had expanded slavery into U.S. territories. The party originally subscribed to classical liberalism and took ideological stands that were anti-slavery and pro-economic reform.

Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president in the history of the United States; under his leadership and the leadership of a Republican Congress, slavery was banned in the United States in 1865.

The Party was usually dominant over the Democrats during the Third Party System and Fourth Party System. In 1912,

Theodore Roosevelt formed the Progressive (“Bull Moose”) Party after being rejected by the GOP and ran unsuccessfully as a third-party presidential candidate calling for social reforms. After the 1912 election, many Roosevelt supporters left the Party, and the Party underwent an ideological shift to the right.

Why Libertarians Should Join the Republican Party

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Despite the Libertarian Party being the 3rd largest political party in the United States, it is my belief that Libertarianism works best as a political philosophy promoting minimal state intervention in our lives, independence, self-direction, self-reliance, and freethinking. Generally speaking, it fails as an organized political group to contest elections and hold power in the government. Continue reading →