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expanding stub, discuss history
The party of [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Richard Nixon]], [[George H W Bush]], [[George W Bush]], [[Herbert Hoover]], [[Dwight Eisenhower]], and [[Theodore Roosevelt]], among others.
The '''Republican Party''' is one of the two major extant parties in the United States. The party is sometimes referred to as the GOP for "Grand Old Party." The party was founed in 1854 by a coalition of different interests who opposed the expansion of slavery and wanted to industrialize the United States.
Since then the party has been undergone a variety of changes and now is a socially conservative party with a generally libertarian attitude towards economic issues.
Presidents from the pary include: [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Richard Nixon]], [[George H W Bush]], [[George W Bush]], [[Herbert Hoover]], [[Dwight Eisenhower]], and [[Theodore Roosevelt]].
== History ==
The party was founded by disaffected Free-Soilers, Whigs and Democrats(mainly from the North). The first Republican candidate for President was [[John Frémont]] who was unsuccesful in his bid for the Presidency. Abraham Lincoln then ran in 1860 and the [[US Civil War]] broke out. In the post civil war era, Reconstruction and associated resentment of the South in the North allowed the party to stay strong through the turn of the century. As slavery fell into the past, the party became more a party of industry and business. Later, in the 1920s, the party stood for high tarrifs and non-involvement with the League of Nations. During the Depression, Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt as the party became more in favor of small government and against the [[New Deal]]. Later, in the 1950s and 60s, the party also took on a strong state's rights attitude and rejected federal efforts to desegregate. During this time, the so called [[Dixiecrat]]s left the Democratic party for the Republicans after the collaspse of the 3rd party [[States' Rights Democratic Party]]. Prior to this time period, the South had generally voted Democrat in reaction to the Civil War and Reconstruction. However, often in this time period, other candidates such as George Wallace, ran on 3rd party tickets and continued to capture these voters.
== Contemporary Party ==
The contemporary Republican Party represents a wide array of interests such as the conservative evangelicals and the economic libertarians. The party has had some internal conflict over attitudes about how governments should run and how large they should be, what the party stands for, and what the party's attitude towards [[neo-conservatism]] should be especially in regard to foreign policy. The party is also divided over immigration issues with some members (such as George Bush) favoring workers visas and permits and some other members favoring strict control of immigration and strong action against illegal immigration.