Republican history
Know where the party came from.
A factual timeline drawn from congressional, archival, and presidential-history records. History first — argument second.
1854
The party is founded
Anti-slavery activists, former Whigs, and Free Soilers organized in Ripon, Wisconsin and Jackson, Michigan to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the extension of slavery into the western territories.
1856
First presidential ticket
John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee under the slogan 'Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men, Frémont.' He lost to James Buchanan but carried eleven states.
1860
Abraham Lincoln elected
Lincoln won the presidency as the first Republican president. His election triggered the secession of Southern states and the Civil War.
1862-1864
Homestead, land-grant, and railroad acts
Republican Congresses passed the Homestead Act, the Morrill Land-Grant Acts creating public universities, and the Pacific Railway Acts.
1863
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln declared enslaved people in rebelling states to be free, redefining the Union war effort around emancipation.
1865-1870
The Reconstruction Amendments
Republican majorities drove the 13th Amendment ending slavery, the 14th guaranteeing citizenship and equal protection, and the 15th protecting the right to vote regardless of race.
1870
First Black members of Congress
Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first Black U.S. senator and Joseph Rainey of South Carolina the first Black member of the House — both Republicans.
1890
Sherman Antitrust Act
Signed by Republican President Benjamin Harrison, it became the foundation of American antitrust law.
1901-1909
Theodore Roosevelt
Roosevelt expanded conservation, established national monuments and parks, and pressed trust-busting and consumer protection.
1920
19th Amendment ratified
Passed by a Republican-controlled Congress, it barred denying the vote on account of sex.
1953-1961
Eisenhower's presidency
Dwight D. Eisenhower ended the Korean War, launched the Interstate Highway System, created NASA, and sent troops to enforce school desegregation in Little Rock.
1964
Civil Rights Act
A higher percentage of congressional Republicans than Democrats voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen was central to breaking the filibuster.
1964
Goldwater and the conservative turn
Barry Goldwater's nomination lost badly but reoriented the party around limited government, federalism, and a firm anti-communist foreign policy.
1980
The Reagan realignment
Ronald Reagan won on tax reduction, deregulation, a rebuilt military, and confrontation with the Soviet Union, drawing in working-class voters.
1981-1989
Reagan's two terms
Marginal tax rates were cut sharply, inflation was broken alongside the Federal Reserve, and arms negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev began the end of the Cold War.
1994
Contract with America
Republicans won the House for the first time in forty years on a written platform of balanced budgets, term limits, and welfare reform.
2001-2009
The Bush years
George W. Bush responded to the September 11 attacks, cut taxes, and expanded federal education and Medicare prescription-drug policy.
2009-2016
Fiscal conservatism resurges
Grassroots opposition to federal spending and the Affordable Care Act reshaped the party and produced large midterm gains in 2010 and 2014.
2017-Present
A populist coalition
Donald Trump's presidencies, three Supreme Court appointments, tax reform, and a working-class realignment have defined the party's most recent era.