The contemporary Republican Party is not the Republican Party of Lincoln. Okay, let me restate that, it's the Party of Lincoln in name only. All this "Party of Lincoln" stuff is being used to try and confuse, or even trick, the general public, who doesn't have a very good understanding of the history of our major political parties. It has been told to me that one should never just complain about something, you should work to fix it, so I will now give you a super short and user-friendly guide to American Parties. Enjoy!
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First Party System: 1792-1824
Okay, from the founding of our political parties until about 1854, politics in America could be summed up as Jefferson vs. Hamilton and Adams. Thomas Jefferson created the Democratic-Republican Party (which would someday make it's way to being the current Democratic Party) which was in favor of limited government and a pretty simple agrarian society. Meanwhile, Hamilton created the Federalist Party, which supported a strong central government and a national banking system. Unfortunately, the Federalist Party had some pretty crappy leadership and was ran into the ground pretty soon after its creation.
Second Party System: 1828-1854
Unluckily for the ghost of Thomas Jefferson, his Party wasn't being handled too well, either. During this era, the Democratic-Republican Party split into the Andrew Jackson supporting Democrats and the Henry Clay supporting Whigs. Already we see that the parties are much too complex to just say "The Democratic Party is the Party of Jefferson!" The Democrats of this era supported a super strong president and did not support suffrage for non-white people. The Whigs, meanwhile, were created to maintain the powers of Congress and were vehemently opposed to the "Indian" Removal Acts that Jackson was passing. The Whigs quickly fell apart because most of their leaders died.
Third Party System: 1854-1890
This transition is super important! So, the Whigs died out (literally), right? In their place came the Republican Party (this would eventually become today's Republican Party) which was created by anti-slavery former Whigs. The Jacksonian Democrats became simply Democrats again and took in all of the racist, mostly Southern, slave supporting, former members of the Whig Party, who couldn't stomach joining their old colleagues in the new Republican Party.
So, for those of you keeping track at home, the Democratic Party was born out of supporting a small government and, as time went on, supported the nativist ideas of Andrew Jackson and the racism of slavery. Meanwhile, the Republican Party was born to fight against the racism of slavery and supported giving free land to farmers in the west (socialism???). To add to the point, the Republican Party found most of its support in the North while the Democratic Party was solidly centered in the South. Now. Take a second. Does this sound like the political parties we have today? But, let's continue on.
Fourth Party System: 1896-1932
This is where the shift is! The Parties now stay solid! But, and that's
Fifth Party System: 1933-Present
But, then came Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the King of Liberal America! It was his New Deal that snapped the Republican Party into an opposition of liberalism, and essentially created the Parties that we know and love!! After Roosevelt, it was Lyndon Johnson who really got the issue of Civil Rights under the Democratic platform, and Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell were largely responsible for getting the Moral Majority on the Republican Party's supporter list.
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I know a lot of you will think that this is some kind of political condemnation of the GOP - I promise you, though, it is not. It is simply a historical argument. I'm not saying that some Republicans can't say they are similar to Abraham Lincoln, by any means. But it's disingenuous for the entire Party to say it is the "Party of Lincoln," just as it would be disingenuous to say that the Democrats are the Party of Jefferson. Things have changed. The Parties are different.
I am very proud to be in the Party of JFK. The Party of FDR, LBJ, Truman, Clinton, Obama. That is my Party, those are its leaders. The Republican Party should stop trying to pander and/or lie to people who don't have the time to do in-depth research into the history of American Political Parties. It is the Party of Reagan - is that not good enough?
