The Republican Party was born in 1854 in a small schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin, with one purpose: to stop the expansion of slavery. Emerging from the ashes of the Whig Party and the abolitionist movement, it united free-soilers, anti-slavery Democrats, and conscience Whigs—Americans who could no longer tolerate the moral stain of human bondage. That same year, thousands of anti-slavery activists formally organized the Party at a convention in Jackson, Michigan, to oppose the Democrat-led Kansas-Nebraska Act, which permitted the spread of slavery into western territories. It was no accident that just two years later, in 1856, the first Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia—the birthplace of the Constitution. In a time when the Democratic Party supported and defended the institution of slavery, Republicans took a principled stand. And they paid for it — in courage, sacrifice, and blood.

The name “Republican” was chosen, alluding to Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party and conveying a commitment to the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Though popularized in a Thomas Nast cartoon, the GOP’s elephant symbol originated during the 1860 campaign, as a symbol of Republican strength. Republicans envisioned “free soil, free speech, free labor.”

It was the Republican Party that nominated Abraham Lincoln, who would go on to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was the entire Republican Party who freed the slaves. The 1864 Republican National Convention called for the abolition of slavery, and it was Republicans who passed the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to former slaves; and the 15th Amendment, which secured voting rights for Black men. Democrats opposed all three.

In the post-Civil War South, where Black Americans began exercising their newfound rights, Democratic-controlled legislatures enacted Black Codes to suppress them. As Reconstruction gave way to Jim Crow, it was the Democratic Party that codified segregation, voter suppression, and racial subjugation across the South. It was during this same era that the Ku Klux Klan—founded by Confederate Democrats—emerged as a terrorist arm of the Democratic Party, using violence and intimidation to silence Black conservative voters and Republican
candidates–a legacy that sadly continues to this day.

The early women’s rights movement was solidly Republican, as it was a continuation of abolitionism. Suffragists were careful not to be overly partisan, but as did Susan B. Anthony, most favored the GOP.

Hailed by the left as a progressive icon, Democrat President Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921) opposed women’s suffrage, re-segregated the federal government, and praised the KKK- glorifying film The Birth of a Nation—while Republicans led the fight for equality and the 19th Amendment, written by a Republican senator and garnered greater support from Republicans than from Democrats to secure women’s suffrage.

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For nearly a century, the most notorious opponents of civil rights legislation were Democrats—including a 75-day filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, led by Democratic Senators like Robert Byrd, a former Klan recruiter, and Al Gore Sr., father of the future Vice President. That landmark legislation passed only because Republicans overwhelmingly supported it—80% in the House and 82% in the Senate, compared to much lower Democratic support.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS THE PARTY OF…
PROSPERITY
Low taxes, sound money, regulatory restraint: these were among the commonsense economic policies established by the GOP that brought about decades of prosperity after the Civil War. Republicans encouraged innovation and rule of law. Buttressed by Republican control in Congress, the McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Taft administrations cleared away obstacles to economic growth.

President Dwight Eisenhower and congressional Republicans appreciated the fact that the private sector, not the government, is the engine of wealth creation. With bold tax-cutting agenda, President Ronald Reagan revived the economy after years of Democrat malaise.  

VISION
Theodore Roosevelt embodies our Party’s traditional concern for the environment, but the Republican commitment to the environment actually with the world’s first national park, Yellowstone, established during the Ulysses Grant’s administration.

President Eisenhower advocated groundbreaking civil rights legislation and vigorously enforced the Brown v. Board of Education decision, sending the 101st Airborne to Little Rock when chaos erupted following integration at Central High.

Ronald Reagan explained the difference between Democrats and Republicans in a way that cannot be improved upon: “Two visions of the future, two fundamentally different ways of governing – their government of pessimism, fear, and limits, or ours of hope, confidence, and growth. Their government sees people only as members of groups. Ours serves all the people of America as individuals.”

STRENGTH
President Ronald Reagan boldly declared the Soviet Union an “evil empire” and helped bring about the collapse of Soviet communism — a system that has murdered more than 100 million people — leading western democracies to victory over Soviet tyranny in the Cold War. The George W. Bush administration maintained the military second-to-none and projected that power in the fight against international terrorism.

and THE FUTURE
Drawing inspiration from our Party’s history, today’s Republicans believe individuals, not the government, make the best decisions; all people are entitled to equal rights, and decisions are best made close to home.

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At the state level, the nation’s nearly thirty Republican governors are making the government more effective and efficient, spurring economic growth and striving to put more power in the hands of the people.

Nationally, Republicans recognize that the slow, bloated, top-down Washington bureaucracy is out-of-date in the 21st century. Our Party works to give Americans more choices—in healthcare, in education, in energy, and in the economy—and to free individuals and families from the intrusive overreach of federal bureaucrats.

The Party’s core principles of freedom and equal opportunity are as relevant today as at our founding, and they are the roadmap for American renewal in a new and interconnected world. 

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SO, WHAT DO WE REALLY BELIEVE?
For decades, the American left—alongside a willing media apparatus—has worked tirelessly to distort the truth about the Republican Party. They’ve painted conservatives as bigots, authoritarians, and enemies of progress. These attacks are not just misleading—they are historically false; and they are aimed at discrediting the very movement that has stood for liberty, equality, and individual dignity since its founding and to co-opt it as their own.

Today’s Democratic Party would have Americans believe that Republicans stand in the way of justice and equality. But the truth is this: Republicans have been the party of freedom, dignity, and moral courage since day one. It is our ideas—not theirs—that have expanded rights, protected life, and defended the Constitution.

Yes, the Republican Party believes in limited government. But it’s not because we’re cold or indifferent. It’s because we know that the greatest compassion is found not in bureaucracy, but in liberty and personal empowerment. We believe that every person—regardless of race, background, or income—has the God-given right to chart their own path, raise their family in safety, and pursue their version of the American Dream without the boot of government bureaucracy on their necks.

The Democratic Party’s long history of oppression, segregation, and authoritarian control cannot be erased with a slogan or whitewashed by media spin. We won’t let them rewrite history—and we won’t let them define who we are.

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We are the Republican Party.

We are the party of Lincoln, of liberty, of equal justice under law.

And it’s time America remembered the truth.