Republican Party
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Republican Party. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one of the two great political parties in the United States. The term Republican has had at different times different significations In 1792 a faction of the Anti-Federalists, advocating more direct control of the government by the people, further restriction of supreme authority, and a stronger emphasis of States Rights, began to be known as the Republican party. This party was increased by numbers of voters who called themselves Democrats on account of their sympathy with the French Jacobins. The combination was known officially as the Democratic-Republican party. Those members having centralizing tendencies having seceded, the term Democratic was alone retained. This name, as the title of a National party was first used in 1825, the election of 1828 being the first in which it appeared, at that time opposing the original holders of the name. The name Republican, as the title of a party went out of use after the election of 1824, but was resumed in 1856, during the administration of Mr. Pierce (1853-1857). Its platform rested mainly on the prohibition of slavery in the Territories, declaring that freedom was the public law of the national domain; the prohibition of polygamy, which it classed with slavery as "the twin relic of barbarism"; and the admission of Kansas as a free State. In 1856 the party fairly divided the country with its Democratic competitor. In June of that year its convention met at Philadelphia and nominated John C. Fremont for President. But the American party drew something from its strength, and though showing a popular vote of 1,341,264, it was defeated, the slave States, with the exception of Maryland, which voted for Mr. Fillmore, going solidly for Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic candidate, who was elected with the aid of five free States, 11 of the latter voting for General Fremont. The decision in the Dred Scott Case and the progress of events in Kansas greatly strengthened the party ty,, and after the divisions among the Democrats over the same question in 1860 the success of the Republicans was assured. In 1860 the party elected Abraham Lincoln President. The sectional issue was still more strongly marked and he received the electoral votes of the free States except New Jersey, which gave three votes to Mr. Douglas. On the announcement of his election the Southern States prepared to secede, South Carolina leading, followed by 10 others. Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated March 4, 1861, General Scott carefully supervising the ceremony. He asserted that there was no right to interfere with slavery in the States where it existed, and acknowledged that of the reclamation of fugitive slaves; but he expressed his determination to execute the laws and protect public property. The conduct of the Civil War was in the hands of the Republican party, though northern Democrats formed a large proportion of the Union army. In 1864 Mr. Lincoln was unanimously nominated by the Republicans, and was re-elected by an overwhelming majority. The war was brought to a close by the surrender of General Lee, April 9, 1865; on the 14th Mr. Lincoln was assassinated, and died the next day. Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, immediately succeeded him, and continued his cabinet. Mr. Johnson had been a loyal Union man of Tennessee and was chosen in view of the reconstruction of the South. He soon disagreed with the party and came into actual conflict with Congress. He was impeached March 23, 1868, but acquitted May 16 and 26 for lack of one of two-thirds for conviction. Chief-Justice Chase presided at this trial. In 1868 Ulysses S. Grant was elected President. His election was urged on the ground that the Republican party, having successfully finished the war, maintained public credit, abolished slavery, and secured liberty, was the proper one to carry on the government. In May, 1872, the Liberal Republicans met in Cincinnati, and nominated Horace Greeley, which action was indorsed by the Democratic convention. The Republicans nominated General Grant, and reelected him by a larger vote than that of the former term. In 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes, by the decision of the Presidential Electoral Commission, was declared elected. During this administration the resumption of specie payments took place, Jan. 1, 1879, and the reconstruction of the South went forward. In 1880 James A. Garfield was elected president, and died Sept. 19, 1881, from wounds inflicted July 2, and Chester A. Arthur, the Vice - President, took his place. In 1884 there arose a considerable defection from the party ranks, the seceders calling themselves Independent Republicans, and declining to vote for James G. Blaine, the regular nominee. As a result Grover Cleveland, the Democratic candidate, was chosen. In 1888 triumphed in the Nathe party again t tional election, Benjamin Harrison defeating Grover Cleveland on the tariff this administration, issue. During largely by the diplomacy of Mr. Blaine, Secretary of State, reciprocity trade relations were established with five South American States, with Austria-Hungary, Spain and Great Britain (as to British Guiana, and some of the British West India islands), admitting certain articles free of duty for the mutual advantage of these States and the United States. A new tariff bill, known as the McKinley bill, was passed favoring protection. A brief protectorate was assumed by the United States minister to Hawaii over the islands (see HAWAII). In 1892 the party was defeated by the second_election of Grover Cleveland and a Democratic Congress. In 1894 it again came into power in Congress by signal majorities carrying even Kentucky and other Democratic strongholds; and in 1896 regained all branches of the Government by the election of William McKinley and an increased majority of Congress. In 1899 the Republican party held the gov States, and controlled St ernorship in 26 the legislature in 22, with a plurality in several others. In 1900 President Mc- Kinley was re-elected, his first administration having been marked by a general business prosperity, and the successful waging of the war against Spain, "in the interest of humanity." On the death of President McKinley, from an assassin's bullet, Sept. 14, 1901, his place was filled by Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-President. Elected President 1904. The Panama Canal was begun in his administration, and completed in the Taft administration that followed. In 1912, Taft and Sherman ran for re-election, Roosevelt and Hiram Johnson heading the Progressives. Taft only carried Vermont and Utah. Roosevelt received 88 electoral votes. Woodrow Wilson became President; was re-elected in 1916, running against Charles E. Hughes, Republican. On March 4, 1919, the Republicans gained control of the Senate and House. The Republican victory, on Nov. 4, 1920, gave the entire control of the Government to the Republican party.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a political party of the United States . It was formed in 1854 amid the excitement connected with the repeal of the Missouri Compromise . It was composed chiefly of Northern Whigs, but it drew in the Free Soilers, Abolitionists, and Know-Nothings as well. Republican state conventions were held in this year in Michigan, Maine, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The name was suggested by Horace Greeley. In the Congress which met in 1855 there were fifteen Republican senators and 108 Republican representatives. Nathaniel P. Banks, a Republican representative from Massachusetts, was chosen speaker of the House. In 1856 a call was issued for a national convention to nominate a candidate for the presidency. It was addressed to "the people of the United States without regard to past political differences or divisions who were opposed to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present administration, to the extension of slavery into the territories, in favor of the admission of Kansas as a free state and of restoring the action of the Federal government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson." The convention met at Pittsburg and nominated John C. Fremont for president. He carried eleven states and received 114 electoral votes to 174 for the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan. In 1860 a second Republican national convention met at Chicago and nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for president and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for vice-president. At the ensuing election, these candidates received 180 electoral votes. The candidates of the three other parties received 123. With the exception of two terms of Grover Cleveland, the Republicans have held the presidency from Lincoln to Taft. The party went into power in full control both of the Senate and of the House. During this period the party has lost the house three times, in 1875, 1883, and 1891. It has lost the Senate twice, in 1881 and in 1893. As the dominant political power it has shaped national events for half a century. The management of the Civil War, emancipation, reconstruction, the resumption of specie payments, and the inauguration of civil service reform were achieved by the Republicans. The party also claims credit for the Homestead Act and consequent rapid settlement of the newer portions of the country. It has been the party of high protective tariff, consequently the party to which the manufacturers and moneyed interests of the country have adhered. As the party in power is naturally the party of corruption, it has been connected with various public scandals, as the Credit Mobilier , etc. See Democratic Party ; Know-Nothing Party ; Abolitionists ; Free Soilers; Tilden ; Presidents; Fremont ; Emancipation Proclamation; Civil Service ; Irrigation