From the Beginning

Abolishing slavery. Free speech. Women's suffrage. These are the principles the Republican Party, in opposition to the Democratic Party, adopted early on.

Reducing the government. Streamlining the bureaucracy. Returning power to the states. These issues don't sound like they would be the promises of the party of Lincoln, the party that fought to preserve the national union, but they are, and logically so. With a corebelief in the idea of the primacy of individuals, the Republican Party has been at the forefront of the fight for individuals' rights in opposition to a large, bloated government.

At the time of its founding, the Republican Party was organized as an answer to the divided politics, political turmoil, arguments and internal division, particularly over slavery, that plagued the many existing political parties in the United States in 1854.

The Free Soil Party, asserting that all men had a natural right to the soil, demanded that the government re-evaluate homesteading legislation and grant land to settlers free of charge.

With the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the Republicans firmly established themselves as a major party capable of holding onto the White House for 60 of the next 100 years.

Faced with the first shots of the Civil War barely a month after his inauguration, preserving the Union was Lincoln's greatest challenge and no doubt his greatest achievement. But it was by no means his only accomplishment. Amid the fierce and bloody battles of the Civil War, the Lincoln administration established the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and a national banking system. Understanding the importance of settling the frontier, as well as having a piece of land to call your own, Lincoln passed the Homestead Act, which satisfied the former Free Soil members by offering public land grants. Hoping to achieve a higher level of education, Lincoln also donated land for agricultural and technical colleges to the states through the Land Grant College Act, which established universities throughout the United States. Fully sensitive to the symbolism of their name, the Republicans worked to deal the death blow to slavery with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the passage, by a Republican Congress, of the 13^th Amendment, which outlawed slavery. Hoping to permanently turn back the Democratic advance in the South, immediately after the Civil War, the Republican Congress continued to push through legislation to extend the full protection of civil rights to blacks.

During Reconstruction, the mostly Democratic South, which had seceded from both the Union and Congress, struggled to regain its footing. Meanwhile, the Republicans took advantage of their majority and passed several measures to improve the quality of life for blacks throughout the entire Union. First the Republicans passed a Civil Rights Act in 1866 recognizing blacks as US citizens. This act hoped to weaken the South by denying states the power to restrict blacks from testifying in a court of law or from owning their own property. Nevertheless, Black Americans continued to be second-rate citizens especially after the end of the Reconstruction period when racial segregation was practiced far and wide. That same year the Republican Congress also passed the National Eight Hour Law, which, though it applied only to government workers, brought relief for overworked federal

employees by limiting the work day to eight hours. As for the workers, the eight-hour working day began to be applied only in the 20th century. Assuming the presidency when McKinley was assassinated in 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt busied himself with what he considered to be the most pressing issue, ensuring the Republican principle of competition in a free market. To do so, Roosevelt used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, passed in 1890 under Republican President Benjamin Harrison, to successfully prosecute and break up several large business monopolies, but basically the Anti-Trust Act remained mainly on paper.

In 1903, Roosevelt became involved with foreign policy, supporting revolutionaries who then formed the Republic of Panama. His actions in Panama resulted in the treaty that permitted construction of the Panama Canal. In 1905, Roosevelt who popularized the West African phrase "Speak softly and carry a big stick" to explain his view on foreign policy successfully negotiated the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the conflict between Russia and Japan. Roosevelt's accomplishments as a peacemaker earned him the Nobel Peace Prize and the distinction of being the first American to receive this award. Pursuing a hard line in foreign policy, he is known in history as a staunch promoter of American imperialist ambitions. Roosevelt easily won a second term and proceeded to continue to stand by his principles. Believing in the importance of work, Roosevelt was also responsible for creating the Department of Labour to regulate labour relations in the country. All in all, Theodore Roosevelt's presidency established principles which were faithfully observed by all Republican presidents who followed him.