The purpose of the Teen Republican Club is to discuss current events with a group of like-minded peers and to advocate for conservative solutions to our nation's problems by working with local, state, and national campaigns.
Our club is open to anyone with an interest in the following core principles: limited government, upholding the Constitution, the free market, respect for human life, and strong national defense (see https://www.gop.com/).
For more information, contact Mr. Shanahan at [email protected]
If you want to live free, think G.O.P.!
A brief history of the Republican Party:
The Republican party is one of the oldest political
parties in the world. Thomas Jefferson’s party was popularly known as the
“Republican” party throughout the period known as the first party system. By
the 1820’s the second party system was under way and in 1824 the National
Republican party was formed to oppose Andrew Jackson & his Democrats. By
1833 the National Republicans grew into the Whig and Anti Masonic parties in
continued opposition to Jacksonian Democrats. On March 20, 1854 the modern
Republican party was founded in Ripon Wisconsin with a name linking it to
Jefferson. The party was founded by Whig party members & Free Soilers to
oppose the spread of slavery in the territories. The Republican Party name was
christened in an editorial written by New York newspaper magnate Horace
Greeley. Greeley printed in June 1854:
"We should
not care much whether those thus united (against slavery) were
designated 'Whig,' 'Free Democrat' or something else; though we think some
simple name like 'Republican' would more fitly designate those who had united
to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty
rather than propagandist of slavery."
The new party grew rapidly & by 1856 their first
presidential candidate, John C. Freemont, won 11 of 16 Northern states. In the
19th c. the Republican party was based upon the support of Northern Protestants, businessmen, small business
owners, professionals, factory
workers, farmers
and African Americans in the South. The
secession of the South in 1860 amounted to the secession of the Democrat party
leaving the G.O.P. to run the country during the Civil War. The
Republican party was viewed to be the party of the victorious north and won
control of the Southern states during Reconstruction. Republican dominance in
the South will only last until 1877 when the Democrats regained political control of the
South. The Jim Crow era followed which prevented many Republicans from being able to
vote. The G.O.P. had already secured, however, the passage of the
Reconstruction amendments ending slavery and guaranteeing voting rights for A-A men. During the Gilded Age the Republicans won successive presidential
elections and by 1919 many Republicans, like Teddy Roosevelt, supported
Progressive era reforms including the 19th amendment which gave
women the vote. Republicans did well
during the post WW I economic boom but were hurt by the Great Depression and
FDR’s realignment of the Democrat party. Democrat party dominance will last for
most of the next sixty years. The G.O.P. successfully expanded
its base throughout the South after 1968, largely due to its strength among social
conservatives, evangelical Protestants and Roman
Catholics. By 2016, the Republicans held the
presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives and most governorships. Today’s
Republican party is generally socially conservative, favoring small government,
religious freedom, limited regulation and low taxes with less federal
intervention in the economy and in individual lives.