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The Republican Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States of America, along with the Democratic Party. It is often referred to as the Grand Old Party or the GOP. It is the younger of the two major U.S. political parties, and the second oldest active political party in the United States.
The current U.S. President, George W. Bush, is the 18th Republican to hold that office. After losses in the 2006 Congressional elections, Republicans fill a minority of seats in both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, and hold a minority of state governorships and control a minority of state legislatures. It is currently the second largest party with 55 million registered members, roughly one third of the electorate.
Founded in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican Party rose to prominence with the election of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president. The party presided over the American Civil War and Reconstruction and was harried by internal factions and scandals towards the end of the 19th century. Early in the 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt's presidency briefly associated the GOP with progressivism, but by the Roaring Twenties, the party's economic ideology had developed into the pro-business model seen today. Today, the Republican Party supports a strong pro-business platform, with further foundations in economic libertarianism, nationalism, and a brand of social conservatism increasingly based on the viewpoints of the Religious Right.
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