Liberal Republicans

Examples of Liberal Republicans in the following topics:

• Reform and the Election of 1872

  • In response to President Grant's federal patronage, in 1870, Senator Carl Schurz from Missouri, a German immigrant and Civil War hero, started a second party known as the "Liberal Republicans."
  • The Liberal Republicans thought that the Grant administration, and the president personally, were fully corrupt.
  • The Liberal Republicans successfully ran B.G.
  • Grant also favored amnesty for former Confederate soldiers such as the Liberal Republicans.
  • Horace Greeley was soundly defeated as the candidate of the Liberal Republican Party during the election of 1872.

• The Election of 1916

  • Incumbent Democratic President Wilson narrowly defeated Republican Supreme Court Justice Hughes in the 1916 election.
  • Theodore Roosevelt had split from the GOP and formed his own group, the Progressive Party, which attracted most of the liberal Republicans.
  • William Howard Taft, the incumbent president and Roosevelt’s successor, won the 1912 Republican nomination.
  • Several candidates competed for the 1916 Republican nomination, but the party's bosses wanted a moderate who would be acceptable to both conservative and liberal factions.
  • Contrast the Democratic and Republican platforms in the election of 1916

• The Soul of a Republic

  • Revolutionary republicanism was centered on the ideal of limiting corruption and greed.
  • Republicanism required the service of people willing to give up their own interests for the common good.
  • The open question of the conflict between personal economic interest (grounded in John Locke's philosophy of liberalism) and classical republicanism troubled Americans.
  • Adams also worried that financial interests could conflict with republican duty.
  • As a result, there was "a great Danger that a Republican Government would be very factious and turbulent there."

• The Election of 1964

  • At the start of the election, the Republican Party was deeply divided between its conservative and moderate-liberal factions.
  • Conservatives likened Eastern moderates to liberal Democrats, both in their philosophy and their approach to government.
  • Goldwater's chief opponent for the Republican nomination was Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York and longtime leader of the GOP's liberal-moderate faction.
  • Shortly before the Republican Convention, his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which Johnson championed and signed into law) alienated most moderate Republicans.
  • Nelson Rockefeller was a the leader of the moderate wing of the Republican Party.

• From Roosevelt to Taft

  • In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft to run against Democratic candidate William Bryan.
  • Despite these two previous defeats, Bryan remained extremely popular among the more liberal and populist elements of the Democratic Party.
  • However, Taft undercut Bryan's liberal support by accepting some of his reformist ideas, and Roosevelt's progressive policies blurred the distinctions between the two parties.
  • Businessmen continued to support the Republican Party, and Bryan failed to fully secure the support of labor.
  • The northern states went Republican, as did contiguous territory in Kansas.

• American Republicanism

  • American republicanism is a political ideology that sees government as the pursuit of common good by a virtuous, participating citizenry.
  • Republicanism required the service of those who were willing to give up their own interests for a common good.
  • English country party drew heavily on the classical republican language of ancient Rome: celebrating the ideals of duty and virtuous male citizenship as the basis of effective republicanism.
  • The country party system was adopted by liberal Whigs, and even some Tories in England, who criticized the corruption and nepotism of the royal court party in favor of parliamentary representation as the least corruptible form of governance.
  • For example, during Washington's two terms as president, Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans clashed over numerous domestic matters and, in this conflict, drew on conflicting visions of classical republicanism to advocate for two distinct socio-economic visions of American society.

• John Randolph and the Old Republicans

  • When Virginia congressman John Randolph broke with Jefferson in 1806, his political faction became known as the "Old Republicans," or "quids."
  • Virginia congressman John Randolph of Roanoke was the leader of the "Old Republican" faction of Democratic-Republicans that insisted on a strict adherence to the Constitution and opposed any innovations.
  • The term was first used in 1804, referring to moderates in Pennsylvania and especially a faction of the Democratic-Republican party calling itself "The Society of Constitutional Republicans."
  • Moderates successfully outmaneuvered their radical opponents and kept the Pennsylvania legislature friendly to emergent liberal capitalism.
  • In New York state, the term "quid" was applied to the Democratic-Republican faction that remained loyal to Governor Morgan Lewis after he was repudiated by the Republican majority led by DeWitt Clinton.

• War of Black Liberation

  • The Civil War is sometimes referred to as The War of Black Liberation because the Civil War resulted in the end of slavery.
  • Many Republicans, including Abraham Lincoln, considered the decision unjust and as proof that the Slave Power had seized control of the Supreme Court.
  • The Southern Democrats endorsed slavery, while the Southern Republicans denounced it.
  • The Civil War then became known as a War of Black Liberation; however it was fueled by a mix of political, economic, and moral motives.
  • Explain why the Civil War is often referred to as the War of Black Liberation.

• The Election of 1988

  • The 1988 United States presidential election was defined by the victory of Republican George H.W.
  • Bush won the Republican nomination, while the Democrats nominated Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.
  • The result was a third consecutive Republican landslide victory and George H.
  • In the 1984 presidential election, the Democrats had nominated Walter Mondale, a traditional New Deal-type liberal as their candidate.
  • This in fact was the last election to date in which a Republican presidential nominee won a majority of northern electoral votes.

• Union Politics

  • Within the Republican Party, however, the Radical Republicans, led by House Republican leader Thaddeus Stevens, put strong pressure on Lincoln to end slavery quickly.
  • In June 1862, Congress passed a Law Enacting Emancipation in the Federal Territories, and in July, passed the Second Confiscation Act, which contained provisions intended to liberate slaves held by rebels.
  • A faction within the Republican Party, called the "Radical Republicans," also opposed the war.
  • Stevens was a leader among the Radical Republicans, supporters of emancipation.
  • Explain the policies enacted by the Republican Party during the Civil War