The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP (‘Grand old party’), is one of the world's oldest extant political parties. It is the second-oldest existing political party in the United States; its chief rival, the Democratic Party, is the oldest.
The Republican Party emerged in 1854 to combat the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the expansion of slavery into American territories. The early Republican Party consisted of African-Americans, northern white Protestants, businessmen, professionals, factory workers, and farmers. The GOP was pro-business, and it supported banks, the gold standard, railroads and high tariffs; the party opposed the expansion of slavery. At its inception, Republican Party had almost no presence in the Southern United States; by 1858, however it had enlisted former Whigs and former Free Soil Democrats to form majorities in nearly every Northern state.
