The Republican Party, known retrospectively as the Democratic-Republican Party, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed liberalism, republicanism, individual liberty, equal rights, separation of church and state, freedom of religion, secular humanism, anti-clericalism, rehabilitation of criminals and terrorists, emancipation of women, non-whites, homosexuals and non-Christians, opposition to police brutality, opposition to torture, decentralization, free markets, free trade, and agrarianism. In foreign policy, it was hostile to Great Britain and the Netherlands and in sympathy with the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. The party became increasingly dominant after the 1800 elections as the opposing Federalist Party collapsed.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1876. Republican Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio very narrowly defeated Democrat Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Following President Ulysses S. Grant's decision to retire after his second term, U.S. Representative James G. Blaine emerged as frontrunner for the Republican nomination; however, Blaine was unable to win a majority at the 1876 Republican National Convention, which settled on Hayes as a compromise candidate. The 1876 Democratic National Convention nominated Tilden on the second ballot.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 2 to December 5, 1792. Incumbent President George Washington was elected to a second term by a unanimous vote in the electoral college, while John Adams was reelected as vice president. Washington was essentially unopposed, but Adams faced a competitive re-election against Governor George Clinton of New York.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 4 to December 7, 1796, when electors throughout the United States cast their ballots. It was the first contested American presidential election, the first presidential election in which political parties played a dominant role, and the only presidential election in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Incumbent vice president John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former secretary of state Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 1 to December 4, 1816. In the first election following the end of the War of 1812, Democratic-Republican candidate James Monroe defeated Federalist Rufus King. The election was the last in which the Federalist Party fielded a presidential candidate.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from November 1 to December 6, 1820. Taking place at the height of the Era of Good Feelings, the election saw incumbent Democratic-Republican President James Monroe win reelection without a major opponent. It was the third and the most recent United States presidential election in which a presidential candidate ran effectively unopposed. James Monroe's re-election marked the first time in U.S. history that a third consecutive president won a second election.
Presidential elections were held in the United States from October 26 to December 2, 1824. Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford were the primary contenders for the presidency. The result of the election was inconclusive, as no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote. In the election for vice president, John C. Calhoun was elected with a comfortable majority of the vote. Because none of the candidates for president garnered an electoral vote majority, the U.S. House of Representatives, under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, held a contingent election. On February 9, 1825, the House voted to elect John Quincy Adams as president, ultimately giving the election to him.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 1896. Former Governor William McKinley, the Republican nominee, defeated former Representative William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a political realignment that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1932. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York and the vice presidential nominee of the 1920 presidential election. The election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans, and it was the first time since 1916 that a Democrat was elected president.
Simon Cameron was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War.
William Findlay was an American farmer, lawyer, and politician. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he served as the fourth governor of Pennsylvania from 1817 to 1820, and as a United States senator from 1821 to 1827. He was one of three Findlay brothers born and raised in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, on their family farm.
Joseph Hiester was an American politician, who served as the fifth governor of Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1823. He was a member of the Hiester family political dynasty, and was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party.
Henry Augustus Philip Muhlenberg was an American political leader and diplomat. He was a member of the Muhlenberg family political dynasty.
Hiester Clymer was an American politician and white supremacist from the state of Pennsylvania. Clymer was a member of the Hiester family political dynasty and the Democratic Party. He was the nephew of William Muhlenberg Hiester and the cousin of Isaac Ellmaker Hiester. Although Clymer was born in Pennsylvania, he was adamantly opposed to Abraham Lincoln's administration and the Republican Party's prosecution of the American Civil War. Elected Pennsylvania state senator in 1860, Clymer opposed state legislation that supported the state Republican Party's war effort. After the American Civil War ended, Clymer unsuccessfully ran for the Pennsylvania Governor's office in 1866 on a white supremacist platform against Union Major-General John W. Geary. After his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1872 as a Democrat, Clymer would be primarily known for his investigation of Sec. William W. Belknap's War Department in 1876. Belknap escaped conviction in a Senate impeachment trial, and had resigned his cabinet position before being impeached by the House of Representatives. Having retired from the House in 1881, Clymer served as Vice President of the Union Trust Co. of Philadelphia and president of the Clymer Iron Co. until his death in 1884.
The 1908 Republican National Convention was held in Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois on June 16 to June 19, 1908. It convened to nominate successors to President Theodore Roosevelt and Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks.
The 1896 Democratic National Convention, held at the Chicago Coliseum from July 7 to July 11, was the scene of William Jennings Bryan's nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate for the 1896 U.S. presidential election.
The 1856–57 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1856 and 1857, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 1.
The 1823 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election occurred on October 14, 1823. Incumbent Federalist governor, Joseph Hiester, did not seek re-election. The Democratic candidate, John Andrew Shulze, defeated Federalist candidate Andrew Gregg.
The 1820 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election occurred on October 10, 1820. Incumbent Democratic-Republican governor William Findlay sought re-election but was defeated by U.S. Representative Joseph Hiester. Findlay entered the race with significantly reduced popularity. He had been renounced in the press as an opponent of democracy due to his nomination during the 1817 campaign by a group of party insiders. He additionally faced allegations of corruption over the misappropriation of funds during his tenure as State Treasurer, although all charges were dismissed during impeachment proceedings before the State Legislature. For this campaign, Findlay was nominated at a popular convention of Democratic Republicans; Hiester was selected at a separate convention of Federalists and "Old School Democrats". The sour state of the economy was a key factor in the defeat of the incumbent, as Pennsylvania was reeling from the effects of the Panic of 1819.
The 1805 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election occurred on October 8, 1805. Incumbent governor Thomas McKean won a contentious election over the endorsed Democratic-Republican candidate, Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Simon Snyder.
Government 