After posting the definition of the Democratic party from my 1914 dictionary, I realized that I should have also done so for the Republican party. I also failed to note that the Republican party mentioned in the definition of the Democratic party is not the same Republican party we have today, as will be seen in the definition below.

Republican party – One of the two great parties. It was organized in 1856 by a combination of of voters from other parties, notably the Free Soil party, for the purpose of opposing the extension of slavery and in 1860 it elected Abraham Lincoln president. … Among the policies with which it has been especially identified are: a liberal construction of the Constitution, especial in the direction of federal power; specie payments; the maintenance of a gold standard; the retention of acquired territory; and a protective tariff system.

In contrast to the definition of the Democratic party, it would be fairly easy to find modern Republicans who would fall within this definition, especially the parts about expanding federal power and protective tariffs.

Sadly, in the time since these definitions were written, both parties have gone in a statist direction. While the Democratic party has appeared to change the most – having gone from the party of strict adherence to the Constitution to the party where the commerce clause, intended to prevent trade barriers between the states, gives the federal government authority to force people to engage in commerce, i.e. buy health insurance – this drift is not terribly surprising in the Republicans, especially if one recalls that the Progressive party was formed by a split in the Republican party before the 1912 election and, while this party disintegrated fairly rapidly, many of their platform items later became major parts of the welfare state: social security, minimum wage, farm relief, federal income tax and also advocated for direct democracy (i.e. rule by the majority).

It often appears that when the Democrats expand government power they are merely exploiting things the Republicans had created. For example,  who is more to blame for the current plethora of environmental regulations: the Obama administration who is using the EPA in an attempt to achieve its “green agenda” or the Nixon administration for creating the EPA in the first place?