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
In looking through my 1914 Webster’s New International Dictionary, I came across this definition as a subhead under democratic:
Democratic party, one of the two great political parties in 1828 in the United States, succeeding the Antifederalists, or Republican, party, of which it had formed one wing under the name of the Democratic Republicans. It has advocated a strict construction of the Constitution, sharp limitations on the power of the federal government, and a broad
December last year I wrote a blog post in which I made the case that in the last several decades Republicans have more and more become pale versions of Democrats. I pointed out that while, during an election season at least, Republicans often use the rhetoric of protecting rights and limited government when it comes time to actually govern their policies are not very different from those of the Democrats. You can check the original post to see my arguments, which I still stand by.
One of the comments