--- title: Republican Platform: Read the First One in Party History description: As Republicans finalize their 2016 platform, ook back at the party's first-ever platform, issued in 1856 canonical: https://time.com/4403385/first-republican-party-platform/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T15:00:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:12:30.446Z article:section: History og:title: Republican Platform: Read the First One in Party History og:description: It was issued by the nascent organization in 1856 og:url: https://time.com/4403385/first-republican-party-platform/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2870b5af5122b0d2/69889bd4524fc06e54df8b72/1856.jpeg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican Banner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Platform: Read the First One in Party History twitter:description: It was issued by the nascent organization in 1856 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2870b5af5122b0d2/69889bd4524fc06e54df8b72/1856.jpeg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read the First-Ever Republican Party Platform  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 18, 2016 3:00 PM UTC  A banner supporting the candidacy of Republican politician John Fremont (1813 - 1890) and his running mate William Drayton (1807 - 1864) in the election of 1856. A banner supporting the candidacy of Republican politician John Fremont (1813 - 1890) and his running mate William Drayton (1807 - 1864) in the election of 1856.MPI / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 18, 2016 3:00 PM UTC As the Republican Party [gathers](http://time.com/4317874/republican-party-donald-trump-contested-convention-john-kasich-ted-cruz/) in Cleveland this week to officially nominate its candidate for President, the GOP will head into this year’s election with an official party platform that was decided on after much [debate](http://time.com/4402492/republican-delegate-party-platform-same-sex-marriage/) on [issues](http://time.com/4401600/gop-platform-contemplates-anti-porn-provision-embrace-of-conversion-therapy/) ranging from Internet pornography to the idea of a wall along the Mexican border. The issues were far different 160 years ago, the first time the Republican Party ran a candidate for president. When the Republican Party was [founded](http://ti.me/29C69P4) in the 1850s, amid the [crumbling](http://time.com/4280458/republican-party-know-nothings/) of other political parties and an increasingly [inevitable](http://time.com/4404754/abraham-lincoln-house-divided-text-hillary-clinton/) national conflict over slavery, that first platform was a chance to make clear just what the new party stood for: opposition to the extension of slavery, belief in the sovereignty of the federal government, and the continued devotion to the constitutional ideal of liberty and equality for all. _Here is that_ [_original platform_](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/platforms.php) _in full:_ --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4403385/first-republican-party-platform/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4403385/first-republican-party-platform/"},"headline":"Read the First-Ever Republican Party Platform","datePublished":"2016-07-18T15:00:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:12:30.446Z","description":"The 1856 document laid out where the new party stood","url":"https://time.com/4403385/first-republican-party-platform/","keywords":["politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2870b5af5122b0d2/69889bd4524fc06e54df8b72/1856.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2870b5af5122b0d2/69889bd4524fc06e54df8b72/1856.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Banner","caption":"Republican Banner","creditText":"MPI / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4403385/first-republican-party-platform/","name":"Read the First-Ever Republican Party Platform"}}]}] ```