Convention platforms reflect the philosophy of political party members, and through the years, they’ve made a statement about broad societal trends.
And nothing is more powerful that a political party discussing the Constitution and proposing constitutional amendments. In some cases, the amendment proposals to get added to the Constitution. In other cases, these proposals are a response to a Supreme Court decision strongly opposed by the party.
Here is a look back at some of the Republican Party’s platforms and the constitutional amendments proposed in them, starting with its very first convention in Philadelphia in 1856.
1. The Republicans propose what became the 13th Amendment in 1864. The first two Republican conventions had platforms that discussed the Constitution but didn’t include plans to change it. The 1864 meeting in Baltimore endorsed a constitutional amendment to end slavery that had recently failed in the House. The amendment was proposed again and ratified in the following year
2. The Blaine Amendment is offered in 1876. The powerful Republican leader James Blaine championed an amendment that would prevent public educational funds to being allocated to religious groups. He failed to get Congress to approve the amendment by a narrow margin in the Senate, but 37 states later passed their own versions.
3. An interstate transportation amendment to the Constitution. The 1916 Republican Party offered an amendment to place “the transportation system of the country” totally under federal control.
4. Child Labor amendment. President Calvin Coolidge supported the amendment to give Congress the power to regulate labor conditions for people 18 years of age and Congress passed it a few months before the 1924 GOP convention. “We urge the prompt consideration of that amendment by the legislatures of the various states,” read the platform, but the proposed amendment is still 10 states short of ratification.
5. The Republican supports Prohibition. In 1928, the party platform read, “The people through the method provided by the Constitution have written the Eighteenth Amendment into the Constitution. The Republican Party pledges itself and its nominees to the observance and vigorous enforcement of this provision of the Constitution.”
6. On second thought, maybe it doesn’t. In a lengthy part of the 1932 platform, the Republicans agree that party members can object to Prohibition, but that any proposed constitution amendment to change the 18th Amendment should allow the federal government to protect states that want to ban intoxicating spirits.
7. The GOP pushes for the ERA and term limits – in 1940! The Republican platform, with Wendell Willkie as its nominee, said that it wanted a constitutional amendment “providing for equal rights for men and women” and another that read, “that no person shall be President of the United States for more than two terms.”
8. An anti-busing amendment. The 1972 platform still continued its support for the ERA, but also included a plea for a constitutional amendment that favored “better education for all children, not more transportation for some children.”
9. School prayer and Right To Life. The Republican platform in 1976 repeated its call for an anti-busing amendment, and it added a demand for school prayer and an amendment to ‘to restore protection of the right to life for unborn children.
10. The Balanced Budget Amendment. At the 1980 convention that nominated Ronald Reagan, the Republicans first mention the need for a balanced budget amendment if a new Republican Congress is impeded in limiting federal spending.
11. Terms Limits For Congress. The 1988 convention included a demand for a constitutional amendment to limit the terms served by Senators and House members.
12. The anti-flag burning amendment. In response to two Supreme Court decisions that upheld flag burning as a protected First Amendment right, the 1996 GOP platform asked for an amendment to “restore to the people, through their elected representatives, their right to safeguard Old Glory.”
13. Victims’ Rights. The 2000 and 2004 Republican platforms included a request for “a federal Constitutional amendment for victims of violent crime that would provide specific rights for victims protected under the U.S. Constitution.”
14. An amendment to ban same-sex marriages. The 2004 GOP platform said, “We strongly support President Bush's call for a Constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage, and we believe that neither federal nor state judges nor bureaucrats should force states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage.”
15. An amendment about tax increases. In 2012, the Republicans asked for, “a Constitutional amendment requiring a super-majority for any tax increase, with exceptions for only war and national emergencies, and imposing a cap limiting spending to the historical average percentage of GDP so that future Congresses cannot balance the budget by raising taxes.”
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