@natecull Sorry. Mis-read your timeline.
It *is* interesting. Skimming around a bit...it kinda seems like it stemmed from some Republicans being in favor of America's imperial tendencies at the time...
Republicans pushed for annexation of Hawaii while Democrats were against it...
Could imperialism lead to hard-core capitalism? I mean...it *usually* does...
@natecull @natecull Interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)#Reconstruction,_the_gold_standard_and_the_Gilded_Age
It's just an overview, but it seems like the real shift for Republicans to "the party of big business" happened in 1896 with Waren G Harding and the emerging gold standard? There's not a lot of detail there...great...I know what I'm reading about tonight...
So th Gold Standard actually was only created *after* the Civil War! That's interesting!
@natecull I think that depends on your definition. They landed on gold as the single standard, but only because pre-Civil War US monetary policy was a mess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard#In_the_United_States