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The Democratic-Republican Party was the American political party in the 1790s of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison formed in opposition to the centralizing policies of the new Federalist party. It came to power in 1800, and dominated national and state affairs until the 1820s, when it faded away.

The term "Democratic-Republican" is used especially by modern political scientists for the first "Republican Party" (as it called itself at the time), also known as the Jeffersonian Republicans. Historians typically use the title "Republican Party". It was the second political party in the United States, and was organized by then Thomas Jefferson and his friend James Madison in 1791-93, to oppose the Federalist Party run by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.[2] The new party controlled the presidency and Congress, and most states, from 1801 to 1825, during the First Party System. Starting about 1791 one faction in Congress, many of whom had been opposed to the new Constitution, began calling themselves Republicans in the Second United States Congress. It splintered in 1824 into the Jacksonian movement (which became The Democratic Party in the 1830s) and the short-lived National Republican Party (later succeeded by the Whig Party).

The organization formed first as an "Anti-Administration" secret meeting in the national capital (Philadelphia) to oppose Hamilton's financial programs, which Jefferson denounced as leading to aristocracy and subversive of Republicanism in the United States. Jefferson needed to have a nationwide party to challenge the Federalists, a nationwide party organized by Hamilton. Foreign affairs took a leading role in 1794-95 as the Republicans vigorously opposed the Jay Treaty with Britain, which was then at war with France. Republicans saw France as more democratic after its revolution, while Britain represented the hated monarchy. The party denounced many of Hamilton's measures (especially the national bank) as unconstitutional.

The party was strongest in the South and weakest in the Northeast. It demanded states' rights as expressed by the "Principles of 1798" articulated in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions that would allow states to nullify a federal law.[3] Above all the party stood for the primacy of the yeoman farmers. Republicans were deeply committed to the principles of republicanism, which they feared were threatened by the supposed monarchical tendencies of the Hamiltonians/Federalists. The party came to power in 1801 with the election of Jefferson in the 1800 presidential election. The Federalists too elitist to appeal to most people faded away, and totally collapsed after 1815. The Republicans, despite internal divisions, dominated the First Party System until partisanship itself withered away during the Era of Good Feelings after 1816.

The party selected its presidential candidates in a caucus of members of Congress. They included Thomas Jefferson (nominated 1796; elected 1800-1, 1804), James Madison (1808, 1812), and James Monroe (1816, 1820). By 1824, the caucus system had practically collapsed. After 1800, the party dominated Congress and most state governments outside New England. By 1824, the party was split 4 ways and lacked a center, as the First Party System collapsed. The emergence of the Second Party System in the 1830s saw a realignment of old factions. One remnant followed Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren into the new Democratic Party by 1828. That party still exists. Another remnant led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay formed the National Republicans in 1828; it morphed into the Whig Party by 1835.[4]

Congressman James Madison started the party among Representatives in Philadelphia (then the national capital) as the "Republican party";[5] then he, Jefferson, and others reached out to include state and local leaders around the country, especially New York and the South.[6] The precise date of founding is disputed, but 1791 is a reasonable estimate; some time by 1792 is certain. The new party set up newspapers that made withering critiques of Hamiltonianism, extolled the yeoman farmer, argued for strict construction of the Constitution, favored the French Revolution, strongly opposed Great Britain, and called for stronger state governments than the Federalist Party was proposing.[7]

The elections of 1792 were the first ones to be contested on anything resembling a partisan basis. In most states the congressional elections were recognized, as Jefferson strategist John Beckley put it, as a "struggle between the Treasury department and the republican interest". In New York, the candidates for governor were John Jay, a Federalist, and incumbent George Clinton, who was allied with Jefferson and the Republicans.[8] Four states' electors voted for Clinton and one (Kentucky) for Jefferson for Vice President in opposition to incumbent John Adams as well as casting their votes for President Washington. (Before 1804 electors cast two votes together without differentiation as to which office was to be filled by which candidate.)

In the 1796 election, the party made its first bid for the presidency with Jefferson as its presidential candidate and Aaron Burr as its vice presidential candidate. Jefferson came in second in the electoral college (at the time, its balloting could not distinguish between president and vice president) and became vice president. He would become a consistent and strong opponent of the policies of the John Adams administration. Jefferson and Madison were deeply upset by the unconstitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798; they secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which called on state legislatures to nullify unconstitutional laws. The other states, however, did not follow suit and several rejected the notion that states could nullify federal law. The Republican critique of federalism became wrapped in the slogan of "Principles of 1798", which became the hallmark of the party. The most important of these principles were states' rights, opposition to a strong national government, distrust of the federal courts, and opposition to the navy and the national bank. The party saw itself as a champion of republicanism and denounced the Federalists as supporters of monarchy and aristocracy.[9]

The party itself originally coalesced around Jefferson, who diligently maintained extensive correspondence with like-minded Republican leaders throughout the country. Washington frequently decried the growing sense of "party" emerging from the internal battles among Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Adams and others in his administration. As warfare in Europe increased, the two factions increasingly made foreign policy the central political issue of the day. The Republicans wanted to maintain the 1777 alliance with France, which had overthrown the monarchy and aristocracy and become a republic. Even though Britain was by far America's leading trading partner, Republicans feared that increased trade would undermine republicanism. The Republicans distrusted Hamilton's national bank and rejected his premise that a national debt was good for the country; Republicans said they were both forms of corruption. They strongly distrusted the elitism of Hamilton's circle, denouncing it as "aristocratic"; and they called for states' rights lest the Federalists centralize ever more power in the national governments.[10]

The intense debate over the Jay Treaty in 179495, transformed those opposed to Hamilton's policies from a loose movement into a true political party. To fight the treaty the Jeffersonians "established coordination in activity between leaders at the capital, and leaders, actives and popular followings in the states, counties and towns."[11] However, they were defeated when Washington mobilized public opinion in favor of the treaty.

Link:
Democratic-Republican Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia