Democratic-Republican Party

The Democratic-Republican Party was one of the two major political parties in the early history of the United States. It was founded about 1792 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to oppose Alexander Hamilton's programs and his Federalist Party.

The Party came to power in 1800, electing presidents Jefferson, Madison, and James Monroe. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson also identified themselves with the party, though they were not formally chosen as presidential candidates by a centralized national party process. After 1800, the party dominated Congress and most states outside of New England. In foreign policy, its leadership generally favored France (before about 1800) and opposed Britain. The party promoted states' rights and the democratic rights of the yeoman farmer. Until about 1816, its leadership generally opposed Federalist policies such as tariffs, a navy, military spending, a national debt, and a national bank.

The name "Democratic-Republican" -- used by modern historians to distinguish this party from the present Republican Party -- was most employed after 1816; by that time, the Party had come to include almost all the politics of the United States. The name "Democratic-Republican" was most used by the branch of the Party that later consolidated around the candidacy of Andrew Jackson, and which still exists as the present-day Democratic Party.

History

Founding 1792

File:TJeffersonrpeale.jpg

Thomas Jefferson founded the Party.

The Party evolved from the political factions that opposed Alexander Hamilton's fiscal policies in the early 1790s; these factions are known variously as the Anti-Administration “Party” or the Anti-Federalists. In the mid-1790s, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison organized these factions into a party and helped define its ideology in favor of yeomen farmers, strict construction of the Constitution, and a weaker federal government.

They named it the "Republican Party" to emphasize their anti-monarchical views and sympathy with the French Revolution (the term "Democratic-Republican" was rarely used for the party before 1820). A related grass roots movement, the Democratic-Republican Societies, that sprang up across the country in 1793–94, was not officially affiliated with the new party, although many local Jeffersonian leaders were also leaders of the societies, and the party came to be called the Democratic-Republican Party by some Federalist opponents. The online Encyclopedia Britannica notes: "Although the Federalists soon branded Jefferson's followers 'Democratic-Republicans,' attempting to link them with the excesses of the French Revolution, the Republicans officially adopted the derisive label in 1798." [2]

According to Federalist Noah Webster, the choice of the name "Republican" was "a powerful instrument in the process of making proselytes to the party.... The influence of names on the mass of mankind, was never more distinctly exhibited, than in the increase of the democratic party in the United States. The popularity of the denomination of the Republican Party, was more than a match for the popularity of Washington's character and services, and contributed to overthrow his administration." [Miller p. 320]

According to the 1881 Cyclopædia of Political Science, the party was generally known as the "Republican Party":

"(The Party) at first (in 1792-3) took the name of the republican party...and was generally known by that name until about 1828-30. Upon its absorption of the French or democratic faction, in 1793-6, it took the official title of the democratic-republican party, which it still claims [in 1880]. About 1828-30 its nationalizing portion having broken off and taken the name of "national republican," the particularist residue assumed the name of "democrats," which had been accepted since about 1810 as equivalent to "republicans," and by which they have since been known. Some little confusion, therefore, has always been occasioned by the similarity in name between the strict construction republican party of 1793 and the broad construction republican party of 1856." [3]

Presidential Elections of 1792 and 1796

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 in some sense, as Jefferson strategist John Beckley put it, as a "struggle between the Treasury department and the republican interest." In New York, the race for governor was organized along these lines. The candidates were John Jay, a Hamiltonian, and incumbent George Clinton, who was allied with Jefferson and the Republicans. [Elkins and McKitrick, p. 288]

In 1796, 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 and became vice president. He was a consistent and strong opponent of the policies of the Adams administration. Jefferson and Madison, through the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, announced the “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, skepticism in regard to the federal courts, and opposition to a Navy and a National Bank. The party saw itself as the true champion of republicanism and viewed its opponents as supporters of the aristocracy rather than the people.

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 between Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Adams and others in his administration. As tensions in Europe increased, the two factions increasingly found themselves on different sides of foreigfn policy issues, with the republicans favoring France over England. The Republicans opposed Hamilton's national bank and his belief that a national debt was good for the country. They strongly distrusted the elitism of Hamilton's circle, denouncing it as "aristocratic"; and they called for state's rights. Above all they disagreed with Hamilton's sense of the Constitution as an elastic, growing document, because that would centralize power in a national government they feared was prone to corruption.

Organizational strategy

The new party invented many of the campaign and organizational techniques that were later adopted by the Federalists and became standard American practice. It was especially effective in building a network of newspapers in major cities to broadcast its statements and editorialize in its favor. Fisher Ames, a leading Federalist, who used "Jacobin" to link to the terrorists of the French Revolution, blamed the newspapers for electing Jefferson: they were "an overmatch for any Government.... The Jacobins owe their triumph to the unceasing use of this engine; not so much to skill in use of it as by repetition."

As one historian explains, "It was the good fortune of the Republicans to have within their ranks a number of highly gifted political manipulators and propagandists. Some of them had the ability... to not only see and analyze the problem at hand but to present it in a succinct fashion; in short, to fabricate the apt phrase, to coin the compelling slogan and appeal to the electorate on any given issue in language it could understand." Outstanding phrasemakers included editor William Duane and party leaders Albert Gallatin, Thomas Cooper and Jefferson himself.

Just as important was effective party organization, of the sort John J. Beckley pioneered. In 1796 he managed the Jefferson campaign in Pennsylvania, blanketing the state with agents who passed out 30,000 hand-written tickets, naming all 15 electors (printed tickets were not allowed). Thus he told one agent, "In a few days a select republican friend from the City will call upon you with a parcel of tickets to be distributed in your County. Any assistance and advice you can furnish him with, as to suitable districts & characters, will I am sure be rendered. He is one of two republican friends, who have undertaken to ride thro' all the middle & lower counties on this business, and bring with them 6 or 8 thousand tickets." Beckley thus was the first American professional campaign manager, and his techniques were quickly adopted in other states.

Parties had to mold public opinion and also translate it into meetings, rallies and votes. The Republicans tried to carry the democratic principle into their local nominating meetings, and to convince potential voters that change was possible if they stood together. The Federalists were late in copying the new organizational techniques, because their leaders expected deference from local organizations rather than building enthusiastic support.

The emergence of the new organizational strategies can be seen in the politics of Connecticut around 1806, which have been well-documented by Cunningham. The Federalists dominated Connecticut, so the Republicans had to work harder to win. In 1806 the state leadership sent to the town leaders instructions for the forthcoming elections. Every town manager was told by state leaders "to appoint a district manager in each district or section of his town, obtaining from each an assurance that he will faithfully do his duty." Then the town manager was instructed to compile lists and total up the number of taxpayers, the number of eligible voters, how many were "decided republicans," "decided federalists," or "doubtful," and finally to count the number of supporters who were not currently eligible to vote but who might qualify (by age or taxes) at the next election. These highly detailed returns were to be sent to the county manager. They in turn were to compile county-wide statistics and send it on to the state manager. Using the newly compiled lists of potential voters, the managers were told to get all the eligibles to the town meetings, and help the young men qualify to vote. At the annual official town meeting the managers were told to, "notice what republicans are present, and see that each stays and votes till the whole business is ended. And each District-Manager shall report to the Town-Manager the names of all republicans absent, and the cause of absence, if known to him." Of utmost importance the managers had to nominate candidates for local elections, and to print and distribute the party ticket. The state manager was responsible for supplying party newspapers to each town for distribution by town and district managers. This highly coordinated "get-out-the-vote" drive would be familiar to modern political campaigners, but was the first of its kind in world history.

Revolution of 1800

Jefferson's platform

Political parties in the 1790s did not issue official platforms, but Jefferson issued a major statement in January 1799 that was widely reprinted and circulated. It became the basis of his party's philosophy:

…In confutation of these and all future calumnies, by way of anticipation, I shall make to you a profession of my political faith; in confidence that you will consider every future imputation on me of a contrary complexion, as bearing on its front the mark of falsehood and calumny.

I do then, with sincere zeal, wish an inviolable preservation of our present federal constitution, according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the States, that in which it was advocated by its friends, and not that which its enemies apprehended, who therefore became its enemies; and I am opposed to the monarchising its features by the forms of its administration, with a view to conciliate a first transition to a President and Senate for life, and from that to a hereditary tenure of these offices, and thus to worm out the elective principle. I am for preserving to the States the powers not yielded by them to the Union, and to the legislature of the Union its constitutional share in the division of powers.

And I am not for transferring all the powers of the States to the general government, nor all those of that government to the Executive branch. I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication of officers and salaries merely to make partisans, and for increasing, by every device, the public debt, on the principle of it's being a public blessing.

I am for relying, for internal defence, on our militia solely, till actual invasion, and for such a naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors from such depredations as we have experienced; and not for a standing army in time of peace, which may overawe the public sentiment; nor for a navy, which, by its own expenses and the eternal wars in which it will implicate us, grind us with public burthens, and sink us under them. I am for free commerce with all nations, political connection with none, and little or no diplomatic establishment.

And I am not for linking ourselves by new treaties with the quarrels of Europe; entering that field of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in the confederacy of kings to war against the principles of liberty. I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another: for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents.

And I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its branches and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred name of philosophy. For awing the human mind by stories of raw-head & bloody bones to a distrust of its own vision, & to repose implicitly on that of others, to go backwards instead of forwards to look for improvement, to believe that government, religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance, and that nothing can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by our forefathers.

To these I will add, that I was a sincere well-wisher to the success of the French revolution, and still wish it may end in the establishment of a free and well-ordered republic. But I have not been insensible under the atrocious depredations they have committed on our commerce.

1800 Election

The party's electors secured a majority in the 1800 election, but by an oversight, an equal number of electors cast votes for Jefferson and Burr. The tie sent the election to the House, and Federalists there blocked any choice. Finally Hamilton, believing that Burr would be a poor choice for president, arranged for Jefferson to win.

Starting with 1800 in what Jefferson called the “Revolution of 1800”, the Party took control of the presidency and both houses of Congress, beginning a quarter century of control of those institutions. A faction called “Old Republicans” opposed the nationalism that grew popular after 1815; and were stunned when party leaders started a Second Bank of the United States in 1816.

The opposition Federalist Party, suffering from a lack of leadership after the death of Hamilton and the retirement of Adams, quickly declined; it revived briefly in opposition to the War of 1812 but the extremism of its Hartford Convention of 1815 utterly destroyed it as a political force. In 1804, the party's Congressional caucus for the first time created a sort of national committee, with members from 13 states charged with "promoting the success of the republican nominations.". That committee later was disbanded and did not become permanent. Unlike the Federalists, the party never held a national convention but always relied on its Congressional caucus to select the national ticket. That caucus, however, did not deal with legislative issues, which were handled by the elected Speaker and informal floor leaders. The state legislatures often instructed members of Congress how to vote on specific issues. More exactly, they "instructed" the Senators (who were elected by the legislatures), and "requested" the Representatives (who were elected by the people.) On rare occasions a Senator resigned rather than follow instructions,

Monroe and Adams, 1816-1828

In rapidly expanding western states the Federalists had few members, as the parties' base was in the industrializing states of the Northeast. Every state had a distinct political geography that shaped party membership. In Pennsylvania, Republicans were weakest around Philadelphia and strongest in Scotch-Irish settlements in the west. Members came from all social classes, but came predominantly from the poor, subsistence farmers, mechanics and tradesmen. (Klein p 44). After the stalemate in the War of 1812, partisanship subsided across the young republic -- people called it the Era of Good Feeling. Monroe ran unopposed in 1820.

In the early years of the Republican party, the key central organization grew out of caucuses of Congressional leaders in Washington. However, the key battles to choose electors occurred in the states, not in the caucus. In many cases, legislatures still chose electors, while in others, the election of electors was heavily influenced by local parties heavily controlled by relatively small groups of officials. Without a significant Federalist opposition, the need for party unity was greatly diminished and the party's organization faded away. James Monroe ran under the party's banner in 1820, building support by consensus. The party's historic domination by the Virginian delegation faded as it New York and Pennsylvania became more important. In 1824, most Republicans in Congress boycotted the caucus; only a small rump group backed William Crawford. The Crawford faction included most "Old Republicans," who remained committed to states'-rights and the Principles of 1798, and distrustful of the nationalizing program promoted by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. By the late 1820s the Old Republicans mostly supported Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.

In the aftermath of the disputed 1824 election, the separate factions took on many characteristics of parties in their own right. Adams' supporters, in league with Clay, favored modernization, banks, industrial development, and federal spending for roads and other internal improvements, which the Old Republicans and Jackson men usually opposed. President Adams tried to be nonpartisan in his appointments, but quickly discovered that caused problems. "On such appointments all the wormwood and gall of the old party hatred ooze out. Not a vacancy to any office occurs but there is a distinguished Federalist started and pushed home as a candidate to fill it, always well qualified, sometimes in an eminent degree, and yet so obnoxious to the Republican party, that they cannot be appointed without exciting a vehement clamor against him and the administration. It becomes thus impossible to fill any vacancy in appointment without offending one half of the community."

After Jackson's victory in 1828, Henry Clay, longtime party leader in Congress, tried to create a National Republican Party. Former members of the defunct Federalist Party (including Daniel Webster) gravitated to Clay's new party. Clay was solidly defeated by Jackson in 1832. His National Republican Party disappeared and was soon superseded by the new, more permanent Whig Party. Clay represented the continuity between the Republicans and the Whigs.

Presidential electors were now all chosen by direct election, except in South Carolina where the state legislatures chose them. White manhood suffrage was the norm throughout the West and in most of the East as well. The voters thus were much more powerful and to win their votes required complex party organization. The Jacksonians, under the leadership of Martin Van Buren, built strong state and local organizations throughout the country. In 1832 they held their first national convention under the old name "Republican Party," [Gammon] but historians always refer to it as the Democratic party and note it has survived into the 21st century.

Terminology had not yet crystallized. In the 1828 election, both Adams and Jackson still thought of themselves as "Republicans," but ran under the names of their factions. Adams thought of himself as a "National Republican" while Jackson's supporters called themselves "Jackson Men" or Jacksonians. The name "Democratic Party" was adopted in the mid 1830s. This was the beginning of the modern-day Democratic Party.

Modern claims to the party's heritage

Democrats identify with the anti-elitism, distrust of business and banks, and democratic strivings of the early party; the modern Republican Party (founded 1854) now identifies with Jefferson's commitment to states' rights, his distrust of the judiciary, and his commitment to a limited federal government. Members of the Republican Party may find links to Jefferson's party through the National Republicans whose members formed the Republican Party in the 1850's to replace the Whigs. The Democratic Party links to the Jefferson's party because there is historical continuity between the organization and leadership of the Republican party of Jefferson and the Democratic Party that emerged under Jackson and Van Buren, creating a direct organizational connection to the Jeffersonian Party. Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy emphasized the modern Democratic Party's link to the party of Jefferson and Jackson throughout their political careers.

The coining of the name "Republican Party" in 1854 for the new party was intended to harken back to Jeffersonian ideals of liberty and equality represented best by the Declaration of Independence and indeed back to the republican spirit that animated the Revolution in 1776, ideals that Abraham Lincoln and many members of the new party sought to revive together with the Hamiltonian Federalist-Adams National Republican-Clay Whig program of active government in economic affairs.

The Democratic Party is often called "the party of Jefferson"; the Republican Party is often called "the party of Lincoln," notwithstanding the ideological shifts that the parties have undergone over the years.

Democratic-Republican presidents

The following United States Presidents were elected following a process that selected them as a national nominee of the Republican party:

• Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
• James Madison (1809–1817)
• James Monroe (1817–1825)

In addition, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson identified themselves and their administrations as Republican, but ran in elections where opponents did as well.

Candidates

Election year	Result	Nominees
		President	Vice President
1792	lost	(none)	George Clinton
1796	lost(a)	Thomas Jefferson	Aaron Burr
1800	won
1804	won		George Clinton
1812	won	Elbridge Gerry
1816	won	James Monroe	Daniel Tompkins
1820	won
1824	lost won(b) lost lost	Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford, Henry Clay	John C. Calhoun

• ^(a) Jefferson did not win the Presidency, and Burr did not win the Vice Presidency. However, under the pre-12th Amendment election rules, Jefferson won the Vice Presidency due to lack of discipline among Federalist electors.
• ^(b) There was no organized opposition to the Republican Party; however, the Party splintered, and four major candidates ran as Republicans, though they avoided any party label. While Jackson won clear pluralities in the electoral college and popular vote, he did not win enough electoral votes for the presidency (The Constitution stipulates a majority of all electoral votes is needed). The contest was thrown to the House of Representatives, where Henry Clay used his influence to help Adams win the election. Calhoun the Vice Presidency.

See also

• List of political parties in the United States

References

• Banning, Lance. The Jeffersonian Persuasion: Evolution of a Party Ideology (1980)
• Beeman, Richard R. The Old Dominion and the New Nation, 1788-1801 (1972)
• Beard; Charles A. Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy (1915)
• Brown; Stuart Gerry. The First Republicans: Political Philosophy and Public Policy in the Party of Jefferson and Madison Syracuse University Press. 1954.
• Channing; Edward. The Jeffersonian System: 1801-1811 (1906).
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. Jeffersonian Republicans: The formation of Party Organization: 1789-1801 (1957)
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr., ed. '"The Making of the American Party System 1789 to 1809 (1965) excerpts from primary sources
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. The Jeffersonian Republicans in Power: Party Operations 1801-1809 (1963)
• Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. The Process of Government Under Jefferson (1978)
• Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism (1995), detailed political history of 1790s
• Gilpatrick, Delbert Harold. Jeffersonian Democracy in North Carolina, 1789-1816 (1931)
• Goodman, Paul. The Democratic-Republicans of Massachusetts (1964)
• Humphrey, Carol Sue The Press of the Young Republic, 1783-1833 (1996)
• Kelley, Robert. The Cultural Pattern in American Politics: The First Century (1979)
• Philip Shriver Klein; Pennsylvania Politics, 1817-1832: A Game without Rules 1940.
• Jerry W. Knudson. Jefferson And the Press: Crucible of Liberty (2006) how 4 Republican and 4 Federalist papers covered election of 1800; Thomas Paine; Louisiana Purchase; Hamilton-Burr duel; impeachment of Chase; and the embargo
• John C. Miller; Alexander Hamilton: Portrait in Paradox (1959)* Pasley, Jeffrey L. et al eds. Beyond the Founders: New Approaches to the Political History of the Early American Republic (2004)
• Peterson, Merrill D. The Jefferson Image in the American Mind (1960)
• Peterson; Merrill D. Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A Biography Oxford University Press (1975)
• Prince, Carl E. New Jersey’s Jeffersonian Republicans: The Genesis of an Early Party Machine, 1789-1817 (1967)
• Rutland, Robert A., ed. James Madison and the American Nation, 1751-1836: An Encyclopedia. (1994)
• Schachner, Nathan. Aaron Burr: A Biography (1961)
• Sharp, James Roger. American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis (1993)
• Smelser, Marshall. The Democratic Republic 1801-1815 (1968)
• Stewart, Donald H. The Opposition Press of the Federalist Era (1968)
• Tinkcom, Harry M. The Republicans and Federalists in Pennsylvania, 1790–1801 (1950)
• Watkins, William. Reclaiming the American Revolution: The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and Their Legacy (2004)
• Wiltse, Charles Maurice. The Jeffersonian Tradition in American Democracy (1935)
• Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (2005)
• Young, Alfred F. The Democratic Republicans of New York: The Origins, 1763–1797 (1967)

External links

• Democratic-Republican Party, Encyclopædia Britannica Profile on the American Presidency.
• Lalor, John J. Democratic-Republican Party, Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States by the Best American and European Writers. New York: Maynard, Merrill, and Co., 1899.
• Democratic Party. Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. 1911. Covers the history of both the Democratic-Republican and Democratic Parties.