Democratic-Republican Party (1792 - c.1824)

The Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as the Republican Party"(not related to the present-day Republican Party) in 1792, was the dominant political party in the United States from 1800 until the 1820s, when it split into competing factions, one of which became the modern-day Democratic Party. Its members identified the party as the Republicans, Jeffersonians, Democrats, or combinations of these (such as Jeffersonian republicans).

Jefferson and Madison created the party in order to oppose the economic and foreign policies of the Federalists, a party created a year or so earlier by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Foreign policy issues were central; the party opposed the Jay Treaty of 1794 with Britain (then at war with France) and supported good relations with France before 1801. The party insisted on a strict construction of the Constitution, and denounced many of Hamilton's proposals (especially the national bank) as unconstitutional. The party promoted states' rights and the primacy of the yeoman farmer over bankers, industrialists, merchants, and other monied interests. From 1792 to 1816 the party opposed such Federalist policies as high tariffs, a navy, military spending, a national debt, and a national bank. After the military defeats of the War of 1812, however, the party split on these issues. Many younger party leaders, notably Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun, became nationalists and wanted to build a strong national defense. Meanwhile, the "Old Republican" faction led by John Randolph of Roanoke, William H. Crawford and Nathaniel Macon continued to oppose these policies. By 1828, the Old Republicans were supporting Andrew Jackson against Clay and Adams.

The party's elected presidents were Thomas Jefferson (1800 and 1804), James Madison (1808 and 1812), and James Monroe (1816 and 1820). The party soon dominated Congress and most state governments outside of New England. By 1820, the Federalists were no longer acting as a national party; there was little to hold the Democratic-Republican Party together. William H. Crawford in 1824 was the last nominee by the Congressional nominating caucus; but the majority of the party boycotted the caucus. Crawford finished fourth in the election that year, behind John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. The Democratic-Republican party split into various factions during the 1824 election, some of which formed the Democratic Party.

Founding

Madison started the party among Congressmen in Philadelphia (the national capital) as the republican party; then he, Jefferson, and others reached out to include state and local leaders around the country, especially New York and the South. The precise date of founding is disputed, but 1792 is a reasonable estimate; some time in the early 1790s is certain. The new party set up newspapers that made withering critiques of Hamiltonianism, extolled the yeomen farmer, argued for strict construction of the Constitution, supported neutral relations with European powers, and called for stronger state governments than the Federalist Party was proposing.

Party Name

The name of the party evolved over time. Party members in the 1790s and early 1800s called themselves "Republicans" and voted for what they called the "Republican Party," "republican ticket," or the "republican interest"; occasionally other names were used. Both "Federalist" and "Republican" were positive terms in the 1790s, and both parties sometimes claimed the terms; so Republicans occasionally called themselves "Federalist" and "Federalist Republicans."

The term "Republican" emphasizes devotion to the ideals of republicanism. The word "republican" was used by most Americans in the late 18th century to describe the new nation's political values, especially its devotion to opposition to corruption, elitism, and monarchies; Jefferson used the term "Republican Party," meaning those in Congress who were his allies, and supported the existing republican Constitution, in a letter to Washington as early as May 1792. From 1794 through 1823, Jefferson and Madison routinely used the term "republican" and the "Republican party."
In pre-existing usage, "party," where it did not have the overt negative sense of "faction," often meant a loose coalition or collective political influence; the Democratic-Republicans included some personal or single-issue state organizations, like the Clintonians of New York or the "correspondents" of Pennsylvania. They continued to be sometimes referred to by personal names; not merely Jefferson, but also Madison (perhaps more frequently), William Branch Giles, and Charles Pinckney.

Their Federalist opponents often called them "Democrats" or "Jacobins" as an insult, referring to mob rule or to The Terror stage of the French Revolution; although "democrat" and "republican" had been used almost equivalently in 1792-1793 (and, for the political philosophy, earlier.) A Democratic society cited a dictionary to argue they were the same in 1794. In 1798 former President George Washington wrote, "You could as soon scrub the blackamore white, as to change the principles of a profest Democrat; and that he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the Government of this Country." Equally, the Democratic-Republicans called the Federalist opponents "aristocrats," "monarchists," and "monocrats," decrying Hamilton's (prior) openly professed adoration of Britain and the British governing structure. After 1802, some local organizations slowly began merging "Democratic" into their own name and became known as the "Democratic Republicans." A few members of the Party were even referring to themselves as Democrats by 1812.

Gammon (1922) claimed, "Party nomenclature began to take distinctive shape, locally at least, during the campaign of 1824. At the beginning of that contest the one party name in existence was 'Republican.'" The term "National Republican" was first applied to the Adams-Clay faction in New York during the latter stages of the campaign of 1824. In New York state politics, the name "Democratic" was revived in 1824. In 1818, there had been a split in the New York Democratic-Republican Party, with DeWitt Clinton leading one faction and Martin Van Buren the other. The latter faction was dubbed by its enemies the "Bucktails," and about the same time began to refer to itself as the "Democratic" party. The term "Republican," however, was still used to indicate both "Bucktails" and Clintonians.
James Wilson used "democratical", "monarchial" and "despotic" in one speech the Pennsylvania ratifying Convention in 1787, as names for Montesquieu's three kinds of government, whose virtues were combined in the mixed government of the Constitution. According to American lexicographer (and Federalist), Noah Webster, the choice of the name 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."

A related grass roots movement, the Democratic-Republican Societies arose in 1793–1794; the use of "democratic" was supported by the French minister, Citizen Genet, a Girondin. It was not formally affiliated with the new party; though some local Jeffersonian republican leaders were also leaders of the societies. There were some three dozen of these societies; they did not nominate tickets or attempt to control legislatures, as the Republicans did. The Federalists soon denounced the Democratic-Republican Societies .

Both "Federalist" and "Republican" were positive words in the 1790s, and both parties sometimes claimed them; so Republicans occasionally called themselves "Federalist" and "Federalist Republicans." The party also came to call itself "Democratic Republicans" as well as "Republicans" during Madison's term of office; some members called themselves "Democrats."

Claims to the Party's Heritage

The Democratic Party is often called "the party of Jefferson," while the modern Republican Party is often called "the party of Lincoln." The modern party system with a liberal, economically populist Democratic Party and a conservative, free market-oriented Republican Party did not arise until the early twentieth century, when the Republican Party divided into a conservative wing and a progressive or Bull Moose wing, which coalesced with the Democrats in the New Deal.

The Democratic-Republican party split into various factions during the 1824 election, based more on personality than on ideology. When the election was thrown to the House of Representatives, House Speaker Henry Clay backed Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to deny the presidency to Senator Andrew Jackson, a longtime personal rival and a hero of the War of 1812. Jackson's political views were unknown at the time. At first, the various factions continued to view themselves as Republicans. Jackson's supporters were called "Jackson Men," while Adams supporters were called "Adams Men."
The Jacksonians held their first national convention as the "Republican Party" in 1832. By the mid-1830s, they referred to themselves as the "Democratic Party," although they also continued to use the name "Democratic Republicans" and the name was not officially changed until 1844.

Many politicians of the Democratic Party have emphasized their party's lineage to Jefferson and the Democratic-Republican Party. Thomas Jefferson had Van Buren spend time with him at Monticello, where he gave him materials and facts to be passed on after Jefferson died. Van Buren waited until after he himself died, and had his son publish the greatest book ever [Inquiry Into the Origin and Course of Political Parties in the United States].  Martin Van Buren wrote in his Inquiry Into the Origin and Course of Political Parties in the United States that the party's name had changed from Republican to Democratic and that Jefferson was the founder of the party. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, the eldest grandson of Jefferson, gave a speech at the 1872 Democratic National Convention and said that he had spent eighty years of his life in the Democratic-Republican Party.

The Adams/Clay alliance became the basis of the National Republican Party, a rival to the Jacksonian party. This party favored a higher tariff to protect U.S. manufacturers, as well as public works, especially roads. Former members of the defunct Federalist Party (including Daniel Webster) joined the party. After Clay's defeat by Jackson in the 1832 presidential election, the National Republicans were absorbed into the Whig Party, a diverse group of Jackson opponents. Taking a leaf from the Jacksonians, the Whigs tended to nominate non-ideological war heroes as their presidential candidates.

The modern Republican Party was founded in 1854 as an anti-slavery party. Most northern Whigs soon defected to the new party. The name was chosen to harken back to Jeffersonian ideals of liberty and equality, but not those of limited government or states' rights, ideals that Abraham Lincoln and many members of the new party sought to revive together with Clay's program of using an active government to modernize the economy.

In 1991 the United States Senate passed by voice vote "A bill to establish a commission to commemorate the bicentennial of the establishment of the Democratic Party of the United States." It was introduced by Democratic Senator Terry Sanford and cosponsored by 56 Senators.

The Jefferson Republican Party claims to be the modern party closest in ideology to the Democratic-Republican Party and bases its platform on the writings of Jefferson. Several other parties, including the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party, also lay claim to his heritage.