The Democratic-Republican Party was an American political party, formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1791–93 to oppose the centralizing policies of the newFederalist Party run by Alexander Hamilton, who was then Secretary of the Treasury and chief architect of George Washington's administration.[2] The new party controlled the presidency and Congress, as well as most states, from 1801 to 1825, during the First Party System. It began in 1791 as one faction in Congress, and included many politicians who had been opposed to the new constitution. They called themselvesRepublicans after their ideologyRepublicanism. They distrusted the Federalist commitment to republicanism. The party splintered in 1824 into the Jacksonianmovement (which became the Democratic Party in the 1830s) and the short-livedNational Republican Party (later succeeded by the Whig Party).
The term "Democratic-Republican" is used especially by modern political scientists for the first "Republican Party" (as opposed to the modern Republican Party founded in 1854). It is also known as the Jeffersonian Republicans. Historians typically use the title "Republican Party".
An "Anti-Administration" faction met secretly in the national capital (Philadelphia) to oppose Hamilton's financial programs. Jefferson denounced the programs as leading to monarchy and subversive of republicanism. Jefferson needed to have a nationwide party to challenge the Federalists, which Hamilton was building up with allies in major cities. Foreign affairs took a leading role in 1794–95 as the Republicans vigorously opposed theJay 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 as unconstitutional, especially the national bank.
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 Hamiltonian 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 dominated the First Party System, despite internal divisions, 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 1800–01, 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 four ways and lacked a center, as the First Party System collapsed. The emergence of the Second Party System in the 1830s realigned the old factions. One remnant followed Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren into the new Democratic Party by 1828. Another remnant led by John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay formed the National Republicans in 1828; it developed into theWhig Party by 1835.[4]
