Jefferson and Madison would create the Democratic-Republican political party to be a voice for the common man against the elite Federalist party. The two men fought laws and policies enacted by Washington and Adams when they believed they violated the Constitution and the rights established by the Bill of Rights.
One example of this was Jefferson's writing of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in regard to the Whiskey Tax. Though written anonymously, he suggest the states (the people) were allowed to nullify, or ignore, federal laws that the people did not agree with. He suggest it was in the rights of the people to refuse to pay the whiskey tax.
Jefferson and Madison were both outspoken about their disagreement with the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts by John Adams. Jefferson would overturn the acts after becoming the third president of the US. Madison also stood against John Adams in regard to the "midnight-appointments" which was an expansion of the federal court system. Madison refused to issue the confirmations of the judges causing one to take Madison to court in the famous case, Marbury v. Madison.
As part of his Reconstruction plan, President Johnson thought the South should be treated relatively fairly, compared to how the radicals in Congress thought they should be treated.
