Republicans (Jeffersonian)

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Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson teamed up with Virginia Congressman James Madison in 1792 to form the Republican party. The party dominated U.S. politics from 1800 until 1824.

The Republicans were a U.S. political party led by Thomas Jefferson.[1] In 1790, a congressional faction coalesced around Virginia congressman James Madison to oppose the policies of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson, then secretary of state, joined Madison to contest the elections of 1792. The party dissolved in 1825. The word "republican" is from Latin res publica, meaning "that which concerns the public." The Founding Fathers greatly admired the Roman Republic.

Unlike modern class warfare liberals, the Jeffersonians did not advocate redistribution of wealth. Madison denounced "a rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property" as examples of "improper or wicked" ideas.[2] However, they did share certain traits with modern liberals, including a conflicted attitude toward the military. As president, Jefferson insisted that he was a man of peace and did not need the navy built under his predecessor, John Adams. Yet one of his first acts in office was to put that navy to work attacking the Barbary pirates. By the beginning of 1812, the Jeffersonians had thoroughly demilitarized the country. Yet they eagerly waged war on Britain, a state with a powerful military, particularly at this time when its resources were fully mobilized to fight Napoleon. Another trait the Jeffersonians shared with modern liberals is that they were united less by ideology than by the conviction that their opponents were evil. To the Jeffersonians, Hamilton's Federalists were "monarchists" and "elitists." The fetish for a minimal federal government, once a central ideology, was dropped in 1816. The "nationalist" policies adopted at this time were often the same as the policies the party had condemned when the Federalists advocated them.

In Jefferson's time, the party was known nationally as the Republicans. In several states, it was also called the Democrats.[3] The party had numerous factions, including the Quids and Malcontents in Pennsylvania, as well as the "Old Republicans" in the South.[4] The "War Hawks" of the West pushed for war against Britain in 1812. The two best-known factions were the Democrats and the Nationalists. The term "Democratic Republican" was occasionally used to refer to the Democratic (later Jacksonian) faction. The modern Republican Party, founded in 1854, was named after Jefferson's party. To distinguish these two parties, modern writers sometimes use the term Democratic-Republican Party to refer to Jefferson's party, confusing a faction with the party as a whole.



The farmers of the U.S. Constitution had not considered the possibility of national political parties and were surprised when they emerged. During the debate on ratification in 1787-1788, groups once active only in the politics of their own state began to coordinate with like-minded groups in other states. In every state, factions aligned as either "federalist" (for ratification) or as "anti-federalist" (against ratification). These groupings were precursors to the political parties that formed later. Both Madison and Hamilton were framers as well as authors of The Federalist Papers, a series of newspaper columns that argued for ratification. In 1791, Hamilton, Adams, and other supporters of stronger national government founded the Federalist Party. Modern historians consider the Federalists to be America's first conservative party.

In 1793-1794, French Ambassador Edmond-Charles Genêt recruited privateers based in U.S. ports to attack British shipping, citing a provision in the 1778 Franco-American treaty of alliance. President George Washington denounced Genêt's actions as a violation of U.S. neutrality. Genêt took his case to the American people and various pro-French groups, referred to collectively as the Democratic-Republican societies, were formed. The word "democracy" refers to the system of government of ancient Athens, which was admired by the French revolutionaries. Genêt named one of the vessels he outfitted the Little Democrat. After Genêt was recalled, many of the people involved in these societies continued to be politically active as members of Jefferson's party.

Adams narrowly defeated Jefferson in the 1796 presidential election. In the "Revolution of 1800," the Republicans gained control of the federal government. "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists," Jefferson stated in his first inaugural address.[5] Jefferson was president from 1801 until 1809. Jefferson argued for a minimal federal government. He opposed a standing army and even a central bank. The charter of the Bank of the United States was allowed to expire in 1811. The navy Adams had built was allowed to deteriorate. It was replaced with "gunboats." These small vessels were designed strictly for coastal defense; Jefferson did not trust his successors with offensive capabilities. Later experience would show that gunboats were useless for coastal defense as well.

In letters from Monticello, Jefferson continued to provide advise and direction for many years after he retired. The War of 1812 demonstrated the need for a stronger government, and a Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816. Under President James Monroe (1817-1825), the party adopted much of the Federalist agenda that it had previously scorned. Those who supported Monroe's approach were called "Nationalists," while those who were skeptical were called "Democrats." The Missouri Compromise of 1820, approved over Jefferson's strenuous objections, was the last occasion the former president tried to exert influence on policy.

When Andrew Jackson ran for president in 1824, the party split into Jacksonian and Anti-Jacksonian factions. In 1830, the Anti-Jacksonians established the National Republican Party. This group evolved into the Whig Party. For the 1832 campaign, Jackson's supporters adopted a matching moniker: Democratic-Republican Party. The Jacksonians are the direct ancestor of the modern Democratic Party. After 1854, writers anxious to avoid confusion between Jefferson's Republicans and the modern Republican Party began to refer to the Jefferson's party as the Democratic Republicans.



  1. "Republicans, Jeffersonian", Dictionary of American History, 2003.
    Wood, Gordon, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 (2009), See Chapter 4 ("The Emergence of the Jeffersonian Republican Party").
  2. "The Federalist No. 10"
  3. In Washington Irving's short story "Rip Van Winkle" (1819), Rip is asked if he is "Federal or Democrat." N.B.: Not "Democratic Republican," which was not a contemporary usage.
  5. "Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address"

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