Was Jefferson a Democratic-Republican

Mount Rushmore. In 1927-1941 artist Gutzon Borglum sculpted the faces of four significant American presidents into the mountain: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Fun fact: Borglum was an immigrant of Danish origin. Photo by Brandon Mowinkel on Unsplash

Introduction

Founded in 1828, the Democratic Party is the oldest of the two largest U.S. political parties. The Republican Party was officially founded in 1854, but the histories of both parties are intrinsically connected. Actually, we can trace the two parties’ historical backgrounds all the way back to the Founding Fathers. Now, let us look at the history of the two major political parties in the U.S.

Differing political views among U.S. Founding Fathers eventually sparked the forming of two factions. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams thus formed The Federalists. They sought to ensure a strong government and central banking system with a national bank. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison instead advocated for a smaller and more decentralized government, and formed the Democratic-Republicans. Both the Democratic and the Republican Parties as we know them today are rooted in this early faction.

At the beginning of the 19th century the Democratic-Republicans were largely victorious and dominant. The Federalists, in turn, slowly faded, eventually dissolving. Because the Democratic-Republicans were so popular, the party had no less than four political candidates pitted against each other in the presidential election of 1824. John Quincy Adams won the presidency, in spite of Andrew Jackson winning the popular vote. This sparked a strong political division within the party, which eventually caused the party to split in two: The Democrats and the Whig Party. The Democrats were led by Andrew Jackson. He was against the existence of The Bank of the United States and he largely supported state’s rights and minimal government regulation. The Whig Party stood in distinct opposition to Jackson and the Democrats, and supported the national bank.

The donkey in the Democratic Party’s logo is said to derive from Andrew Jackson’s opponents calling him a “jackass”. “Jackass” is both another word for a male donkey and nickname that describes an unintelligent or foolish person. Instead of disputing this nickname, Jackson embraced it. It has since become an overall symbol of the Democratic Party in general.

The issue of slavery: Enter Abraham Lincoln

In the mid-nineteenth century, slavery was a widely discussed political issue. The Democratic Party’s internal views on this matter differed greatly. Southern Democrats wished for slavery to be expanded and reach into Western parts of the country. Northern Democrats, on the other hand, argued that this issue should be settled on a local level and through popular referendum. Such Democratic infighting eventually led to Abraham Lincoln, who belonged to the Republican Party, winning the presidential election of 1860. This new Republican Party had recently been formed by a group of Whigs, Democrats and other politicians who had broken free from their respective parties in order to form a party based on an anti-slavery platform.

At that time in the U.S., tensions were high between Northern and Southern states, causing the Civil War to break out in 1861, in the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s inauguration. In the Civil War, seven Southern States formed the Confederate States of America and fought for detachment from the United States. However, the Union won the war, and the Confederacy was formally dissolved. The issue of slavery was at the center of political disagreement during the Civil War. This caused Republicans to fight for the abolition of slavery and Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.

At this point in history, the U.S. South was predominantly Democratic and held conservative, agrarian-oriented, anti-big-business values. These values were characteristic of the Democratic Party at the time. The majority of Northern voters, on the other hand, were Republican. Many of these fought for civil and voting rights for African American people.

The parties change course

After the war, the Republican Party became more and more oriented towards economic growth, industry, and big business in Northern states, and in the beginning of the 20th century it had reached a general status as a party for the more wealthy classes in society. Many Republicans therefore gained financial success in the prosperous 1920s until the stock market crashed in 1929 initiating the era of the Great Depression.

Now, many Americans blamed Republican President Herbert Hoover for the financial damages brought by the crisis. In 1932 the country therefore instead elected Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt to be president.

To get the country back on track, Roosevelt introduced his New Deal. The New Deal launched a number of progressive government-funded social programs, ensuring social security, improved infrastructure, and minimum wage. This meant that a large number of Southern Democrats whose political views were more traditional and conservative, didn’t support Roosevelt’s liberal initiatives and joined the Republican Party instead. Roosevelt’s progressive, liberal policies play an important role in shifting the party’s political agenda to look like the modern Democratic Party as we know it today. And, after Roosevelt died in 1945, the Democrats stayed in power with Harry S. Truman in The White House. He continued to take the Democratic Party in a progressive direction with a pro-civil rights platform and desegregation of military forces, thereby gaining support from a large number of African American voters, who had previously supported the Republican Party because of its anti-slavery platform.

The Democratic Party largely stayed in power until 1980, when Republican Ronald Reagan was elected as president. Reagan’s social conservative politics and emphasis on cutting taxes, preserving family values, and increasing military funding were important steps in defining the modern Republican Party platform.

American politics today

Following Reagan’s two terms in office, his Vice President, George H. W. Bush was elected as his successor in the White House. Since then, Republicans and Democrats have taken turns in The White House. In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama was elected as the first African American president. One of Obama’s most notable political achievements was reforming American health care with the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, which ensured that the large majority of Americans became covered by insurance.

After two terms in office, Obama’s successor, Republican and well-known business man Donald Trump was elected. He moved into the White House in 2017. Two of the main accomplishments on Trump’s agenda was providing tax reliefs and to establishing strong borders in order to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants entering the United States.

In 2020, Democrat and previous vice president for Barack Obama Joe Biden was elected as Donald Trump’s successor. President Biden now serves as the 46. president of the United States.

Now that we have gained a broad historical overview, let us take a deeper look into contemporary Republican and Democratic Party policies and political values.

Discuss:

• Which early faction are both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party rooted in?
• What was one of the main political issues that was present during the Civil War?
• Name one Democratic and one Republican president who have played an important role in shaping the parties to become the way we know them today.
• Why are many of the states that were primarily Republican more than one hundred years ago often more Democratic today? And vice versa?

Activity:

• Present a president! Choose one U.S. President and do your own research on him. What party did he represent? When was he in power? What were the main political issues on his presidential platform? Which changes did he make on American society? What mark did he leave on the world? Do you agree with him? Why/why not? Would you vote for him if you were able to do so? Present your findings to the class.

The Jeffersonian Republican party, better known as the Democratic-Republican Party, is an ancestor of the modern DEMOCRATIC PARTY. It evolved in the 1790s during the early days of GEORGE WASHINGTON's presidency. Washington had been unanimously chosen president in 1789 and had a broad base of support. THOMAS JEFFERSON served as Washington's SECRETARY OF STATE, while ALEXANDER HAMILTON served as secretary of the treasury. Jefferson and his followers favored states' rights and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. They believed that a powerful central government posed a threat to individual liberties. They viewed the United States more as a confederation of sovereign entities woven together by a common interest. Hamilton and his followers argued that a strong central government was essential to the unity of the new nation. They favored a broad interpretation of the Constitution, which they saw as a document that should evolve with the country as it grew.

Virtually all the leading political figures of the new country, starting with Washington, believed that political parties would polarize citizens and paralyze government. Hamilton and Jefferson agreed with this notion, but by 1793 the two groups that they represented had broken off into separate factions. Hamilton's group became the Federalists, while Jefferson's faction adopted the name "Democratic Republicans."

One early and divisive difference between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans was how they approached Britain and France. The Federalists believed that American foreign policy should favor British interests, while the Democratic-Republicans wanted to strengthen ties with the French. The Democratic-Republicans supported the government that had taken over France after the revolution of 1789.

On economic matters, the Jeffersonians differed strongly with the Federalists. The Democratic-Republicans believed in protecting the interests of the working classes—merchants, farmers, and laborers. They believed that an agrarian economy would best serve these citizens. They saw the establishment of a national BANK OF THE UNITED STATES (which Hamilton strongly favored) as a means of usurping power that belonged to individual states, and they also believed that it would be tied too closely to the rich. The Federalists saw industry and manufacturing as the best means of domestic growth and economic self-sufficiency. They favored the existence of protective tariffs on imports (which had Congress had adopted in 1789) both as a means of protecting domestic production and as a source of revenue.

The ratification in 1795 of Jay's Treaty (named after JOHN JAY) sparked anger at the Federalists from a wide array of citizens. The British were still in control of fur-trading posts in the Northwest Territories, and they were accused of encouraging Indians to rise up against the Americans. British ships were seizing American ships and impressing American sailors; they were also prohibiting American ships from engaging in trade with the West Indies. Jay, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was sent to England as an envoy and returned with a treaty that gave the British a deadline for leaving the fur posts. Almost none of the other issues was addressed. A particularly unpopular provision of the treaty called for the U.S. to settle pre-Revolution debts to the British, totaling $2.6 million.

Jeffersonians, and even many Federalists, felt that the treaty had been too generous to the British, although Hamilton saw it as a necessary action because Britain generated tariff revenues through its exports. In 1796, JOHN ADAMS (a Federalist) was elected the nation's second president with 71 electoral votes, defeating Jefferson by three votes. Jefferson became vice president.

Meanwhile, relations with France were deteriorating rapidly. The notorious "XYZ Affair" in 1796 was typical of what Jeffersonians saw as the weakness of FEDERALISM. The XYZ AFFAIR involved an unsuccessful attempt by a French agent to exact bribes in exchange for France's cooperation in negotiating an international trade treaty. France, angered by the pro-British Jay's Treaty, began to interfere with American ships. An American delegation was sent to France, and the French demanded a loan to the French government as well as a $240,000 bribe.

Although American public opinion hardened against the French, President Adams tried to repair the situation diplomatically, which angered many Federalists who thought that declaring war on France was the best course of action. This split within the FEDERALIST PARTY helped to ensure Jefferson's victory in the 1800 presidential election. Democratic-Republicans also won a majority of the seats in Congress.

Jefferson's party dominated American politics for the next two decades. One reason was that the Jeffersonians proved themselves to be willing to adapt to change. An example was the LOUISIANA PURCHASE of 1803. As a Republican, Jefferson initially felt that the president did not have the power to make such a large purchase (828,000 square miles). He recognized, however, that the price of $15 million (about three cents per acre) was a significant bargain, and that the purchase would double the size of the U.S. and also eliminate the danger of having an imperialist French colony on its border. He went against his partisan instinct and made what he believed was the right decision for the country.

During the WAR OF 1812, Jefferson's successor, JAMES MADISON, battled the British overseas and the Federalists at home. Many Federalists, especially in the New England states, felt that the war would irreparably damage their ability to trade by sea with Europe. This anti-war stance proved unpopular, however, since the war ended in what most Americans perceived as a victory over Great Britain. Thus the Federalists were soundly defeated in the 1816 presidential election. The new president, JAMES MONROE, presided over a time of relative political calm during which many Federalists came to support the Republicans. This period was known as the "Era of Good Feeling," and although Monroe enjoyed wide support during his two terms in office, various factions were developing within his own party.

In the election of 1824, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS was elected president, narrowly defeating War of 1812 military hero ANDREW JACKSON. Although both were Democratic-Republicans, Adams's political philosophy was closer to that of the Federalists, and during his term in office the party split into two main factions. When Jackson ran for president in 1828, he ran as a Democrat—and won handily. Adams's wing of the party became known as the National Republicans, many of whom later formed the WHIG PARTY.

Bell, Rudolph M., 1973. Party and Faction in American Politics: The House of Representatives 1789–1801. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.

Cunningham, Noble E., 1963. The Jeffersonian Republicans in Power: Party Operations, 1801–1809. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Univ. of North Carolina Press.