A '''Democratic-Republican''' is a member of the [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican political party]] of the early 19th century. Founded upon [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s interpretation of the [[Constitution]], the Democratic-Republican party (often shortened to simply the "Republican Party"), was one of America's first major political parties. It's competition was the [[Federalist Party]], based off of [[Alexander Hamilton]]'s interpretation of the Constitution.
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#redirect[[Republicans (Jeffersonian)]]
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The Democratic Republicans feared a powerful government. Their beliefs erred much more to the democratic side; they believed in the importance of individual [[liberty]] and restriction of [[federal]] power. Though it was often called the "Republican Party" for short, it was not the base for today's [[Republican Party]]. In fact, it was actually the base for the modern day [[Democratic party]]. (The modern day Republican Party was started years later by [[Abraham Lincoln]]).
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Though it outlived its competition (the Federalist Party died off shortly after Alexander Hamilton's death in 1795), the Democratic-Republican party only lasted up until the 1820s. There were three Democratic-Republican presidents: [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[James Monroe]] and [[James Madison]].