Jeffersonian Republicans
The Jeffersonian Republicans was a U.S. political party led by Thomas Jefferson.[1] It was founded in 1792 and dissolved in 1825. It was preceded by the Anti-Administration Party of 1789-1792, a congressional faction led by James Madison.
Federalist John Adams narrowly defeated Jefferson in the 1796 presidential election. In the "Revolution of 1800," the Republicans gained control of the federal government. Jefferson was president from 1801 until 1809. Jefferson opposed a strong national government, including a standing army, navy, and central bank. The War of 1812 dramatized the need for a stronger federal government. Under President James Monroe (1817-1825), the party ended up adopting much of the Federalist agenda that it had previously scorned.
When Andrew Jackson ran for president in 1824, the party split into Jacksonian and Anti-Jacksonian factions. The modern Democratic Party evolved from the Jacksonian faction. Led by Henry Clay, the Anti-Jacksonians organized as the National Republican Party and later as the Whig Party.
When it existed, and for long afterward, the party was known as the Republicans. The creation of the modern Republican Party in 1854 made this terminology confusing. The term "Democratic-Republican Party," which originated in the 1830s in reference to the pro-Jackson wing, is sometimes erroneously applied to the party as a whole.
Republican presidents
- Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
- James Madison (1809-1817)
- James Monroe (1817-1825)
- John Quincy Adams (1825-29) (anti-Jacksonian)
References
- ↑ "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").