The Republican Alternative The Republican Party, usually called the Democratic-Republican Party, was an American political party founded about 1791 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. This new coalition was composed of politicians who were vehemently opposed to Hamiltons economic policies, the expanse of federal power under the direction of Washington and Adams, and the Jay Treaty with Britain. Instead, this group of republicans expressed admiration of the French Revolution, defended states rights ideologies as articulated by the Anti-Federalists, and extolled yeoman farmer agriculture as the backbone of the American economy rather than commerce or manufacturing. In 1801, the Democrat-Republicans came to power with Jeffersons election to president. The Democrat-Republican Party produced three presidents: Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809), James Madison (1809–1817), and James Monroe (1817–1825). After 1800, the party dominated Congress and most state governments outside New England. It selected presidential candidates through its caucus in Congress, but in the late 1820s, that system broke down with the party split between Andrew Jackson and the incumbent President John Quincy Adams. In its early years, the Democratic-Republican party originally coalesced around Jefferson, especially over foreign affairs ( Figure 1). For example, Jefferson and Democratic-Republicans wanted to maintain the 1777 alliance with France because they sympathized with the French Revolution. Despite the fact that Britain was Americas leading trading partner, Republicans feared that trade alliances with Britain would undermine the American republican project. This position clashed with the Federalist-dominated government. The intense debate over the Jay Treaty in 1794–95, transformed those Democratic-Republicans opposed to anglophile Federalists from a loose movement into a true political party. The Jeffersonians mounted a public campaign against the ratification of the Jay Treaty, and encouraged public outcry against John Jay and the Federalists. However, they were defeated when Washington mobilized public opinion in favor of the treaty. From 1796-1800, Democratic-Republicans began to contest elections, marshal public support, and bitterly oppose Federalists on both domestic and foreign policies. The presidential election of 1800, sometimes referred to as the Revolution of 1800 resulted in the demise of the Federalists as the dominant party and the election of Jefferson to the presidency. The election wrought a complete shift in political power and ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican Party rule. It was a long, acrimonious process that involved both sides attacking each other. Federalists spread rumors that the Republicans were radicals who would ruin the country, while the Republicans accused Federalists of destroying republican values by favoring aristocratic, anti-republican principles. As part of their campaign appeal to the public in the southern and western states, Democrat-Republicans promoted the vision of a decentralized economy that favored yeoman agriculture, minimal and simple federal government, and maximum freedom of mobility and opportunity for white men. In short, Democratic-Republicans stressed the virtues of austerity, individual labor, independence, self-reliance, and (white male) equality in contrast to their depiction of Federalists as the protectors of the wealthy, commercial, and aristocratic interests. In the election, both parties sought any advantage they could find. In several states, this included changing the process of selecting electors to ensure the desired result. However the Republicans neglected to have one of their electors abstain from voting for Burr, which created a tie. Under the United States Constitution, each elector cast two votes and the candidate with a majority of the votes was elected president, while the candidate with the second-highest vote became the vice president. While the Federalists arranged for one of their electors to abstain for voting for Pinckney (to give Adams the presidential seat), Republicans failed to do the same, and the ensuing tie between Jefferson and Burr threw the election into the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives. The members of the Federalist-dominated House of Representatives balloted to determine whether Jefferson or Burr would become president. There were sixteen states, and an absolute majority was required for victory. Over the course of seven days, the House cast a total of thirty-five ballots, with Jefferson receiving the votes of eight state delegations each time—one short of the necessary majority of nine. During the contest, Hamilton wrote a frenzy of letters to Federalists representatives arguing that they should support Jefferson over Burr (Hamilton considered Jefferson the lesser evil of the two) and his campaign led to Jeffersons election to the presidency. In the process, Hamiltons personal attacks on Burrs character would eventually lead to their ill-fated Weehawken duel. This system of balloting was later changed by the 1804 Twelfth Amendment, which created a party ticket (one president and one vice presidential candidate), for which the electoral college had to cast votes, rather than casting votes for individuals. The peaceful transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans was the most significant and surprising change in the election. It was singled out as a point of departure from European precedent, in which power transfers were often violent and bloody. This occurred in part because this regime change did not necessarily signal a complete overhaul of Federalist policies. Despite the partisan polarization that occurred in the election of 1800, Jefferson’s early presidency embodied both Federalist and Democratic-Republican policies that facilitated a peaceful transition of power in this otherwise volatile political period.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 04:34:33 +0000
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