Introduction:

The democratic republican party also known as American Political party was founded by Thomas Jefforson and James Madison. This party championed in political equality as well as expansionism. After the election of 1800, the Democratic Republican Party rose into prominanace as the opposing Federalist Party collapsed. During the 1824 presidential elction, the Democratic republicans splintered eventually. While a part of it coalesced into the modern Democratic party, the other fraction formed the Whig part.

Ideology

According to Ralph Brown the core ideology of the party was “commitment to a broad principles of personal liberty, social mobility and westward expansion”. According to James Reichley, the most demarking factor that divided federalist and Jeffersonian were not the rights of the states neither was the national debt. The core factor was, however, the question of social equality. During the time of the rise of the Jefferson there were only few who believed in the ideology of egalitarianism. He was on the other hand supporter of political equality which opposed the idea that only rich and powerful should lead the society. Such idea of society later came to be known as Jefforsonian democracy.

According to Jefforson a strong centralized government possesses great threat towards the path of freedom. Thus the parties strongly opposed the efforts of the federalist of building a centralized state. About the idea o national debt, Jefforson was on the belief that such idea is immoral and dangerous. After the ascend of the party in 1800 Jefforson was typically concerned about the foreign intervention and advocated for various programs related to the economic development. Jefforson was also inclined towards the promotion of a diversified economy. The foreign policies were also a crucial factor that caused the split between democratic republican and the Federalist Party. Federalist were fearful about the rise of egalitarian thoughts after the French Revolution. Democratic Republican’s foreign policies were marked by support for expansionism and defending the “Empire of Liberty”.   

Rise of conflict:

One of the earliest and most interesting divisions between the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists were there approach towards foreign policy regarding Britain and France. According to the Federalists, the foreign policy should be formed keeping in mind the British interest. But the Democratic-Republicans opposed this, according to them; the foreign policy should favour the French, over the British. After the French Revolution of 1789, a new government had taken over the ruling seat of France; this government was supported by the Democratic-Republicans .

In economic matters, there was a strong difference between the Jeffersonians and the Federalists. The Democratic-Republicans were more interested in preserving and strengthening the interest of the working class, the farmers, the merchants and the labourers. According to them, the citizens would be best served by an agrarian economy. The establishment of Bank of United States, which had strong support from the likes of Hamilton, was seen by the Democratic-Republicans as a way of taking away power from each of the individual states. According to them, this establishment would really be in favour of the rich, than helping the working class. According to the Federalists, economic self-sufficiency and domestic growth can be in the best way possible via development of manufacturing and industry. In 1789 the Congress had passed a bill on protective tariffs on import, which protected domestic production. The Federalists supported this bill to its full extent. In 1795, Jay’s Treaty, which has had its name from John Jay, was ratified. This ratification caused the citizens to behave angrily towards the Federalists. In the Northwest Territories, fur trading was still in the control of British, but they during those times, were held responsible for the Native Indian revolts against the Americans. American ships were seized and American sailors were impressed upon by the British ships. Further, American ships were being prohibited to have trade relations with the West Indies, mostly by the British ships. The then chief justice of the U.S. Supreme court, Jay, went to England as an envoy in order to rectify this situation. He ultimately succeeded in gaining a treaty which gave the British a limited amount of time for leaving the fur posts. But unfortunately, no other issues were settled. Though the treaty helped the Americans, but there was clause in the treaty which asked the U.S.A. to pay back money amounting $2.6 million to the British, in order to settles the debts owed from pre-Revolution times. 

The Jeffersonian, as well as many of the Federalists considered the treaty to be in the favour of the British. But the likes of Hamilton considered the treaty necessary as the British has been generating tariff revenues via their exports. In 1796, the second president of the United States of America was elected, John Adams, a staunch Federalist, defeated Jefferson by three votes, and became president with 71 votes from the electoral. Jefferson, presided over the vice-presidential post.

In the mean time, trade and other relations with the French government deteriorated. A typical example the weakness of Federalism, which was pointed out by the Jeffersonians was the “XYZ affair” of 1796. A French agent had tried to take bribes in order to help Americans get French cooperation in negotiations regarding global trade treaty; this unfortunate affair was termed as the “XYZ affair”. Jay’s treaty had been actively pro-British; this had angered the French, who started interfering with the American trade ships. When American officials were sent to France in order to simplify matters, the French government not only asked for a load, but also asked a bribe of $240,000.

Rise in Power of Democratic Republican:

In spite of having a strong opposing public views about the French, President Adams tried to resolve this French situation diplomatically. This caused a rift amongst the Federalists, many of whom thought that the best course of action would be to declare war against the French. As a result in the 1800 presidential election, Adams lost to Jefferson. In the Congress a majority of seats were won by the Democratic-Republicans. 

History of Rise and fall:

Alexander Hamilton was the Secretary of the Treasury under during the time when George Washington was president. Under the leadership of likes of Hamilton, the Federalists improved upon themselves to become a political party having a strong political agenda, changing from their idealist stand point. Thomas Jefferson, the Secretary of State and the most important political opponent of Hamilton, started grouping the Anti-Federalists into forming a political party, namely the Democratic-Republican Party. According to Jefferson, the central should not be all powerful; rather power should reside with the states, while keeping inside the federalism ideology. He believed that the government should be formed around the worker and farmers, based upon the virtues of citizenship.  He feared that a strong central government would form a basis of corruption and would result in power abuses. James Madison, another Congressman and a compatriot of Jefferson, was a crucial founding member of this party. Despite the warnings in the farewell speech of Washington, about dangers of creation of political parties, a power struggle ensured between the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists, which resulted in Jefferson and his party emerging victorious after the 1800s.

Democratic-Republicans were in favour of making U.S. economy agriculture based. They argued that U.S. should aim to become the largest agricultural supplier in the world. They also said that if there were surplus produce then it should be exported, and the earnings should be used for buying manufactured industrial goods from Europe.

Federalists were somewhat less egalitarian than the Democratic-Republicans. According to Jefferson all adult white male American citizen who owned a minimal property should be eligible to vote as well as serve in the elected office. According to the Democratic-Republicans all families in the US should hold their own farm. Further according to Jefferson, people belonging to the working class would put the public gain above their personal gain, if they could easily feed and provide for their families via their family farm and property.

The citizens of France, passing through a revolution of their own, were at that time following in the footsteps of the example set by citizens of US during the late 1780s. The Democratic – Republican Party wanted themselves to align with the French with respect to political ideology. But in the economical side of views they wanted the country to remain an agricultural powerhouse, which was a totally in difference with the economical ideologies of both Britain and France of that time.

For the next two decades, the American politics was dominated by the party headed by Jefferson. One of the main reason being the Jeffersonian’s ability to adapt to changing conditions and evolve with the times. An example of such adaptability was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. To remove the danger of having a French colony of imperialist nature on the border, it was imperative that to purchase the land of about 828,000 square miles for a bargained price of $15 million. But, as a President, Jefferson felt that he was not entitled to make such a huge purchase. But later understanding the importance o such a purchase on the country that he leaded, he took a stand against his partisan instinct and bought the land.

James Madison, successor to Jefferson, fought the British overseas and had to fight a political war against the Federalists at home, in 1812. Federalists, most of them from the New England states, conjectured that the overseas war would damage their trade relations thereby hampering trade and business with the European Nations. To most of the Americans, the end of the war was perceived as a victory over the British, which thereby proved the anti-war stand of Federalists to be extremely unpopular. As a result, in 1816 presidential elections, the Federalists were defeated by big margins. James Monroe, the newly elected president reigned over a time of political calmness. During his tenure many Federalists started supporting the Republican ideology. This period of political calmness was known as the “Era of Good Feeling”. Munroe in his two terms enjoyed widespread support, but various groups with different ideologies were forming inside his own party.

John Quincy Adams was the next elected president, elected during the presidential polls of 1824. By as small margin he had defeated Andrew Jackson, a hero from the war of 1812. Though both belonged to the same Democratic – Republican Party, their ideologies were starkly different. Adams’ political ideology was similar to that of the Federalists, and it is during his time that the part differentiated into two distinct factions. In the 1828 elections, Jackson, coming from the Democrats ran and won the election. The part of the party that supported Adams became widely known as the National Republicans, whose party members later formed the Whig Party.

The fall of Democratic Republicans:

Adams advocated the goal of ending the partition conflict that was proposed initially by Munroe. In his cabinet he included people from various regional as well as ideological backgrounds. He was also in support of investments of internal improvement like Navy academy, national university, astronomical observatories etc. his ambitious agendas created a spur within the congress and an anti Adams coalition to be formed. The supporter of Crawford, Jackson and the vice president Calhoun mainly formed this coalition. It was decided that in the 1828 election, Calhoun and Martin Van Buren will be supporting Jackson. The press referred this drift a Adam’s men and Jackson’s men. The Jacksonians started to form effective organizational strategies by adopting various modern techniques of campaigns. They also emphasized the supposed corruption of Adams. In the election finally got hold of 178 out of 261 electoral votes and 50.3% of popular vote. This election thus mark the decline of Democratic Republican Party and the vision of political equality was shattered. 

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