Editing Democratic-Republican Party (section)

== {{anchor|Party Name}} Origins of party name ==
In the 1790s, political parties were new in the United States and people were not accustomed to having formal names for them. There was no single official name for the Democratic-Republican Party, but party members generally called themselves Republicans and voted for what they called the "Republican party", "republican ticket" or "republican interest".<ref name="Republican_name_1">For examples of original quotes and documents from various states, see Cunningham, Noble E., ''Jeffersonian Republicans: The Formation of Party Organization: 1789–1801'' (1957), pp. 48, 63–66, 97, 99, 103, 110, 111, 112, 144, 151, 153, 156, 157, 161, 163, 188, 196, 201, 204, 213, 218 and 234.<br />See also "[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbpe&fileName=rbpe09/rbpe099/09901000/rbpe09901000.db&recNum=1&itemLink=r?ammem/rbpebib:@field%28NUMBER+@band%28rbpe+09901000%29%29:&linkText=0 Address of the Republican committee of the County of Gloucester, New-Jersey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021164216/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbpe&fileName=rbpe09%2Frbpe099%2F09901000%2Frbpe09901000.db&recNum=1&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Frbpebib%3A%40field%28NUMBER+%40band%28rbpe+09901000%29%29%3A&linkText=0 |date=October 21, 2017 }}", Gloucester County, December 15, 1800.</ref><ref name="Republican_name_2">Jefferson used the term "republican party" in a letter to Washington in May 1792 to refer to those in Congress who were his allies and who supported the existing republican constitution. {{Cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mtj:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28tj060237%29%29 |title=Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, May 23, 1792 |access-date=October 4, 2006}} At a conference with Washington a year later, Jefferson referred to "what is called the republican party here". Bergh, ed. ''Writings of Thomas Jefferson'' (1907) 1:385, 8:345</ref> Jefferson and Madison often used the terms "republican" and "Republican party" in their letters.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mjm&fileName=05/mjm05.db&recNum=591 |title=James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, March 2, 1794 |access-date=October 14, 2006}} "I see by a paper of last evening that even in New York a meeting of the people has taken place, at the instance of the Republican party, and that a committee is appointed for the like purpose." See also: Smith, 832.<br />{{Cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mjm&fileName=11/mjm11.db&recNum=94 |title=James Madison to William Hayward, March 21, 1809. Address to the Republicans of Talbot Co. Maryland |access-date=October 27, 2006}}<br />{{Cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mtj:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28tj060237%29%29 |title=Thomas Jefferson to John Melish, January 13, 1813 |access-date=October 27, 2006}} "The party called republican is steadily for the support of the present constitution"<br />{{Cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mjm&fileName=17/mjm17.db&recNum=308 |title=James Madison to Baltimore Republican Committee, April 22, 1815 |access-date=October 27, 2006}}<br />{{Cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mjm&fileName=20/mjm20.db&recNum=428 |title=James Madison to William Eustis, May 22, 1823 |access-date=October 27, 2006}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=I6tLmjLqRfAC&pg=PA317 Transcript]. "The people are now able every where to compare the principles and policy of those who have borne the name of Republicans or Democrats with the career of the adverse party and to see and feel that the former are as much in harmony with the Spirit of the Nation as the latter was at variance with both."</ref> As a general term (not a party name), the word republican had been in widespread usage from the 1770s to describe the type of government the break-away colonies wanted to form: a republic of three separate branches of government derived from some principles and structure from ancient republics; especially the emphasis on [[civic duty]] and the opposition to corruption, elitism, aristocracy and monarchy.<ref>Banning, 79–90.</ref>

The term "Democratic-Republican" was used by contemporaries only occasionally,<ref name="drname">See ''The Aurora General Advertiser'' (Philadelphia), April. 30, 1795, p. 3; ''New Hampshire Gazette'' (Portsmouth), October 15, 1796, p. 3; ''Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser'' (Philadelphia), October 10, 1797, p. 3; ''Columbian Centinel'' (Boston), September 15, 1798, p. 2; ''Alexandria (VA) Times'', October 8, 1798, p. 2; ''Daily Advertiser'' (New York), September 22, 1800, p. 2 & November 25, 1800, p. 2; ''The Oracle of Dauphin'' (Harrisburg), October 6, 1800, p. 3; ''Federal Gazette'' (Baltimore), October 23, 1800, p. 3; ''The Spectator'' (New York), October 25, 1800, p. 3; ''Poulson's American Daily Advertiser'' (Philadelphia), November 19, 1800, p. 3; ''Windham (CT) Herald'', November 20, 1800, p. 2; ''City Gazette'' (Charleston), November 22, 1800, p. 2; ''The American Mercury'' (Hartford), November 27, 1800, p. 3; and ''[[Constitutional Telegraphe]]'' (Boston), November 29, 1800, p. 3.<br/>After 1802, some local organizations slowly began merging "Democratic" into their own name and became known as the "Democratic Republicans". Examples include [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page025.db&recNum=1138 1802], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbpebib:@OR%28@field%28AUTHOR+@3%28Independent+Republican+Citizens,+Philadelphia+County++%29%29+@field%28OTHER+@3%28Independent+Republican+Citizens,+Philadelphia+County++%29%29%29 1803], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/rbpebib:@OR%28@field%28TITLE+@od1%28To+the+Democratic+Republican+electors,+of+the+State+of+Pennsylvania++Fellow+Citizens++The+choice+of+electors+of+the+President+and+Vice-President,+is+to+be+made+on+Friday,+the+2d+of+November+++++Benjamin+Franklin+Bache++%5B1804+++%29%29+@field%28ALTTITLE+@od1%28To+the+Democratic+Republican+electors,+of+the+State+of+Pennsylvania++Fellow+Citizens++The+choice+of+electors+of+the+President+and+Vice-President,+is+to+be+made+on+Friday,+the+2d+of+November+++++Benjamin+Franklin+Bache++%5B1804+++%29%29%29 1804], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(sj003543)) 1804], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbpebib:@OR%28@field%28AUTHOR+@3%28Democratic+Republican+corresponding+committee++Newcastle+County++Delaware++%29%29+@field%28OTHER+@3%28Democratic+Republican+corresponding+committee++Newcastle+County++Delaware++%29%29%29 1805], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page036.db&recNum=1114 1806], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page037.db&recNum=643 1807], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page041.db&recNum=667 1808], [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mtj1&fileName=mtj1page043.db&recNum=1023 1809].</ref> but is used by modern political scientists.{{sfnp|Brown|1999|p=17}} Historians often refer to the "Jeffersonian Republicans".<ref>{{cite news |last=Onuf |first=Peter |url=https://millercenter.org/president/jefferson/impact-and-legacy |title=Thomas Jefferson: Impact and Legacy |date=August 12, 2019 |publisher=Miller Center}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/defense/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/jeffersonian-republican-party |title=Jeffersonian Republican Party |website=Encyclopedia.com |publisher=The Gale Group |access-date=August 12, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Webster |first=Noah |url=https://archive.org/details/acollectionpape00websgoog |title=A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects |publisher=Webster & Clark |year=1843 |page=[https://archive.org/details/acollectionpape00websgoog/page/n338 332] |quote=From the time when the anti-federal party assumed the more popular appellation of republican, which was soon after the arrival of the French minister in 1793, that epithet became a powerful instrument in the process of making proselytes to the party. The influence of names on the mass of mankind, was never more distinctly exhibited, than in the increase of the democratic party in the United States. |author-link=Noah Webster}}</ref> The term "Democratic Party" was first used pejoratively by Federalist opponents.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Kenneth |last1=Janda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZ6aBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA212 |title=The Challenge of Democracy: American Government in Global Politics 13th ed. |first2=Jeffrey M. |last2=Berry |first3=Jerry |last3=Goldman|first4=Deborah |last4=Deborah |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |year=2015 |isbn=9781305537439 |page=212}}</ref><ref>In a private letter in September 1798, George Washington wrote, "You could as soon as scrub the blackamore white, as to change the principles of a profest Democrat; and that he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the Government of this Country." {{cite book |last=George Washington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4GyAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA474 |title=The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799 Volume 36 August 4, 1797-October 28, 1798 |year=1939 |isbn=9781623764463 |page=474| publisher=Best Books on }}</ref> Historians argue that the party died out before the present-day [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] was formed. However, since the days of Franklin Roosevelt Democratic politicians proudly claim Jefferson as their founder.<ref name="bill 2047">{{citation|title= S.2047 – A bill to establish a commission to commemorate the bicentennial of the establishment of the Democratic Party of the United States.|author=((102nd Congress))|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/2047/text|year=1991}} "In 1992, the Democratic Party of the United States will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its establishment on May 13, 1792... Thomas Jefferson founded the first political party in the United States, the Democratic Party, which was originally known as the Republican Party."</ref>