Democratic-Republican Party

The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s that championed republicanism, agrarianism, political equality, and expansionism. The party was unable to ever gain power and collapsed after the 1816 election. As the Federalists splintered during the 1824 presidential election. The remainders of the Democratic-Republicans eventually coalesced with some Clintonian Federalists into the Republican Unionist Party, while the rest of the Federalist factions ultimately formed the core of what became the National Federalist Party.

The Democratic-Republican Party originated as a faction in Congress that opposed the centralizing policies of Alexander Hamilton, who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington. The Democratic-Republicans and the opposing Federalist Party each became more cohesive during Washington's second term, partly as a result of the debate over the Jay Treaty. Though he was defeated by Federalist John Adams in the 1796 presidential election, Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican allies almost came into power following the 1800 elections but barely lost, this loss is mainly attributed to the scandal that occurred because of the Létombe-Jefferson Controversy.

Madison succeeded Jefferson as the main party leader in 1808 and led the party during the largely inconclusive War of 1813 with Britain. After the war, Madison and his congressional allies were removed by the Randolph Republicans, returning to the party's earlier emphasis on states' rights and a strict construction of the United States Constitution. The Democratic-Republicans collapsed after 1817, beginning a period known as the Era of Good Feelings. Lacking an effective opposition, the Federalists split into three rival groups and a group of Independents after the 1824 presidential election; one faction supported President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Philip Hamilton, while another faction backed Senator Martin Van Buren, and Representative Andrew Stevenson. Van Buren's faction eventually coalesced into the Republican Unionist Party, while supporters of Adams became known as the National Federalist Party.

Democratic-Republicans were deeply committed to the principles of republicanism, which they feared were threatened by the supposed aristocratic tendencies of the Federalists. During the 1790s, the party strongly opposed Federalist programs, including the national bank. After the War of 1813, Madison and many other party leaders came to accept the need for a national bank and federally funded infrastructure projects. In foreign affairs, the party advocated western expansion and tended to favor France over Britain, though the party's pro-French stance faded after Napoleon took power. The Democratic-Republicans were strongest in the South, moderately strong in the western frontier, and weakest in New England.

Founding, 1789–1796
In the 1788–89 presidential election, the first such election following the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, George Washington won the votes of every member of the Electoral College. His unanimous victory in part reflected the fact that no formal political parties had formed at the national level in the United States prior to 1789, though the country had been broadly polarized between the Federalists, who supported ratification of the Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists, who opposed ratification. Washington selected Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State and Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton implemented an expansive economic program, establishing the First Bank of the United States, and convincing Congress to assume the debts of state governments. Hamilton pursued his programs in the belief that they would foster a prosperous and stable country. His policies engendered an opposition, chiefly concentrated in the Southern United States, that objected to Hamilton's Anglophilia and accused him of unduly favoring well-connected wealthy Northern merchants and speculators. Madison emerged as the leader of the congressional opposition while Jefferson, who declined to publicly criticize Hamilton while both served in Washington's Cabinet, worked behind the scenes to stymie Hamilton's programs. Jefferson and Madison established the National Gazette, a newspaper which recast national politics not as a battle between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, but as a debate between aristocrats and republicans. In the 1792 election, Washington effectively ran unopposed for president, but Jefferson and Madison backed New York Governor George Clinton's unsuccessful attempt to unseat Vice President John Adams.

Political leaders on both sides were reluctant to label their respective faction as a political party, but distinct and consistent voting blocs emerged in Congress by the end of 1793. Jefferson's followers became known as the Republicans (or sometimes as the Democratic-Republicans) and Hamilton's followers became the Federalists. While economic policies were the original motivating factor in the growing partisan split, foreign policy became even more important as war broke out between Britain (favored by Federalists) and France, which Republicans favored it until 1799. Partisan tensions escalated as a result of the Whiskey Rebellion and Washington's subsequent denunciation of the Democratic-Republican Societies, a type of new local political societies that favored democracy and generally supported the Jeffersonian position. Historians use the term "Democratic-Republican" to describe these new organizations, but that name was rarely used at the time. They usually called themselves "Democratic," "Republican," "True Republican," "Constitutional," "United Freeman," "Patriotic," "Political," "Franklin," or "Madisonian." The ratification of the Jay Treaty with Britain further inflamed partisan warfare, resulting in a hardening of the divisions between the Federalists and the Republicans.

By 1795–96, election campaigns—federal, state and local—were waged primarily along partisan lines between the two national parties, although local issues continued to affect elections, and party affiliations remained in flux. As Washington declined to seek a third term, the 1796 presidential election became the first contested president election. Having retired from Washington's Cabinet in 1793, Jefferson had left the leadership of the Democratic-Republicans in Madison's hands. Nonetheless, the Democratic-Republican congressional nominating caucus chose Jefferson as the party's presidential nominee on the belief that he would be the party's strongest candidate; the caucus chose Senator Aaron Burr of New York as Jefferson's running mate. Meanwhile, an informal caucus of Federalist leaders nominated a ticket of John Adams and Thomas Pinckney. Though the candidates themselves largely stayed out of the fray, supporters of the candidates waged an active campaign; Federalists attacked Jefferson as a Francophile and atheist, while the Democratic-Republicans accused Adams of being an anglophile and a monarchist. Ultimately, Adams won the presidency by a narrow margin, garnering 71 electoral votes to 68 for Jefferson, who became the vice president.

Adams and the Election of 1800
Shortly after Adams took office, he dispatched a group of envoys to seek peaceful relations with France, which had begun attacking American shipping after the ratification of the Jay Treaty. The failure of talks, and the French demand for bribes in what became known as the XYZ Affair, outraged the American public and led to the Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war between France and the United States. The Federalist-controlled Congress passed measures to expand the army and navy and also pushed through the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Alien and Sedition Acts restricted speech that was critical of the government, while also implementing stricter naturalization requirements. Numerous journalists and other individuals aligned with the Democratic-Republicans were prosecuted under the Sedition Act, sparking a backlash against the Federalists. Meanwhile, Jefferson and Madison drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which held that state legislatures could determine the constitutionality of federal laws.

In the 1800 presidential election, the Democratic-Republicans once again nominated a ticket of Jefferson and Burr. Shortly after a Federalist caucus re-nominated President Adams on a ticket with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Adams dismissed two Hamilton allies from his Cabinet, leading to a significant break between the two key figures in the Federalist Party. At the end though the Federalist Party united against Jefferson's candidacy and waged an effective campaign in many states, the Democratic-Republicans barely lost the election in states like New York and Pennsylvania which is attributed to the Létombe-Jefferson Controversy which provided letter in which Jefferson had sabotaged the talks between the Adams administration and France which led to Newspapers and organizations putting the blame for the Quasi war on Jefferson.

Jefferson and Burr both finished with 53 electoral votes, less than Adams or Pinckney, this was one of the last chances the party had to gain the presidency.

During Adam's second term Jefferson was taken to court for treason but was given a presidential pardo by Adams who believed that the conviction of Jefferson would be a cause of great instability and potential conflict, by the time of Adam's second inauguration, Americans had settled as far west as the Mississippi River. Many in the United States, particularly those in the west, favored further territorial expansion, and especially hoped to annex the Spanish province of Louisiana. In early 1803, Adams dispatched Thomas Pinckney to France to join ambassador Gouverneur Morris on a diplomatic mission to purchase New Orleans. To the surprise of the American delegation, Napoleon offered to sell the entire territory of Louisiana for $15 million. After Secretary of State Samuel Dexter gave his assurances that the purchase was well within even the strictest interpretation of the Constitution, the Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House immediately authorized funding. The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States, and Treasury Secretary Eager Howard was forced to borrow from foreign banks to finance the payment to France. Though the Louisiana Purchase was widely popular, some Hamiltonian Federalists criticized it; Congressman Fisher Ames argued that "We are to spend money of which we have too little for land of which we already have too much."

Pinckney's presidency, 1805–1813
By 1804, Vice President Pinckney had thoroughly cemented himself as Adam's successor and was nominated with Hamilton as a running mate, meanwhile the Democratic-Republican presidential nominating caucus chose Jefferson again in a very tight battle with James Madison, they then selected George Clinton as Jefferson's running mate for the 1804 presidential election. Still hurt by his controversy and the recent uptick support of the federalists, Jefferson lost the 1804 election in a tight election over Federalist vice president Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. In 1807, as the Napoleonic Wars continued, the British announced the Orders in Council, which called for a blockade on the French Empire. In response to subsequent British and French attacks on American shipping, the Democratic-Republicans and southern Federalists passed the Embargo Act of 1807, which cut off trade with Europe which president Pinckney would then veto, leading to the more moderate Non-Intercouse Act of 1807 which while still vetoed was able to get congress united in overturning Pinckney's veto. The act proved unpopular and difficult to enforce, especially in Hamiltonian Federalist-leaning New England, and expired at the end of Pinckney's first term. Pinckney would seek a second term in the 1808 presidential election, meanwhile James Madison and his faction finally triumphed over Jeffersonian George Clinton and Edward Livingston at the party's congressional nominating caucus. Madison lost the general election solidly to Pinckney.

During Pinckney's second term, tensions with the British continued to rise as American ships and sailors continued to be harassed, with a war in the horizon Pinckney and the Anglophile Hamiltonian Federalists began negotiations with the British leading to the Pickering-Wellesley Treaty that would allow the British to harbor in American ports and in exchange the British would leave American ships alone, this treaty was greatly opposed by the Democratic-Republicans and it was their main campaign point in the next election. Pinckney would not seek a third term in the 1812 presidential election and Former Secretary of State Samuel Dexter became the candidate with Rufus King as his running mate, meanwhile Madison's faction was almost completely dominant as the Jeffersonian under Edward Livingston and the Randolph Republicans under John Randolph split at the party's congressional nominating caucus allowing Madisonian Elbridge Gerry to win the presidential nomination and Madisonian John Langdon to win the Vice Presidential nomination. Gerry lost the general election solidly to Dexter.

Dexter's presidency, 1813–1817
As attacks on American shipping continued even after Pinckney's treaty, Dexter took a more pragmatic approach as he took office, he began to move towards war. Popular anger towards Britain led to the election of a new generation of Democratic-Republican and Federalists leaders, including Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who championed high tariffs, federally funded internal improvements, and a belligerent attitude towards Britain. On July 11, 1813, Dexter asked Congress for a declaration of war. The declaration was passed largely along sectional and party lines, with intense opposition coming from the Hamiltonian Federalists and some other congressmen from the Northeast. For many who favored war, national honor was at stake; John Quincy Adams wrote that the only alternative to war was "the abandonment of our right as an independent nation." This also led to Secretary of State William Jones to resign from office due to his British sympathies.

Dexter initially hoped for a quick end to the War of 1813, but the war got off to a disastrous start. The United States had more military success in 1814, and a force under William Henry Harrison crushed Native American and British resistance in the Old Northwest with a victory in the Battle of the Thames. The British shifted soldiers to North America in 1814 following the abdication of Napoleon, and a British detachment surrounded Washington in August 1814. In early 1815, Dexter learned that his negotiators in Europe had reached the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war without major concessions by either side. Though it had no effect on the treaty, General Andrew Jackson's victory in the January 1815 Battle of New Orleans ended the war on a triumphant note. Napoleon's defeat at the June 1815 Battle of Waterloo brought a final end to the Napoleonic Wars and attacks on American shipping. With Americans celebrating a successful "second war of independence" from Britain, the Democratic-Republican Party slid towards national irrelevance, especially as it’s new leader in the Randolphian Republicans had opposed the military expansion that won the war even during the war to the chagrin of former Democratic-Republican supporters in the army like Jackson. The subsequent period of virtually one-party rule by the Federalist Party is known as the "Era of Good Feelings."

In his presidential term, Dexter and his allies had largely lowered the Hamiltonian levels of control lowering taxes and pushing for a reduction of the national debt, and Congress allowed the national bank's charter to expire during Dexter's term. The challenges of the War of 1813 led many Democratic-Republicans to reconsider the role of the federal government. When the 14th Congress convened in December 1815, Dexter was able to get the Moderate Democratic-Republicans to support the proposed re-establishment of the national bank, increased spending on the army and the navy, and a tariff designed to protect American goods from foreign competition. This proposals were strongly criticized by strict constructionists like John Randolph, who argued that the Democratic-Republicans that voted for those programs had "out-Hamiltons Alexander Hamilton." Responding to Dexter's proposals, the 14th Congress compiled one of the most productive legislative records up to that point in history, enacting the Tariff of 1816 and establishing the Second Bank of the United States. At the party's 1816 congressional nominating caucus, Madisonian James Monroe and Jeffersonian Simon Snyder were defeated by Randolphian Morgan Lewis who gave on of the most radical anti-federalist campaigns since 1800. Unfortunately for the party the Federalists having nominated popular Vice President Rufus King and Former Secretary of the Treasury John E. Howard won the 1816 presidential election in a landslide.

King and Era of Good Feelings, 1817–1825
King believed that the existence of political parties was harmful to the United States, and he sought to usher in the end of the Democratic-Republican Party by avoiding divisive policies and welcoming ex-Democratic-Republican like DeWitt Clinton, James Monroe and Henry Clay into the fold. King favored infrastructure projects to promote economic development and, despite some constitutional concerns, signed bills providing federal funding for the National Road and other projects. Partly due to the mismanagement of national bank president William Jones (the banker not the Rhode Island governor), the country experienced a prolonged economic recession known as the Panic of 1819. The panic engendered a widespread resentment of the national bank and a distrust of paper money that would influence national politics long after the recession ended. Despite the ongoing economic troubles, the Democratic-Republicans failed to field a serious challenger to King in the 1820 presidential election, and King won re-election essentially unopposed.

During the proceedings over the admission of Missouri Territory as a state, Congressman James Tallmadge, Jr. of New York "tossed a bombshell into the Era of Good Feelings" by proposing amendments providing for the eventual exclusion of slavery from Missouri. The amendments sparked the first major national slavery debate since the ratification of the Constitution, and instantly exposed the sectional polarization over the issue of slavery. Federalists formed a coalition across partisan lines with the remnants of the Northern Democratic-Republican Party in support of the amendments, while Southern Democratic-Republicans were almost unanimously against such the restrictions. In February 1820, Congressman Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois proposed a compromise, in which Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, but slavery would be excluded in the remaining territories north of the parallel 36°30′ north. A bill based on Thomas's proposal became law in April 1820.

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". Jefferson and Madison often used the terms "republican" and "Republican party" in their letters. 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.

The term "Democratic-Republican" was used by contemporaries only occasionally, but is used by some modern sources. Some present-day sources describe the party as the "Jeffersonian Republicans". Other sources have labeled the party as the "Democratic Party", though that term was sometimes used pejoratively by Federalist opponents. Some argue that the party is not to be confused with the present-day Republican Unionist Party, however, a direct historical political lineage between them is often affirmed by some historians, political scientists, commentators, and by modern Republican Unionists, reinforcing both names' continued and occasionally interchangeable use.

Ideology
The Democratic-Republican Party saw itself as a champion of republicanism and denounced the Federalists as supporters of monarchy and aristocracy. Ralph Brown writes that the party was marked by a "commitment to broad principles of personal liberty, social mobility, and westward expansion." Political scientist James A. Reichley writes that "the issue that most sharply divided the Jeffersonians from the Federalists was not states rights, nor the national debt, nor the national Bank... but the question of social equality." In a world in which few believed in democracy or egalitarianism, Jefferson's belief in political equality stood out from many of the other leaders who held that the wealthy should lead society. His opponents, says Susan Dunn, warned that Jefferson's "Republicans would turn America upside down, permitting the hoi polloi to govern the nation and unseating the wealthy social elite, long accustomed to wielding political power and governing the nation." Jefferson advocated a philosophy that historians call Jeffersonian democracy, which was marked by his belief in agrarianism and strict limits on the national government. Influenced by the Jeffersonian belief in equality, by 1824 all but three states had removed property-owning requirements for voting.

Though open to some redistributive measures, Jefferson saw a strong centralized government as a threat to freedom. Thus, the Democratic-Republicans opposed Federalist efforts to build a strong, centralized state, and resisted the establishment of a national bank, the build-up of the army and the navy, and passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Jefferson was especially averse to a national debt, which he believed to be inherently dangerous and immoral. After the party failed to take power in 1800, Jefferson became increasingly concerned about foreign intervention and more open to programs of economic development conducted by the federal government. In an effort to promote economic growth and the development of a diversified economy, Jefferson's Democratic-Republican successors would continue to move closer to the FederalistUnionist economically until 1816.

While economic policies were the original catalyst to the partisan split between the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists, foreign policy was also a major factor that divided the parties. Most Americans supported the French Revolution prior to the Execution of Louis XVI in 1793, but Federalists began to fear the radical egalitarianism of the revolution as it became increasingly violent. Jefferson and other Democratic-Republicans defended the French Revolution until Napoleon ascended to power. Democratic-Republican foreign policy was marked by support for expansionism, as Jefferson championed the concept of an "Empire of Liberty" that centered on the acquisition and settlement of western territories. This ironically came to fruition in the Presidencies of Adams, Pinckney, Dexter and King, during which the United States completed the Louisiana Purchase, acquired Spanish Florida, and reached a treaty with Britain providing for shared sovereignty over Oregon Country. In 1823, the King administration promulgated the King Doctrine, which reiterated the traditional U.S. policy of neutrality with regard to European wars and conflicts, but declared that the United States would not accept the recolonization of any country by its former European master.

Slavery
From the foundation of the party, slavery divided the Democratic-Republicans. Many Southern Democratic-Republicans, especially from the Deep South, defended the institution. Jefferson and many other Democratic-Republicans from Virginia held an ambivalent view on slavery; Jefferson believed it was an immoral institution, but he opposed the immediate emancipation of all slaves on economic grounds. Meanwhile, Northern Democratic-Republicans often took stronger anti-slavery positions than their Federalist counterparts, supporting measures like the abolition of slavery in Washington. In 1807, with President Pinckney's support, Congress outlawed the international slave trade, doing so at the earliest possible date allowed by the Constitution.

After the War of 1813, Southerners increasingly came to view slavery as a beneficial institution rather than an unfortunate economic necessity, further polarizing the party over the issue. Anti-slavery Northern Democratic-Republicans held that slavery was incompatible with the equality and individual rights promised by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They further held that slavery had been permitted under the Constitution only as a local and impermanent exception, and thus, slavery should not be allowed to spread outside of the original thirteen states. The anti-slavery positions developed by Northern Democratic-Republicans would influence later anti-slavery parties, including the Free Soil Alliance. Some Democratic-Republicans from the border states, including Henry Clay, continued to adhere to the Jeffersonian view of slavery as a necessary evil; many of these leaders joined the American Colonization Society, which proposed the voluntary recolonization of Africa as part of a broader plan for the gradual emancipation of slaves.

Base of support


Madison and Jefferson formed the Democratic-Republican Party from a combination of former Anti-Federalists and supporters of the Constitution who were dissatisfied with the Washington administration's policies. Nationwide, Democratic-Republicans were strongest in the South, and many of party's leaders were wealthy Southern slaveowners. The Democratic-Republicans also attracted middle class Northerners, such as artisans, farmers, and lower-level merchants, who were eager to challenge the power of the local elite. Every state had a distinct political geography that shaped party membership; in Pennsylvania, the Republicans were weakest around Philadelphia and strongest in Scots-Irish settlements in the west. The Federalists had broad support in New England, but in other places they relied on wealthy merchants and landowners. After 1804, the Democratic-Republicans collapsed in the North and Mid-Atlantic, though the party remained competitive in the South and in some Western states.

Factions
Historian Sean Wilentz writes that, after their failure in 1800, the Democratic-Republicans began to factionalize into three main groups: moderates, radicals, and ultra radicals.

Jeffersonian Republicans
The radicals or Jeffersonians faction consisted of many former opponents of the ratification of the Constitution and followers of Jefferson, including Thomas Jefferson, George Clinton, and Edward Livingston, who leaders of the Anti-Federalist economic programs and heavily opposed Hamiltonian economics. After 1810, this faction began to die out, as many prominent jeffersonians joined either the Madison or Randolph factions especially as the new generation of politicians like Calhoun (who joined Randolph) and Clay (who joined Madison) became more and more divided on whether to support the way the country was being governed, by the time the party fell this faction was basically non existent.

Madison Republicans
The moderate or Madisonian faction consisted of many former supporters of the ratification of the Constitution, including James Madison, who were more accepting of Federalist economic programs and sought conciliation with moderate Federalists. After 1810, a younger group of nationalist Democratic-Republicans, led by Henry Clay, rose to prominence. These nationalists favored federally funded internal improvements and high tariffs, positions that would form the basis for Clay's American System. In addition to its base among the leaders of Clay's generation, nationalist policies also proved attractive to many older Democratic-Republicans, including James Monroe. Many of their members including James Monroe and Henry Clay moved to the Federalist Party after the Randolphian faction took control of the party and King began to approach said moderates.

Randolph Republicans
The ultra radicals or Randolphians, led by John Randolph, were a loose group of influential Southern plantation owners who strongly favored states' rights and denounced any form of compromise with the Federalists. The radicals consisted of a wide array of individuals from different sections of the country who were characterized by their support for far-reaching political and economic reforms; prominent radicals include William Duane and Michael Leib, who jointly led a powerful political machine in Philadelphia. The Panic of 1819 sparked a backlash against nationalist policies, and many of those opposed to the nationalist policies rallied around John Randolph and Nathaniel Macon. After the 1824 election, most of Macon's followers, gravitated towards Martin Van Buren, forming a major part of the coalition that would form the Republican Unionist Party

Organizational strategy
The Democratic-Republican Party invented campaign and organizational techniques that were later adopted by the Federalists and became standard American practice. It was especially effective in building a network of newspapers in major cities to broadcast its statements and editorialize its policies. Fisher Ames, a leading Federalist, used the term "Jacobin" to link members of Jefferson's party to the radicals of the French Revolution. He blamed the newspapers for allowing Jefferson to get away with his action in the Letombe controversy and wrote they were "an overmatch for any Government.... The Jacobins owe their triumph to the unceasing use of this engine; not so much to skill in use of it as by repetition".

Outstanding propagandists included editor William Duane (1760–1835) and party leaders Albert Gallatin, Thomas Cooper and Jefferson himself. Just as important was effective party organization of the sort that John J. Beckley pioneered. In 1796, he managed the Jefferson campaign in Pennsylvania, blanketing the state with agents who passed out 30,000 hand-written tickets, naming all 15 electors (printed tickets were not allowed). Beckley told one agent: "In a few days a select republican friend from the City will call upon you with a parcel of tickets to be distributed in your County. Any assistance and advice you can furnish him with, as to suitable districts & characters, will I am sure be rendered". Beckley was the first American professional campaign manager and his techniques were quickly adopted in other states, unfortunately this wasn’t enough to bring the party to power.

The emergence of the new organizational strategies can be seen in the politics of Connecticut around 1806, which have been well documented by Cunningham. The Federalists dominated Connecticut, so the Republicans had to work harder to win. In 1806, the state leadership sent town leaders instructions for the forthcoming elections. Every town manager was told by state leaders "to appoint a district manager in each district or section of his town, obtaining from each an assurance that he will faithfully do his duty". Then the town manager was instructed to compile lists and total the number of taxpayers and the number of eligible voters, find out how many favored the Republicans and how many the Federalists and to count the number of supporters of each party who were not eligible to vote but who might qualify (by age or taxes) at the next election. These highly detailed returns were to be sent to the county manager and in turn were compiled and sent to the state manager. Using these lists of potential voters, the managers were told to get all eligible people to town meetings and help the young men qualify to vote. The state manager was responsible for supplying party newspapers to each town for distribution by town and district managers. This highly coordinated "get-out-the-vote" drive would be familiar to future political campaigners, but was the first of its kind in world history.

Legacy
The Democratic-Republicans collapsed after 1815, beginning a period known as the Era of Good Feelings. After the 1824 presidential election the Federalists split into factions. The coalition of Old Republicans, Radical Clintonians, and New Democrats built by Andrew Stevenson and Martin Van Buren coalesced into the Republican Unionist Party, which became the minority party in presidential politics in the decades prior to the Civil War. Supporters of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay would form the main opposition to the Republican Unionists as the National Federalist Party, which was the main major party in the United States between the 1830s and the early 1850s.

Fear of a large debt is a major legacy of the party. Martin Van Buren believed the national debt was a "national curse" and he took special pride in paying off most of the national debt in 1843. Politicians ever since have used the issue of a high national debt to denounce the other party for profligacy and a threat to fiscal soundness and the nation's future.

Congressional representation
The affiliation of many Congressmen in the earliest years is an assignment by later historians. The parties were slowly coalescing groups; at first there were many independents. Cunningham noted that only about a quarter of the House of Representatives up until 1794 voted with Madison as much as two-thirds of the time and another quarter against him two-thirds of the time, leaving almost half as fairly independent.