Unlike modern class warfare liberals, the Jeffersonians did not advocate redistribution of wealth. Madison denounced "a rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property" as examples of "improper or wicked" ideas.<ref>"[http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm The Federalist No. 10]"</ref> However, they did share certain traits with modern liberals, including a conflicted attitude toward the military. As president, Jefferson insisted that he was a man of peace and did not need the navy built under his predecessor, [[John Adams]]. Yet one of his first acts in office was to put that navy to work attacking the Barbary pirates. By the beginning of 1812, the Jeffersonians had thoroughly demilitarized the country. Yet they eagerly [[War of 1812 | waged war on Britain]], a state with a powerful military, particularly at this time when its resources were fully mobilized to fight Napoleon. Another trait the Jeffersonians shared with modern liberals is that they were united less by ideology than by the conviction that their opponents were evil. To the Jeffersonians, Hamilton's [[Federalists]] were "monarchists" and "elitists." The fetish for a minimal federal government, once a central ideology, was dropped in 1816. The "nationalist" policies adopted at this time were often the same as the policies the party had condemned when the Federalists advocated them.
In Jefferson's time, the party was known nationally as '''the Republicans'''. In New York and several other states, it was also called '''the Democrats'''.<ref>In Washington Irving's short story "[http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/RipVan.shtml Rip Van Winkle]" (1819), Rip is asked if he is "Federal or Democrat." N.B.: Not "Democratic Republican," which was not a contemporary usage.</ref> The party had numerous factions, including the [[Quids]] and Malcontents in Pennsylvania, as well as the "Old Republicans" in the South.<ref>Wood, Gordon S. ''Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815'' (Oxford History of the United States Book 4) (p. 313). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition. , p. 313.</ref> The "War Hawks" of the South and West pushed for war against Britain in 1812. The party's two best-known factions were the Democrats and the Nationalists. The term "Democratic Republican" was occasionally used to refer to the Democratic (later Jacksonian) faction. After the Jeffersonian party dissolved in 1825, the two factions became separate parties. President [[Martin Van Buren]], Jackson's successor and a New Yorker, gave his party the name [[Democratic Party]]. The modern [[Republican Party]], founded in 1854, was named after Jefferson's party. To distinguish these two parties, modern writers sometimes use the term '''Democratic-Republican Party''' to refer to Jefferson's party, confusing a faction with the party as a whole.
==History==
Adams narrowly defeated Jefferson in the 1796 presidential election. In the "Revolution of 1800," the Republicans gained control of the federal government. "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists," Jefferson stated in his first inaugural address.<ref>"[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jefinau1.asp Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address]"</ref> Jefferson was president from 1801 until 1809. Jefferson argued for a minimal federal government. He opposed a standing army and even a central bank. The charter of the Bank of the United States was allowed to expire in 1811. The navy Adams had built was allowed to deteriorate. It was replaced with "gunboats." These small vessels were designed strictly for coastal defense; Jefferson did not trust his successors with offensive capabilities. Later experience would show that gunboats were useless for coastal defense as well.
In letters from [[Monticello]], Jefferson continued to provide advise and direction for many years after he retired. The [[War of 1812]] led to a default by the U.S. Treasury in November 1814. This was a traumatic experience for Republicans used to thinking of themselves as the party of sound finance. While Jeffersonism turned out to be a bankrupt ideology, the Jeffersonians didn't plan to go down with in. They neatly pivoted and adopted much of the Federalist agenda that they had previously scorned. In a letter written in January 1816, Jefferson finally dropped his idealization of the yeoman farmer and hardily endorsed domestic manufacturing.<ref>Wood, p. 705.</ref> (This was manufacturing for the domestic market. Jefferson remained skeptical of American manufacturers exporting their wares.) In another dramatic reversal, a Second Bank of the United States was chartered in February 1816. The new policies, referred to as "Nationalist," were continued by President [[James Monroe]] (1817-1825). The party developed factions. Those who supported Monroe's approach were skeptical of referred to as "Nationalists," while those who remained loyal to the Nationalist approach old small government, agrarian agenda were were called "Democrats." The [[Missouri Compromise]] of 1820, approved over Jefferson's strenuous objections, was the last occasion the former president tried to exert influence on policy.
When [[Andrew Jackson]] ran for president in 1824, the party split into Jacksonian and Anti-Jacksonian factions. In 1830, the Anti-Jacksonians established the [[National Republican Party]]. This group evolved into the [[Whig Party]]. For the 1832 campaign, Jackson's supporters adopted a matching moniker: Democratic-Republican Party. The National Republicans soon disappeared, but writers continued to join "Democrat" with "Republican" to suggest that Jackson's Democratic Party was a continuation of Jefferson's party. After the modern Republican Party was founded in 1854, it was often convenient term "Democratic-Republican party" also allowed writers to distinguish Jefferson's party from it by calling it the "Democratic-modern Republican partyParty."
==Presidents==