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 … See more

Madison and Jefferson formed the Democratic-Republican Party from a combination of former Anti-Federalists and supporters of the … See more

The Democratic-Republican Party invented campaign and organizational techniques that were later adopted by the Federalists and … See more

The Federalists collapsed after 1815, beginning a period known as the Era of Good Feelings. After the 1824 presidential election the Democratic-Republicans split into factions. The … See more

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 … See more

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, … See more

Historian Sean Wilentz writes that, after assuming power in 1801, the Democratic-Republicans began to factionalize into three main groups: moderates, radicals, and Old Republicans. The Old Republicans, led by John Randolph, were a loose group of … See more