Birth of the Democrats: A History of the Democratic Party
Jeffersonian “Republicans”
Today’s Democratic Party traces its roots to the late 18th century, when a coalition of compatriots led by none other than Thomas Jefferson emerged as one of America’s original political parties.
Ironically, the Jeffersonian founders of what has since become the Democratic Party were first known as “Republicans,” and then as “Democratic-Republicans.” They didn’t become just “Democrats” until the 1830s. (Today’s Republican Party, which also claims Jefferson as an ideological predecessor, wasn’t born until the 1850s.) Still, it’s fair to say that the first “Democrat” ever elected president was Thomas Jefferson.
My Faction, Right or Wrong
You might think that penning the Declaration of Independence, plus serving as the nation’s first secretary of state (under George Washington) and its second vice president (under John Adams), would have made Jefferson a shoo-in for America’s highest office. Not so. The Sage of Monticello had plenty of powerful political enemies when he ran for president in 1800, including other founders like John Adams and Alexander Hamilton.
America’s founders had always considered political “factions” a serious danger to democracy, but by 1800 two factions were fighting bitterly for control. Jefferson’s “Democratic-Republican” party favored local government, agrarian virtues, and individual freedoms – at least for propertied white men. Adams and Hamilton’s “Federalist” party favored a strong central government, industrialization, and law and order policies that were often overtly elitist.
Even during George Washington’s first administration (in which both Hamilton and Jefferson served), the factions had begun to emerge. By the summer of 1796, when Washington announced his retirement, the two parties existed in everything but name. From 1800 on, America would have a two-party political system, with the party descended from Jefferson battling first the Federalists, then the Whigs, and then the Republicans.
I Demand a Recount!
Still, Jefferson himself almost wasn’t elected. In 1800, a caucus of congressional Federalists chose incumbent president John Adams and Charles Pinckney for their presidential ticket. Meanwhile, the Jeffersonians nominated Jefferson and Aaron Burr. At the time, the Constitution stipulated that the candidate with the most electoral votes became president, while the runner-up got to be VP. So Adams, Pinckney, Jefferson, and Burr all were officially nominated for the top office. What’s more, both caucuses pledged to support each of their candidates equally.
Result: Jefferson and Burr won the election with 73 electoral votes apiece – which means, of course, that neither of them won. The election was a tie, and in presidential elections, the House of Representatives breaks ties.
Though everyone knew that Jefferson’s party intended for Jefferson to be president, the Federalists had the votes to block him in the House, and many of them thought Jefferson a dangerous radical. But one Federalist, Alexander Hamilton, disliked Aaron Burr even more. While Hamilton once admitted that Jefferson “had some pretensions to character,” he called Burr “bankrupt beyond redemption.” After 35 deadlocked ballots, Hamilton’s influence helped make Jefferson president. Less than four years later, Burr killed Hamilton in a duel. The Federalists would never regain the White House.
