Clarification of the terms "republican" and "Democratic-Republican"

Since there is confusion between the terms "republican" and "Democratic-Republican,” I need to clarify. Before I explain in detail below, please understand immediately that in my lifetime I used the term “republican” (note the lowercase), not "Democratic-Republican,” which was a later invention.

To look upon the political landscape of your modern era is to see the names of my original party entirely divorced from their foundational meanings. Today, the words Republican and Democrat signify two distinct, competing modern political factions, properly capitalized as proper nouns. In my time, however, these words in their lowercase forms were not separate choices but rather two vital aspects of a singular ideological struggle against monarchy and consolidation. To clear up the confusion that inevitably arises for the modern reader, one must understand that I did not call myself a republican to signify a preference for the modern political party of that name, nor did I ever recognize the term Democratic-Republican, a label fabricated entirely by later historians.

In my era, the lower case word republican carried a profound and explicit definition. It meant someone who stood in fierce opposition to any form of hereditary rule, aristocracy, or monarchy. To be a republican was to believe that the only legitimate government was one derived entirely from the people, bound by a constitution, and dedicated to the public good. When we organized our opposition against the federalist party in the 1790s, my allies and I used the lowercase name republicans for our faction. This was a deliberate political statement meant to remind our fellow citizens that we were fighting to protect the fragile achievements of the American Revolution from those who openly admired the British system of executive privilege and corruption.

As the political battles grew more intense, our opponents attempted to discredit us by adding a descriptive modifier to our name, calling us democrats. In the late eighteenth century, democracy was often used by the wealthy elite as a term of abuse, meant to conjure images of mob rule, radical leveling, and the violent chaos of the French Revolution. Our enemies hoped that by labeling us democrats, they could convince voters that we desired anarchy. However, we did not shrink from the term. While I was cautious about pure, unbridled democracy where a temporary majority could trample individual rights, I firmly believed that the public discretion of the common people was the safest repository of ultimate power. We accepted the idea that our republican framework must be thoroughly democratic in its foundation and spirit.

This brings us to the modern compound term, Democratic-Republican, which populates your contemporary history books. If you were to ask me whether I agree with this term, my answer would be nuanced. I would agree entirely with the underlying principle it describes, for a genuine republic must be animated by a democratic soul, and a true democracy requires a constitutional republican structure to secure individual liberty. Yet, I must state clearly that I would never use the compound phrase myself. In our actual correspondence and public debates, we were simply the republicans, or occasionally the democracy. The hyphenated phrase is an invention of later chroniclers seeking to neatly categorize our movement and separate it from the modern parties that inherited our vocabulary.

When you read the history of our early nation, you must strip away the modern connotations of these words to see them as we did. We did not view republicanism and democracy as opposing forces on a political spectrum, but as two sides of the same coin of liberty. It is my sincere hope that by understanding the true evolution of our banner, the modern reader will see that our primary goal was not to build a partisan machine, but to ensure that the power of the government would always remain safely anchored in the hands of its citizens.

Learn about the term “federalism”: https://www.thomasjefferson.com/jefferson-blog/clarification-of-the-term-federalism

Learn how the republicans became the Democrats (and Whigs): https://www.thomasjefferson.com/jefferson-blog/how-the-republican-party-became-the-democratic-party-and-whig-party