Question

what is the difference between republicans and democrats in the early 1800's?

Answer 1

federalism and anti-federalism

Answer 2

Technically speaking, Republicans and Democrats didn't exist in the way we'd understand it today. In fact, Democrats & Republicans were one party (the Democrat-Republicans), led by Thomas Jefferson & James Madison.

Here's how it breaks down. The first political party was the Federalist Party, which was nominally led by George Washington, but which really was led by John Adams. Anti-Federalists were those folks, like Patrick Henry (of "Give me liberty or give me death" fame) who were opposed to replacing the Articles of Confederation (America's first stab at a Constitution) with the actual Constitution.

Federalists were big believers in a strong central government, at least by the standards of the 1790s & 1800s, mostly focusing on trade and general infrastructure improvements. Democrat-Republicans (the ancestors of today's Democrats) believed in a weak central government, and thought that the government should concentrate on supporting farmers, rather than financiers and tradesmen.

In reality, what distinguished both parties was less ideology (concrete beliefs about what government should do) and more *regionalism*: Federalists were overwhelmingly from New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, while Democrat-Republicans hailed from the South, notably Virginia.

With the onset of the War of 1812, Federalists lapsed into oblivion (since they tended to sympathise with Great Britain). The Democrat-Republicans ended up governing without opposition from 1816 to 1824 (the Era of Good Feeling), and dropping the word Republican from their name. In 1824, they split 4 ways, which led to the election of John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson. Jackson defeated Adams 4 years later, thus inaugurating the modern Democratic Party as we know it, in a manner of speaking.

The Republicans, as we know them, didn't come along until 1854, fuelled by the remnants of the Whigs and various anti-slavery parties.

And there's your essay, or whatever. :-). You're welcome.

Answer 3

federalism anti federalism