federalists [banking/trading interests] wanted a strong central government.
jefferson supposedly opposed this w/ the repubs, as k.m notes, and he appealed to the virtuous farmers and, so the grade school story goes, to the debtors who were opposed to the bankers. they then became known as democratic-repubs with jefferson's election.
later, tho, the republicans split off with the election of jackson because they rejected populist democratization of the political system and sought a strong legislature, fearing a strong popularly elected president. [electorial college wasn't enough i guess?]
as i recall wasn't this the era when property requirements were being attacked and workers/trade unions were calling for the citizenship rights by demanding more free time with a shorter workday? my memory is that was the 1830s, wondered if anyone had more info on that era of labor history.
anyway, the republicans joined forces with the federalist who were now calling themselves whigs and did look to britain as their model. so it was largely democrats v. whigs between 1830s and 1850s. but this was when liberals first came into their own in britain too, so the appeal to whigs i've always found interesting tho don't know enought about the intricate details.... but both parties were ripped apart during the pre-civil war electoral battles because neither could reach party consensus on the issue of extending slavery to the western states--which was ultimately an economic issue of course.
see, here the issue is a difference over how strong federal power was to be and, of course, what class interests these parties backed. the peculiarity in the US i think is largely due to this rejection of monarchial authority and inherited status yet a fear of popular democracy. the proliferation of congregations with the second great awakening [1840s] combined with rejection of religious authority also meant that parties weren't strongly tied to religious bases.
also, i found this in the summer home of a friend's elderly aunt who i'm certain never threw anything out. a treasure trove for the genealogist, local historian that's for sure. she had every life magazine going back to lord knows! she and her husband were true blue Democrats so i'm imagining that ole Georgia got a chuckle out of this for she had it taped to her mirror.... i'm really curious if anyone would ever pose the differences between the two parties this way anymore. particularly wrt #9??
How to tell Democrats from Republicans [1975]
1. Democrats protest the banning of books. Republicans form censorship committees and read them as a group.
2. Republicans consume three-fourths of all rutabagas produced in the US. The remainder is thrown out. [don't get that one, cultural ref???]
3. Republicans usually wear hats and clean their paint brushes.
4. Democrats give their worn-out clothes to those less fortunate. Republicans wear theirs.
5. Republicans employ exterminators. Democrats step on the bugs.
6. Democrats name their children after popular sports figures and entertainers. Republican children are named after their parents or grandparents, according to where the most money is.
7. Democrats keep trying to cut down on smoking but aren't successful. Neither are Republicans.
8. Republicans tend to keep their shades drawn, although there is seldom any reason why they should. Democrats ought to, but don't.
9.Republicans study the financial pages of the newspaper. Democrats put them in the bottom of the bird cage.
10. Most of the stuff you see alongside the road has been thrown out of the car window by Democrats.
11. Republicans raise dahlias, Dalmations, and eyebrows. Democrats raise Airedales, kids, and taxes.
12. Democrats eat the fish they catch. Republicans hang them on the wall.
13. Democrats make up plans and then do something else. Republicans follow the plans their grandfathers made.
15. Republicans sleep in twin beds--some even in separate rooms. That is why there are more Democrats.
>The names of our main political parties date from the first half of the 19th
>century.
>The Democratic Party was originally called the Republican Party when it was
>started by Thomas Jefferson & friends ca.1792 at which time the name
referred
>to the party's anti-monarchist sentiments. The party became known as
>the"Democratic Party" during the 1830's
>when led by Andrew Jackson, the first "plebian" to be elected president, and
>has been so called until the present. The "other" party in Jefferson''s
time
>was the Federalist Party led by Alexander Hamilton, among others. This
>party eventually declined,to be replaced by the Whig Party, which then
split
>over the slavery issue. The present Republican Party was founded in the
>early 1850s, chosing its name partly to appeal to some aspects of the
earlier
>Jeffersonian tradition. Because of the party's anti-slavery position it was
>established only in the northern states which was enough of an electoral
base
>to win the 1860 election for Lincoln. The later history of the party is,
over
>the long term, rather unedifying. (The same could be said about the other
>party, too.) But as to the names of the parties, the answer to your question
>is that they have no relationship to the names of modern European or
>Australian parties.
>K. M.
>
>