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The origin of the term "Republican" goes back to the time of Thomas Jefferson and was tied in with the use of the term "Democrat." But the term was not used to refer to one of the modern political parties until 1854.
Originally, "republican" was a vague, neutral term, because the Constitution had guaranteed each state "a republican form of government." In his first inaugural address in 1801, Jefferson said, "We are all Federalists; we are all Republicans." On the other hand, since the Federalist Party (the party of President John Adams) had been accused of being aristocratic, "Democrat" was offered as the opposing term.
However, many people objected to being called "Democrats" because the word brought up visions of mob rule in Revolutionary France. Thus, the Federalists used the term "Democrat" in a derisive and negative sense to throw at their "Republican" rivals. Jefferson's followers therefore preferred to be called Republicans, although the official name of his party was "Democrat-Republican."
With the decline of the Federalists, political affiliations became a matter of personalities rather than parties. It must have been especially confusing to voters in 1824, when all four candidates for President were members of the Republican Party. When Andrew Jackson won the election four years later, his wing of the party decided to end all the confusion and reintroduce "Democrat" as a partisan label |