Facts : 1 Presidential elections of 1792 and 1796 The elections of 1792 were the first ones to be contested on anything resembling a partisan basis
Facts : 2 In most states the congressional elections were recognized, as Jefferson strategist John Beckley put it, as a struggle between the Treasury department and the republican interest
Facts : 3 In New York, the candidates for governor were John Jay, a Federalist, and incumbent George Clinton, who was allied with Jefferson and the Republicans
Facts : 4 Four states electors voted for Clinton and one (Kentucky) for Jefferson for Vice President in opposition to incumbent John Adams as well as casting their votes for President Washington
Facts : 5 (Before 1804 electors cast two votes together without differentiation as to which office was to be filled by which candidate.) In the 1796 election, the party made its first bid for the presidency with Jefferson as its presidential candidate and Aaron Burr as its vice presidential candidate
Facts : 6 Jefferson came in second in the electoral college (at the time, its balloting could not distinguish between president and vice president) and became vice president
Facts : 7 He would become a consistent and strong opponent of the policies of the John Adams administration
Facts : 8 Jefferson and Madison were deeply upset by the unconstitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798; they secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which called on state legislatures to nullify unconstitutional laws
Facts : 9 The other states, however, did not follow suit and several rejected the notion that states could nullify federal law
Facts : 10 The Republican critique of federalism became wrapped in the slogan of Principles of 1798 , which became the hallmark of the party
Facts : 11 The most important of these principles were states rights, opposition to a strong national government, distrust of the federal courts, and opposition to the navy and the national bank
Facts : 12 The party saw itself as a champion of republicanism and denounced the Federalists as supporters of monarchy and aristocracy
Facts : 13 The party coalesced around Jefferson, who diligently maintained extensive correspondence with like-minded Republican leaders throughout the country
Facts : 14 Washington frequently decried the growing sense of party emerging from the internal battles among Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Adams and others in his administration
Facts : 15 As warfare in Europe increased, the