Democratic Party (United States)

=== Background ===
[[File:Andrew jackson head.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Andrew Jackson]] was the seventh president (1829–1837) and the first Democratic president.]]
The Democratic Party evolved from the [[Jeffersonian Republican]] or [[Democratic-Republican Party]] organized by Jefferson and Madison in opposition to the Federalist Party.<ref>{{cite book|last=Berman|first=Jay|title=The Democratic Party: Evolution and America's Longing for a Lasting Majority|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2012|page=8}}</ref> The Democratic-Republican Party favored [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]]; a weak [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]]; [[states' rights]]; agrarian interests (especially Southern planters); and strict adherence to the Constitution. The party opposed a national bank and [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]].<ref>James Roger Sharp, ''American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis'' (1993).</ref> After the [[War of 1812]], the Federalists virtually disappeared and the only national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans, which was prone to splinter along regional lines.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Republic Since 1877, Student Edition|publisher=McGraw-Hill Education|year=2006|page=193}}</ref> The era of one-party rule in the United States, known as the [[Era of Good Feelings]], lasted from 1816 until 1828, when Andrew Jackson became president. Jackson and Martin Van Buren worked with allies in each state to form a new Democratic Party on a national basis. In the 1830s, the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] coalesced into the main rival to the Democrats.

Before 1860, the Democratic Party supported [[Unitary executive theory|expansive presidential power]],<ref name="Holt-1992" /> [[Slave Power|the interests]] of [[Slave states and free states|slave states]],<ref name="Bates-2015" /> [[agrarianism]],<ref name="EB-2023" /> and [[expansionism]],<ref name="EB-2023" /> while opposing [[Bank War|a national bank]] and high [[tariff]]s.<ref name="EB-2023" />