What is the Democratic Party vs the Grand Old Party

The platforms of the parties were developed at very different times in the history of this Republic. When Jefferson developed the basis of the Democrat-Republican party, we had just begun to practice what the Founders had set in concrete, the Constitution of the United States. At that time, the opposition party was the Federalist Party. Some referred to it as the Tory Party and so it began.

Jefferson’s approach was comprehensive, as it was his world view, having served in ambassadorial functions before he served as president. If one reads the three documents referenced here, one will see that the parties evolved in each case. The Federalist Party simply disappeared and fragmented into other political parties, serving more narrow interests.

When Andrew Jackson entered the scene, it was largely due to his prominence as a Major General in the War of 1812. The Democrat-Republican party split due to Jackson. Adherents to the Jacksonian party considered themselves Jacksonian Democrats but the others remained true to Jefferson’s Democrat-Republican party philosophy and principles. Jackson was a little rough around the edges, raised in the area around old Rowan County, NC, on dirt floors. His education was sporadic. He did study law, under the old tutorial system and ended up practicing law in Tennessee. He was considered a scalawag and scoundrel by his detractors but a war hero to others. He was self-described as a Democrat for the common man. I ran across Jackson in my study of my own family history. He and my 3^rd G-Grandfather were born 7 years apart in what became Statesville, Iredell County, NC, carved from the original Rowan County, NC. At that time, there were only about 100 families, largely a Presbyterian settlement. It would have been impossible for the two to be unfamiliar with one another, all things consider. I have a map of the settlement, showing the relationship of the families. They were the creators of the Fourth Creek Presbyterian Church. My 4^th G-Grandfather is buried there as his brother, Mussendine Matthews. It appears we all headed to Tennessee in c. 1800 +/-. Jackson served as the first Representative of Tennessee in the US Congress.

I registered as a Democrat in 1970. I was a self-described Jeffersonian Democrat and it can be said that I remain just that. However, on September 24^th, 2018, I split from that party and registered otherwise. In short, that was due to the fact that Jefferson no longer has a place in today’s Democratic Party. Thus, it can be said, and accurately so, that I no longer have a place in that party.

When I look to the parties now, I still look to the original platforms of the parties to determine my place. I also look to the Constitution for my place in each. I am a strong adherent to one statement by Thomas Jefferson:  “On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed”. To do otherwise is a mockery to those Founders. These Democrats of today look to spurious Case Law. Most law schools, especially on the east coast, do not even study Constitutional Law. They study Case Law. Cave Dwellers they are. This Democratic Party are enemies of the Principles of Jefferson. Thus, they are enemies of mine. In fact, there is no Democratic Party. It disappeared, just as did the Federalist Party.

I go where Jefferson goes, wherever that might be. In my opinion, Jefferson now resides in the wing of the GOP which was the old Democrat-Republican party. I will precede a description of the original parties with this synopsis, in my own opinion.