Tertium quids
Encyclopedia
The tertium quids refers to various factions of the American Democratic-Republican Party during the period 1804–1812. In Latin, tertium quid
Tertium quid
Tertium quid refers to an unidentified third element that is in combination with two known ones. The phrase is associated with alchemy. It is Latin for "third thing", a translation of the Greek tríton ti . The Greek phrase was used by Plato , and by Irenæus...

means "a third something". Quid was a disparaging term that referred to cross-party coalitions of Federalists
Federalist Party (United States)
The Federalist Party was the first American political party, from the early 1790s to 1816, the era of the First Party System, with remnants lasting into the 1820s. The Federalists controlled the federal government until 1801...

 and moderate Democratic-Republicans.

Pennsylvania

Between 1801 and 1806 rival factions of Jeffersonian Republicans in Philadelphia engaged in intense public debate and vigorous political competition that pitted radical democrats against moderates who defended the traditional rights of the propertied classes. The radicals, led by William Duane
William Duane
William Duane is the name of:* William John Duane, Secretary of the Treasury under Jackson* William Duane , American physicist...

, publisher of the Jeffersonian Aurora, agitated for legislative reforms that would increase popular representation and the power of the poor and laboring classes. Moderates successfully outmaneuvered their radical opponents and kept the Pennsylvania legislature friendly to emergent liberal capitalism. The term was first used in 1804, referring to the moderates, especially a faction of the Republican party calling itself "the Society of Constitutional Republicans." They gathered Federalist support and in 1805 re-elected Governor Thomas McKean
Thomas McKean
Thomas McKean was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the American Revolution he was a delegate to the Continental Congress where he signed the United States Declaration of Independence and the Articles of...

, who had been elected by a united Republican party in 1802 but had broken with the majority wing of the party.

New York

In New York state the term was applied to the Republican faction that remained loyal to Governor Morgan Lewis
Morgan Lewis
Morgan Lewis may refer to:*Morgan Lewis , Governor of New York State, U.S.A.*Morgan Lewis *Morganics, hip hop artist Morgan Lewis-See also:*Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, law firm*Lewis Morgan...

 after he was repudiated by the Republican majority led by DeWitt Clinton
DeWitt Clinton
DeWitt Clinton was an early American politician and naturalist who served as United States Senator and the sixth Governor of New York. In this last capacity he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal...

. The New York and Pennsylvania "quid" factions had no connection with one other at the federal level; both supported President Thomas Jefferson.

Virginia

When Virginia
History of Virginia
The history of Virginia began with settlement of the geographic region now known as the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States thousands of years ago by Native Americans. Permanent European settlement began with the establishment of Jamestown in 1607, by English colonists. As tobacco emerged...

 Congressman John Randolph of Roanoke
John Randolph of Roanoke
John Randolph , known as John Randolph of Roanoke, was a planter and a Congressman from Virginia, serving in the House of Representatives , the Senate , and also as Minister to Russia...

 broke with Jefferson and James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...

 in 1806, his Congressional faction was called "quids". Randolph was the leader of the "Old Republican" faction that insisted on strict adherence to the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...

 and opposed any innovations. He summarized Old Republican principles as: "love of peace, hatred of offensive war, jealousy of the state governments toward the general government; a dread of standing armies; a loathing of public debts, taxes, and excises; tenderness for the liberty of the citizen; jealousy, Argus
Argus Panoptes
In Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes or Argos, guardian of the heifer-nymph Io and son of Arestor, was a primordial giant whose epithet "Panoptes", "all-seeing", led to his being described with multiple, often one hundred, eyes. The epithet Panoptes was applied to the Titan of the Sun, Helios, and...

-eyed jealousy of the patronage of the President."

Randolph made no effort to align with either quid faction in the states and made no effort to build a third party at the federal level. He supported James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...

 against Madison during the runup to the presidential election of 1808, but the state quids supported Madison. They were led by Randolph, who had started as Jefferson's leader in the House and became his bitterest enemy. Randolph denounced the Yazoo Purchase
Yazoo land scandal
The Yazoo land scandal, Yazoo fraud, Yazoo land fraud, or Yazoo land controversy was a massive fraud perpetrated from 1794 to 1803 by several Georgia governors and the state legislature. They sold large tracts of land in what is now the state of Mississippi to political insiders at very low prices...

 compromise of 1804 as totally corrupt. After Randolph failed in the impeachment of a Supreme Court justice in 1805, he became embittered with Jefferson and Madison, complaining, "Everything and everybody seem to be jumbled out of place, except a few men who are steeped in supine indifference, whilst meddling fools and designing knaves are governing the country." He refused to help fund Jefferson's secret purchase of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Increasingly, Randolph felt that Jefferson was adopting Federalist policies and betraying the true party spirit. He wrote to an ally in 1806 that "the Administration....favors federal principles, and, with the exception of a few great rival characters, federal men.... The old Republican party is already ruined, past redemption. New men and new maxims are the order of the day." Randolph's increasingly strident rhetoric limited his influence, and he was never able to build a coalition to stop Jefferson. However, many of his supporters lived on and, by 1824, looked to Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

to resurrect what they called "Old Republicanism".

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