Editing Tertium quids

{{Short description|Various dissident factions in the 19th-century Democratic-Republican Party}}
{{About|the American political movement|the Latin term for "unidentified third item"|tertium quid}}
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode     = {{party color|Tertium quids}}
| name          = Old Republicans
| leader1_title = Leaders
| leader1_name  = [[Morgan Lewis (governor)|Morgan Lewis]]<br />[[John Randolph of Roanoke|John Randolph]]<br />[[John Taylor of Caroline|John Taylor]]<br />[[Nathaniel Macon]]
| foundation    = {{c.}}{{start date and age|1801}}
| dissolution   = {{c.}}{{end date and age|1828}}
| merged        = [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian Democrats]]
| ideology      = [[Anti-corruption]]<br />[[American imperialism|Anti-expansionism]]<br />[[Classical liberalism]]<br />[[Jeffersonian Democracy|Jeffersonianism]]<br />[[Republicanism in the United States|Republicanism]]
| position      =
| national      = [[Democratic-Republican Party]]
| country       = the United States
}}
The '''tertium quids''' (sometimes shortened to '''quids''') were various [[Political faction|factions]] of the [[Jeffersonian Republican Party]] in the [[United States]] during the early 1800s, which gradually faded into political obscurity by the 1820s.

In [[Latin]], ''[[tertium quid]]'' means "a third something". Initially, ''quid'' was a disparaging term that referred to cross-party coalitions of [[Federalist Party|Federalists]] and moderate [[Jeffersonian Republican Party|Republicans]], such as those who supported the election of [[Thomas McKean]] as governor of Pennsylvania in 1805. However, by the 1810s, the term would more famously be used to refer to the radical faction of the [[Jeffersonian Republican Party|Republican Party]]. The group, which was also called the '''Old Republicans''', was more strongly opposed to the Federalist Party's policies than was the [[National Republican Party|emerging moderate leadership]] of the [[Jeffersonian Republican Party|Republican Party]].

== Pennsylvania ==
Between 1801 and 1806, rival factions of Jeffersonian Republicans in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], engaged in intense public debate and vigorous political competition, which pitted radical Democrats against moderate ones, who defended the traditional rights of the propertied classes. The radicals, led by [[William John Duane|William Duane]], the publisher of the Jeffersonian ''Aurora'', agitated for legislative reforms that would increase popular representation and the power of the poor and the laboring classes. The moderates successfully outmaneuvered their opponents and kept the [[Pennsylvania legislature]] friendly to the emerging [[liberal capitalism]].

The term "tertium quids" was first used in 1804 to refer to the moderates, especially a faction of the Republican Party that called itself the Society of Constitutional Republicans.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Society of Constitutional Republicans. Those citizens who are in favour of the proposition for forming "The Society of Constitutional Republicans." are requested to meet at the White-Horse Tavern, in Market-Street, at 6 o'clock of the evenin|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.15001600/|access-date=2021-06-23|website=Library of Congress}}</ref> The faction gathered Federalist support and in [[1805 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election|1805]] re-elected Governor [[Thomas McKean]], who had been elected by a united Republican Party in 1802 but had broken with the party's majority wing.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Shankman |first= Andrew |date= Spring 1999 |title= Malcontents and Tertium Quids: The Battle to Define Democracy in Jeffersonian Philadelphia |journal= Journal of the Early Republic |volume=19 |number= 1 |pages= 43–72 |jstor= 3124922 |doi= 10.2307/3124922}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last= Phillips |first= Kim T. |title= William Duane, Philadelphia's Democratic Republicans, and the Origins of Modern Politics |journal= Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |date= 1977 |pages= 365–387 |url= http://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/view/43363/43084}}</ref>

== New York State ==
In [[New York State]], the term was applied to the faction of the Republican Party that remained loyal to Governor [[Morgan Lewis (governor)|Morgan Lewis]] after he had been repudiated by the party's majority, which was led by [[DeWitt Clinton]].

The New York State and the Pennsylvania Quid factions had no connection with each other at the federal level, and both of them supported US President [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>Junius P. Rodriguez, ed. (2002). ''The Louisiana Purchase: A Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia''.</ref>

== Virginia ==

{{Confusing section|date=December 2020}}

[[File:John Wesley Jarvis - John Randolph - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Virginia Representative [[John Randolph of Roanoke|John Randolph]] was the leader of the Quid faction of the [[Democratic-Republican Party]].]]

When [[Virginia]] Representative [[John Randolph of Roanoke]] broke with Jefferson and [[James Madison]] in 1806, his faction was called the "Quids". Randolph was the leader of the Old Republican faction, which insisted on strict adherence to the [[US Constitution]]. 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 army|standing armies]]; a loathing of public debts, taxes, and excises; tenderness for the liberty of the citizen; jealousy, [[Argus Panoptes|Argus]]-eyed jealousy of the [[Patronage#Politics|patronage]] of the President"<ref>McCarthy, Daniel (August 1, 2005). [http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/aug/01/00030/ "Liberty and Order in the Slave Society"]. ''[[The American Conservative]]''</ref>

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]] against Madison during the runup to the presidential election of 1808. However, the state Quids supported Madison and were led by Randolph, who had started as Jefferson's leader in the House but later became his most bitter enemy. Randolph denounced the compromise on the [[Yazoo land scandal|Yazoo Purchase]] in 1804 as totally corrupt. After Randolph failed to impeach a Supreme Court justice in 1805, he became embittered with Jefferson and Madison and complained: "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."{{sfnp|Risjord|1965|page=42}} He refused to help fund Jefferson's secret purchase of [[Florida]] from [[Spain]].

Increasingly, Randolph felt that Jefferson was adopting Federalist policies and betraying the true party spirit. In 1806, he wrote to an ally 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."{{sfnp|Risjord|1965|page=42}}

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, had looked to [[Andrew Jackson]] to resurrect what they called "Old Republicanism".

== See also ==
* [[Agrarianism]]
* [[American gentry]]
* [[Anti-Federalism]]
* [[Classical liberalism]]
* [[Classical republicanism]]
* [[Democratic-Republican Party]]
* [[First Party System]]
* [[Jacksonian democracy]]
* [[Jeffersonian democracy]]

== References ==
<references/>
* {{cite journal |last= Cunningham Jr. |first= Noble E. |date= September 1963 |title= Who Were the Quids? |journal=The Mississippi Valley Historical Review |volume= 50 |number= 2 |pages= 252–263 |jstor= 1902756 |doi= 10.2307/1902756 }}
* {{cite book|last= Risjord |first= Norman K. |title= The Old Republicans: Southern Conservatism in the Age of Jefferson |date= 1965 }} The standard history of the Randolph faction.
* {{cite book|last1= Sheldon |first1= Garrett Ward |last2= Hill Jr. |first2= C. William |date=2008 |title= The Liberal Republicanism of John Taylor of Caroline}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.tertiumquids.org/ Tertium Quids – Modern Virginia political advocacy organization]

{{Democratic-Republican Party}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tertium Quids}}
[[Category:Political party factions in the United States]]
[[Category:Conservatism in the United States]]
[[Category:Centrism in the United States]]