Although I know your track record, I still did not want to accept your statement until I read it in Jefferson's own words.
To George Washington from Thomas Jefferson, 23 May 1792
I this letter just after George Washington announced his retirement he referred to the republican party several times. It was in lower case as probably there was not an incorporation at that time but the lines were already drawn and of course he would have used the name that fits the definition of what our government actually is.
Thanks for the redirect. Oh, and this is a good read on the early financial issues as Thomas Jefferson saw it of our young republic.
At the time Jefferson wrote that letter, there was a "federalist party" and a "republican party" -- all lowercase -- because these were the names of the factions in the Cabinet and Congress. Had Hamilton or Jefferson attempted to form an actual political party in the British mold, Washington would have been forced to stifle his impulse to go to the stables, procure the stoutest horsewhip and apply it liberally to the backsides of both men. Washington was deadly serious when he spoke of "the baneful effects of political parties."
The letter captures a time when the factions still behaved with some sense of decorum. That would end with Washington's funeral.