[BroJoeK]

FLT-bird: "Thomas Jefferson of course did not found the Democrat Party.
That would be Andrew Jackson in 1828.
Jefferson had founded the Democratic-Republicans a generation earlier."

They were the same thing, same people, same ideas:

1. In 1788, Thomas Jefferson's faction / party began as anti-Federalists, opposed to ratifying the new Constitution.

2. In 1789, previous anti-Federalists coalesced around Thomas Jefferson to form the new anti-Administration faction / party.

3. In 1792, Jefferson's anti-Administration faction began calling themselves a "party" though originally with no consistent name.
   Jefferson called himself a small-r republican, but his Federalist opponents saw him as:
   "The Federalists called Jefferson’s faction the Democratic-Republican Party in an attempt to identify it with the disorder spawned by the “radical democrats” of the French Revolution of 1789."

   "Although the Federalists soon branded Jefferson’s followers “Democratic-Republicans,” attempting to link them with the excesses of the French Revolution, the Republicans officially adopted the derisive label in 1798.
   The Republican coalition supported France in the European war that broke out in 1792, while the Federalists supported Britain (see French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars)."

   "... the opposing Federalist Party, whose members supported a strong federal government, mocked Jefferson’s party as the “Democratic–Republican Party” in reference to the “democratic” radicals of the French Revolution.
   After losing the election of 1796, Jefferson’s party would officially take the name of the Democratic–Republican Party."

4. 1798, Jeffersonians liked that word "Democratic", so they kept it and usually dropped "Republican":
   "Historians use the term "Democratic-Republican" to describe these new organizations, but that name was rarely used at the time.
   They usually called themselves "Democratic," "Republican," "True Republican," "Constitutional," "United Freeman," "Patriotic," "Political," "Franklin," or "Madisonian."[26"

   In fact, those True Republicans or Old Republicans were a distinct group separate from Jeffersonian "Democratics".
   The Old Republicans of Jefferson's time remained strict constructionists of the Constitution and so opposed, for example, to Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase.
   Old Republicans were led by men like Virginia's John Randolf.

   Jeffersonians called themselves "Democratics" and, sometimes, "The Democracy".

5. 1814, when the Federalist Party weakened & collapsed, Democratics ruled as a one-party state for several years, until people who had been Federalists broke away to form the National Republicans in 1824, becoming the Whigs in 1834.

6. 1834, at the same time that Federalists were renamed as Whigs, Jeffersonian Democratics became Jacksonian Democratics.
   It was the same people, same policies, same name, same party.

In summary:

• 1788 anti-Federalists opposed Constitution, later became
• 1791 Jeffersonian anti-Administration faction, opposed Pres. Washington, later became
• 1792 Jeffersonian Democratics, opposed to Hamilton, later became
• 1834 Jacksonian Democratics, aka "The Democracy", opposed to Whigs, then Republicans.

The term "Democratic Republicans" is a name applied today by historians.
It was not generally used at the time by Jeffersonians.

[FLT-bird]

They were the same thing, same people, same ideas:

They were not

It was the same people, same policies, same name, same party.

No, it wasn't. Parties and politics in the early Republic had been topsy turvy. Parties had not solidified as they later did and were known by various names. Factions within parties shifted more frequently. By 1828, the political issues were quite different to those of 30 years earlier and of course the coalitions had shifted about. The Democrat Party of 1828 was not the same as the Democratic Republicans of 1798.

In summary: The term "Democratic Republicans" is a name applied today by historians.

Yes I'm well aware of that but it is a good general catch all term historians have used to describe Jefferson's party.