The Democratic Republicans were almost always characterized as believing in following the strict construction of the constitution. They were opposed to the loose interpretation the Federalists used. The presidencies of Jefferson and Madison proved this characterization to be somewhat accurate. It is true that both Jefferson and Madison supported the ideas of the Democratic Rebublicans but, they also did many things that contradicted them.
In Thomas Jefferson's letter to Gideon Granger, Jefferson shows his ideas on how the Constitution should be interpreted and how they oppose that of the Federalists. Jefferson tells Granger that he believes they will be able to obtain a legislature which will preserve states rights. He also states that he disagrees with the Federalists ideas, that would "sink the state governments, consolidate them into one, and monarchise that." He also shows in this letter that he believes the theory of the Constitution is that the states should be in control of everything internal, and the central government should have control only of that which deals with foreign nations. In Jefferson's letter to Samuel Mill
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