Democratic-Republican Societies were local political organizations formed in the United States in 1793 and 1794 to promote republicanism and democracy and to fight aristocratic tendencies.
Philadelphia was then the national capital, and soon, an English-speaking society was formed in the city by David Rittenhouse, Charles Biddle (a prominent Quaker merchant), Dr. George Logan, and Alexander J. Dallas.
As foreign affairs became dominant issues of the day, members of such groups opposed the British, rallied behind Jefferson, and proclaimed their friendship with the revolutionary French Republic.
In the western states, members of the societies agitated against the British for holding the frontier posts and against the Spanish for closing the Mississippi River.
They complained about secret sessions of Congress and the state legislatures and demanded that public officials abandon the use of "dark, intricate, antiquated formalities" and "obsolete phraseology," which only lawyers and classical scholars could understand.
The Society of Newcastle, Delaware, stated, "If we consult the lamentable annals of mankind, and cast our eyes back over the historic page we shall find this solemn truth recorded in large characters; that all governments however free in their origin, have in the end degenerated into despotism."
The societies adhered to Jeffersonian thought and believed that the infant nation was fragile and needed careful protection by a vigilant population.
Tunis Wortman, secretary of the Democratic Society of New York, stated, “It is a truth too evident to be disguised, that since the completion and final establishment of our revolution, the flame of liberty has burned less bright, and become less universal in its operation.
The charms of wealth, the allurements of luxury, the thirst for gain and the ruinous system of speculation, have borne down like the irresistible flood upon us, and have threatened destruction to the most valuable elements of social life:-the desire of affluence and the love of ease, have absorbed every honorable and patriotic consideration; have rendered us supine and indolent, and have nearly banished from our minds the sentiment of public virtue, destroyed the ardor of liberty, and diminished our attachment to the sacred interests of our country.”[3] The societies preached equal justice and a general diffusion of knowledge as essential "pillars supporting the sacred temple of liberty."
A primary purpose of the societies was to disseminate political information, as their members believed ignorance to be the greatest threat to democracy.
"To support and perpetuate the EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN" was the New York society's "great object," and toward that end, it would "constantly express our sentiments."
James McFarlane, chairman of the Society of United Freemen, was killed while he was trying to force Neville's resignation, an event that triggered the Whiskey Rebellion.