What was Jefferson's meaning behind the words, "We are all republicans- we are all federalists"?

Question

what does it mean?

Answer 1

Take a look at the immediate context:

"But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans--we are all federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth."

read the rest here --it's brief, not to mention eloquent
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/11.htm

One KEY detail to note -- the version above is based on Jefferson's own HANDWRITTEN version, in which he wrote "republicans" and "federalists" -- just as you have cited it. But the PRINTER mistakenly capitalized the two words, suggesting they were direct references to the two political parties. They were not.

That does not mean the address is not seeking to conciliate, but it is NOT specifically saying the Jefferson embraces the platform and policies of the Federalist Party. Rather he is talking about "shared principles" or "shared concerns". Though the two parties may differ about how these principles should be enacted, they SHOULD recognize that the other party is, like itself, committed to their republican form of government and the federal bond between the states.

Period scholar Joseph Ellis points out the printer's error and how it has led to misunderstanding in his book on Jefferson (*American Sphinx*). In the midst of his explanation Ellis writes:

"By capitalizing the operative terms [Republican and Federalist], the printed version had Jefferson making a gracious statement about the overlapping goals of the two political parties. But in the handwritten version of the speech that Jefferson delivered, the key words were not capitalized. Jefferson was therefore referring not to the common ground shared by the two parties but to the common belief, shared by all American citizens, that a republican form of government and a federal bond among the states were most preferable." (p. 216)

Answer 2

It's a ploy the bosses of the Right Wing Hate-Media Propaganda Machine are copying from Goebbels, Hitler's hate-media boss. It's the Red Herring combined w/ the Big Lie: keep bleating a word like socialism, which to the conserv Deliverance Base is "foreign sounding," to distract people from the huge loss in economic status they suffered under the GOP. The pillars of r.w hate media are just like Goebbels': The Big Lie, The Scapegoat, The Red Herring.

Answer 3

Jefferson's quote "We are all Federalists, we are all Republicans" attempted to minimize the political and ideological differences between the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists in order to calm the passion and hatred that the bitter campaign of 1800 had aroused. He assured Federalists that even after the "Revolution of 1800" his policies would not be radically different from what the Federalists proposed prior to his election.

Answer 4

~It means he was a liar and a hypocrite. If he meant it, he would have given the commissions to Adams' midnight justices and thereby have avoided the constitutional crisis of Marbury v Madison and the near collapse of the government..