The Democratic-Republican Party, is the name used by political scientists to describe the political Party organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1791. People at the time (and historians) call it the Republican Party. Historians also use the term Jeffersonian republicans. The organization formed, first as an "Anti-Administration" secret meeting in Philadelphia, P.A. to contest elections and oppose the programs of Secretary for the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson needed to have a nationwide party to counteract the Federalists, a nationwide party organized by Hamilton. Foreign affairs took a leading role in 1795 as the Republicans opposed the Jay Treaty with Britain, which was then at war with France. Republicans saw the France as more democratic after its revolution, while