The Democratic-Republican Party of the United States, independent in 1776 constructed their identity on rural, environmental values, with nature seen as beneficial for humanity. Their Federalist opponents, in contrast, promoted urban commerce. The Democratic Party (United States) used such agrarian sentiments to dominate the country's politics in the first half of the 19th century, though they did not prevent the coming of the industrial revolution. They saw Europe and its industrial cities negatively. Jobs in the city attract migrants, creating poor workers and forming potential hotbeds of revolution.