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THE POLITICAL OPINIONS OF 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
THE 
 
 POLITICAL OPINIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 AN ESSAY BY 
 
 JOHN WALTER WAY LAND, B.A., Ph.D. 
 
 assistant and fellow in history, university of 
 vihoinia; authok oi "tiik i.khman ele- 
 ment OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY 
 OF VIRGINIA," ETC. 
 
 With an Introduction by 
 RICHARD HEATH DABNEY, M. A., Ph. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNJVEKSITY OF VIRGINIA; 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE CAUSES OF Jill 
 
 FRENCH REVOLUTION," ETC. 
 
 New York and Washington 
 THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 1907 
 
Tttl\3 
 
 library of coNShEss, 
 
 Two Copies Receded 
 
 NOV 21 190/ 
 
 C»pyrl£ht Entry 
 CLASS A xXc, No 7 . 
 
 /3BVSC 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 Copyright, 1907, by 
 John W. Waylakd 
 
OUTLINE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory 7 
 
 Prefatory Remarks 13 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. Concerning Government ... 17 
 
 A. Its Purpose 17 
 
 B. The Citizen's Rights and Privi- 
 
 leges , . . 18 
 
 C. The Citizen's Duties .... 21 
 
 D. The Basis of Good Government . 22 
 
 E. The Ultimate Corrective of Bad 
 
 Government 29 
 
 F. The Best Form of Government . 32 
 II. Concerning the American States . 35 
 
 A. Their Inherent Character . . 35 
 
 B. Their Relation to One Another . 38 
 
 C. Their Relation to the General 
 
 Government 42 
 
 III. Concerning the United States Gov- 
 ernment . 47 
 
 A. Its Functions 47 
 
 B. Its Essential Features ... 49 
 
6 Contents 
 
 CHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 IV. Concerning the United States in 
 
 Relation to Foreign Powers . 63 
 
 A. As to Commerce 63 
 
 B. As to Financial Obligations . . 69 
 
 C. As to General Attitude ... 69 
 
 V. Concerning Various Questions of 
 
 Importance 76 
 
 A. The United States Constitution . 76 
 
 B. African Slavery 78 
 
 C. The American Indians ... 81 
 
 D. Foreigners 82 
 
 E. The Liquor Traffic .... 84 
 
 F. Civil Service 87 
 
 G. Money and Banks .... 90 
 H. Rights of the Minority ... 92 
 I. Expansion of Territory ... 94 
 J. Providence in Politics ... 97 
 
 Concluding Remarks 98 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 So vast is the deluge of printer's ink 
 now flooding the world that the question 
 may well be asked: Why print another 
 book about Jefferson? Are not his own 
 works in print? And have not numerous 
 biographers written accounts of his life 
 and opinions? True enough. Yet where 
 are we to find a book in which the quin- 
 tessence of Jefferson's political views is 
 given in clear and readable style, yet suffi- 
 ciently brief to find readers among the 
 busy, rushing people of to-day? Dr. 
 Wayland's " Essay " is just such a book, 
 and I should be glad, indeed, if any com- 
 mendation of mine could increase the 
 circulation of the work. 
 
 Neither the author of this essay nor the 
 individual who has the honor of compos- 
 ing the Introduction regards Thomas 
 Jefferson as infallible. There were in- 
 consistencies in both his words and his 
 deeds. He did not always live up to his 
 ideals. These ideals, none the less, were 
 noble, and are well worthy of being held 
 
8 Introduction 
 
 aloft before a generation in whose eyes 
 both personal and constitutional liberty 
 seem of trivial worth when compared with 
 ephemeral fads or with heaps of gold. 
 
 Hamilton thought the average citizen 
 unfit for self-government, and fit only 
 to be controlled by such sages as himself. 
 Jefferson, on the other hand, considered 
 the average citizen able to manage his 
 own personal affairs better than either 
 kings, statesmen, or majorities could 
 manage them for him. I say, of man- 
 aging his own affairs — a very different 
 thing from managing the affairs of oth- 
 ers. For Jefferson did not believe even a 
 hundred million average men capable of 
 managing the personal affairs of others 
 as well as these could do it themselves. It 
 is true that he considered acquiescence in 
 the decisions of the majority to be the 
 duty of the citizen. Yet surely the au- 
 thor of the Declaration of Independence 
 did not mean by this that the minority 
 must be as sheep when the majority act 
 as wolves. So long as the majority act 
 within the limits of the law, so long should 
 the minority submit. But such is not nec- 
 essarily the case when government (in the 
 hands of either autocratic czar or popular 
 
Introduction 9 
 
 majority) passes wholly beyond its legiti- 
 mate sphere. But what is that legitimate 
 sphere? Simply this, in Jefferson's view: 
 " to restrain men from injuring one an- 
 other," while leaving them ' otherwise 
 free." Thomas Jefferson believed firmly 
 in majority rule, under strict constitu- 
 tional limitation. Yet he would probably 
 now agree with Herbert Spencer that, 
 while the divine right of kings was the 
 great political superstition of the past, the 
 great political superstition of the present 
 is the divine right of majorities. 
 
 Egotists like Hamilton, Jackson, or 
 Roosevelt think government a good thing 
 in itself, and do not think there can pos- 
 sibly be too much of so good a thing, 
 provided they themselves may dispense it 
 to the multitude. Such men enjoy do- 
 minion over others, and believe in govern- 
 ment for its own sake. Jefferson believed 
 in liberty; regarding government as 
 merely a disagreeable though necessary 
 means to the great end of preserving the 
 liberty of the weak against the despotism 
 of the strong. There is no more brutal 
 tyrant than a wrong-headed majority; 
 and history shows that majorities, when 
 trusted with unlimited power, are very 
 
10 Introduction 
 
 apt to be wrong-headed. If monarchy 
 should be limited, so also should democ- 
 racy ; and the supreme merit of the United 
 States Constitution is that it everywhere 
 — so far as ink and parchment can do so — 
 puts strict limitations upon the absolute 
 domination of numbers. Having jumped 
 from the frying-pan of monarchy, the 
 men who drew up that great document 
 were not silly enough to leap into the fire 
 of unlimited democracy. To-day, on the 
 contrary, a different spirit is rife. For 
 millions think it right to dictate, by a mere 
 count of noses, in town, county, or State, I 
 whether grown men shall be permitted to 
 play whist, or drink beer, or smoke 
 cigarettes. Worse still, they sit drinking 
 in with eager ears the perennial maunder- 
 ings of Bryan, or gazing rapturously at 
 Roosevelt's massive club and spectacular 
 teeth. 
 
 Yet each of these men prescribes the 
 same remedy for all earthly ills — govern- 
 ment, more government, and more govern- 
 ment still. Jefferson, on the other hand, 
 believed in liberty, more liberty, and more 
 liberty still. Had a man who loved free- 
 dom less written the epitaph upon his 
 tomb, he would doubtless have mentioned 
 
Introduction 11 
 
 the high offices that he held — would have 
 gloried in the fact that he exercised power 
 and dominion over man. Yet that epi- 
 taph, written by himself, wholly ignores 
 the facts that he was Governor of Vir- 
 ginia, Plenipotentiary to France, Secre- 
 tary of State in Washington's Cabinet, 
 Vice-President and President of the 
 United States. It does not even mention 
 that by the purchase of Louisiana for a 
 song he added an empire to that domain 
 over which he had been chosen to rule. 
 Three things, however, and three things 
 only, did Jefferson mention in that epi- 
 taph. All three promoted liberty. The 
 first was the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. The second was the statute estab- 
 lishing religious freedom in Virginia. 
 The third was the fact that he was the 
 Father of the University of Virginia, the 
 object of which, again, was to make men 
 free — free from the bondage of ig- 
 norance. A trinity of deeds. A unity of 
 purpose. 
 
 Such being his love of liberty, one 
 might ask whether Jefferson's political 
 creed can properly be called " democracy," 
 in the strict sense of the word, the domi- 
 nation of the populace, the despotism of 
 
12 Introduction 
 
 the majority. If we could tolerate such 
 a hybrid word as " minimocracy " (we 
 should flee aghast from such a monster 
 as " microtatocracy " ) , and if "minimoc- 
 racy " meant the political system in which 
 there was a minimum of government and 
 a maximum of freedom, then the term 
 would convey a more accurate conception 
 of Jefferson's creed than " democracy." 
 For, while Jefferson was not foolish 
 enough to believe, with the dreamy, 
 theoretical anarchists, that government 
 can ever be permanently abolished, he did 
 believe that the ideal state is that in which 
 individual liberty has reached the zenith, 
 and governmental force the nadir. 
 
 But enough. Let the Sage of Monti- 
 cello speak for himself, in sayings selected 
 in the calm, judicial spirit which Dr. 
 Wayland displays in everything that he 
 says, writes, or does. Dr. Wayland is not 
 responsible for the opinions expressed in 
 this Introduction, but I will state, in con- 
 clusion, that he has been associated with 
 me — as student in my classes, as assistant, 
 and as friend — for a number of years, 
 and that I take a natural pride in his 
 work. R. H. Dabney. 
 
 University of Virginia, 23 July, 1907. 
 
PREFATORY REMARKS 
 
 In spite of the recent decision by the 
 electors of the Hall of Fame, it is prob- 
 able that no American statesman, unless 
 it be Washington, holds a more assured 
 place in American history than Thomas 
 Jefferson. If the authorship of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence were his sole 
 title to permanent recognition, his pre- 
 eminence could not be denied so long as 
 the United States is a nation, or so long 
 as the principles of national life embodied 
 in that superb document are dear to hu- 
 manity. But notwithstanding this fact, 
 and the fact that he has other claims 
 equally great upon the perpetual memory 
 of our people, it is often surprising to 
 observe how little is really understood 
 concerning his actual place in our politi- 
 cal organism. Most persons have at least 
 a vague idea of what Jefferson stood for, 
 but perhaps few only could give an in- 
 telligent and definite outline of his opin- 
 ions and principles. This is true not only 
 in the more remote parts of our country, 
 
 13 
 
14s Prefatory Remarks 
 
 or in districts where party antagonism 
 may to some extent have blinded the pub- 
 lic eye to his claims upon posterity, but it 
 is true also in too great a measure even in 
 his own native State, and among persons 
 that continually refer to him with the 
 utmost deference. 
 
 In the following essay no claim is made 
 to a complete enumeration of Jeff erson's 
 political principles and opinions; and 
 those enumerated are not treated ex- 
 haustively. Completeness and thorough- 
 ness can hardly be expected in so brief a 
 study, when bulky volumes have been 
 written without attaining these results. 
 Nevertheless, it is hoped that a compre- 
 hensive outline is here given; that only is 
 attempted; and it is also believed that 
 nothing of great importance has been left 
 wholly untouched. 
 
 Two separate statements of Jefferson's 
 platform of principles, as declared by 
 himself, once in a letter to Elbridge Gerry, 
 January 26, 1799, and again in his 
 first inaugural address, have been care- 
 fully studied, together with many other 
 related statements found in various por- 
 tions of his writings. His views on many 
 questions are quoted directly, others are 
 
Prefatory Remarks 15 
 
 given indirectly. If some erroneous 
 opinions are occasionally expressed, or 
 some false inferences drawn, they must be 
 charged, not to Mr. Jefferson, 1 but to the 
 writer, unless someone else is in some way 
 made responsible for them; and if other 
 views that are not essentially erroneous 
 are perchance too broadly expressed, let 
 it be remembered that in a brief treatise, 
 such as this is intended to be, it is not al- 
 ways possible to intrench every assertion 
 with its attendant qualifications. 
 
 The classification attempted of Mr. 
 Jefferson's opinions may be subject to 
 some criticism, since political, economic, 
 and social questions are treated rather in- 
 discriminately. For disregarding these 
 distinctions in the partition and discussion 
 of the subject, I have only, as an excuse, 
 the plea that in real life, social, economic, 
 and political problems are inseparably 
 blended. Further criticism may be 
 elicited by the fact that some questions 
 that might have been discussed under the 
 particular divisions have been reserved 
 for the general head. For this offense — 
 
 i By this I do not mean to imply that Mr. Jefferson 
 was infallible, but that in the interpretation of his 
 opinions I may sometimes be in error. 
 
16 Prefatory Remarks 
 
 if it be one — I can only claim the decision 
 of personal taste and judgment. 
 
 The edition of Jefferson's Works re- 
 ferred to in the foot-notes is that by H. A. 
 Washington, in nine volumes. Other 
 sources frequently consulted are the 
 Statesman s Manual and Messages and 
 Papers of the Presidents. The life of 
 Jefferson most freely quoted from is Ran- 
 dall's, in three volumes. J. W. W. 
 
THE POLITICAL OPINIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON 
 
 I 
 CONCERNING GOVERNMENT 
 
 A. ITS PURPOSE 
 
 Waiving for the moment a definition 
 of government, let us see what, in Mr. 
 Jefferson's opinion, is its purpose. 
 
 Near the beginning of that instrument 
 by which he is best known, a number of 
 assertions are made which are assumed to 
 embody self-evident truths. Among these 
 assertions are the following : " That men 
 are endowed by their Creator with certain 
 unalienable rights; that among these are 
 life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
 ness " ; and " that to secure these rights, 
 governments are instituted among men." 
 This is a statement so clear and direct as 
 to need no comment; and that it is gen- 
 erally accepted as true, we can scarcely 
 
 17 
 
18 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 doubt. An expression, in more amplified 
 form, of the sentence just quoted, but not 
 otherwise differing from it, is found in 
 Mr. Jefferson's first inaugural address, 
 delivered March 4, 1801, a quarter of a 
 century after the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence was formulated. After enu- 
 merating some of the advantages enjoyed 
 by Americans, owing to their geograph- 
 ical position, the boundless resources of 
 their country, a due sense of their equal 
 right, etc., " What more is necessary," he 
 asks, " to make us a happy and prosper- 
 ous people? Still one thing more, fellow- 
 citizens," he continues — " a wise and 
 frugal g rnment, which shall restrain 
 men from injuring one another, which 
 shall leave them otherwise free to regu- 
 late their own pursuits of industry and im- 
 provement, and shall not take from the 
 mouth of labor the bread it lias earned. 
 This is the sum of good government, and 
 this is necessary to close the circle of our 
 felicities." 
 
 B. THE CITIZENS EIGHTS AM) PRIVILEGES 
 
 These have already been asserted in 
 more or less general terms. The right of 
 life is first. Liberty is also esteemed in- 
 
Concerning Government 19 
 
 alienable. 1 Liberty in religion and lib- 
 erty of person are specifically insisted 
 upon. In the first inaugural address 
 " freedom of religion " is mentioned as an 
 'essential principle"; in the letter to 
 Elbridge Gerry 2 is made the declaration, 
 " I am for freedom of religion, and 
 against all maneuvers to bring about a 
 legal ascendency of one sect over an- 
 other " ; and all men that visit the patriot's 
 tomb are reminded that he was the " au- 
 thor ... of the Statute of Virginia 
 for Religious Freedom." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson insisted upon liberty of 
 person no less strongly. He demanded 
 ' freedom of person under the protection 
 of the habeas corpus." 8 This was one of 
 the privileges guaranteed by the Consti- 
 tution, 4 to be suspended only under ex- 
 treme conditions. In 1798 had been 
 passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which 
 were regarded by many as an unwar- 
 ranted infringement of this principle and 
 others. Virginia and Kentucky had 
 
 t Slaves were not considered citizens, and hence not 
 entitled to liberty. In fact, they could not have been 
 regarded even as men, since men were entitled to 
 liberty. 
 
 2 Jefferson's Complete Works, vol. iv, p. 266. 
 
 a First Inaugural. * Art, i, sec. ix, 2. 
 
£0 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 passed resolutions of remonstrance and 
 nullification, those of Kentucky being 
 originally drafted by Jefferson himself ; 5 
 and it may be that the fresh remembrance 
 of what he had regarded as so gross a 
 violation of guaranteed rights by his 
 predecessor in office, caused him now 
 to reassert these rights the more vehe- 
 mently. 
 
 No one is to be denied the " pursuit of 
 happiness." Here we have also a general 
 expression of principle, but under it also 
 we may find some special provisions. Of 
 course, Mr. Jefferson recognized the right 
 to acquire and possess property. His 
 language already quoted advocates a gov- 
 ernment that " shall leave men free to 
 regulate their own pursuits of industry 
 and improvement, and shall not take from 
 the mouth of labor the bread it has 
 earned." The right of suffrage was one 
 accorded by the Constitution to all United 
 States citizens, and was a right that Mr. 
 Jefferson would have been the last to take 
 away — he who had " a jealous care of the 
 right of election by the people " ; 6 and in 
 order that these several rights of life, of 
 person, of property, of privilege, should 
 
 5 Works, vol. vii, p. 229. « First Inaugural. 
 
Concerning Government £1 
 
 not be unjustly abridged, he was careful 
 to insist upon another specific right — the 
 right of " trial by juries impartially 
 selected." 7 
 
 C. THE CITIZEN'S DUTIES 
 
 In return for the " liberty of the law " 
 the citizen must impose upon himself self- 
 restraint. In giving all men religious 
 freedom, it is assumed that their religion, 
 though " professed, indeed, and practiced 
 in various forms, yet in all of them in- 
 cludes honesty, truth, temperance, grati- 
 tude, and the love of man." The true 
 citizen must pay his debts, respect the 
 rights of others, discharge his civil obliga- 
 tions, and strive always to be worthy of 
 such a government as he would desire to 
 have over him — in short, he must be a 
 " man." 
 
 There is yet another duty to be exacted 
 of the loyal citizen, and although this duty 
 may be implied by the above generalities, 
 nevertheless, since Mr. Jefferson laid so 
 much stress upon it, and since all must re- 
 gard it as of fundamental importance, 
 special notice is made of it here. This 
 duty, a duty of States as well as of indi- 
 viduals, is the " absolute acquiescence in 
 
 7 First Inaugural. 
 
%% Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 the decision of the majority." This is 
 regarded as the " vital principle of repub- 
 lics, from which there is no appeal but to 
 force, the vital principle and immediate 
 parent of despotism." 8 
 
 D. THE BASIS OF GOOD GOVERNMENT 
 
 What then is the basis of good govern- 
 ment? We get a fairly clear notion of 
 what a good government is if we agree 
 with Mr. Jefferson when he says that " a 
 wise and frugal government . . . shall 
 restrain men from injuring one another, 
 . . . shall leave them otherwise free to 
 regulate their own pursuits of industry 
 and improvement, and shall not take from 
 the mouth of labor the bread it has 
 earned." We may attempt, therefore, 
 to formulate a definition, and say that a 
 good government is an organization of 
 power whereby the affairs of a State or 
 community are administered in such a 
 manner as to secure to each individual 
 protection from injury, freedom in well- 
 doing, and possession of the fruits of 
 labor. 
 
 This definition recognizes power or 
 force as an essential of government. 
 Power or force is plainly implied when 
 
 s First Inaugural. 
 
Concerning Government 23 
 
 Mr. Jefferson says that government shall 
 " restrain men " ; and, obviously, no gov- 
 ernment can subsist, and be a government^ 
 without a power behind it, or an element 
 of power in it. Whether it be a good 
 government or a bad government, a club 
 government or a love government — if it 
 governs, it has power. Now, in a good 
 government, whence is this power derived? 
 Mr. Jefferson, in the Declaration of 
 American Independence, replies, " from 
 the consent of the governed." But sup- 
 pose nobody wants to be governed? Sup- 
 pose all men want to, and are determined 
 to, "injure one another"? where is the 
 power "to restrain" them? "But," we 
 say, " all men are not tyrants and cut- 
 throats; if it were so, no government 
 worthy of the name would be possible. 
 There are always some good men in a civ- 
 ilized community." 
 
 Suppose, then, that there are in a com- 
 munity five good men to every seven cut- 
 throats; the cutthroats do not consent to 
 be governed — in fact, they refuse out- 
 right to be restrained: how is any insti- 
 tution deserving the name of " govern- 
 ment " to be established? "Well," we 
 say, " under those conditions we must ad- 
 
24 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 mit that government, and particularly a 
 good government, would again be an 
 impossibility. There must be enough 
 order-loving men to compel the lawless 
 to obey the laws, if they will not do 
 so otherwise." Just so. There must be 
 a majority of law-abiding citizens in 
 every community, if there is to be any 
 safeguard against anarchy. This is a 
 truth that appears to be self-evident. 
 Now, it is also no less a fact, though per- 
 haps not self-evident, that in every com- 
 munity there will always be some men — 
 however few — that have to be compelled 
 by force to obey the laws. Then, if we 
 accept the two truths just developed, — 
 and it seems impossible successfully to 
 contradict them, — we are driven by re- 
 lentless logic to abandon, or at least to 
 modify, Mr. Jefferson's assertion, that 
 " governments derive their just powers 
 from the consent of the governed." 
 What he evidently means is, that " gov- 
 ernments derive their just powers from 
 the consent of the majority governed." 
 There is no injustice shown Mr. Jefferson 
 in acknowledging that in this particular 
 instance he did not say precisely what he 
 meant. His phrase, as he wrote it, is more 
 
Concerning Government £5 
 
 rhetorical than it could have been in any 
 other form; and even as practical a man as 
 Mr. Jefferson may sometimes sacrifice 
 precise expression in order to say a thing 
 forcibly. Let us conclude, then, that he 
 expected the majority to rule, even 
 though some have to be compelled to re- 
 spect the rights of man; and, in con- 
 nection with this conclusion, I think we 
 are right in believing that Mr. Jefferson 
 was also convinced that in civilized society 
 there is apt to be always a majority in 
 favor of law and order. 
 
 If it be true, therefore, that we can 
 rely on the majority of men in civilized 
 society as being in favor of law and order, 
 Mr. Jefferson was safe in saying that 
 governments derive their just powers 
 from the consent of the governed — the 
 majority of the governed. The majority 
 in favor of order and justice are governed 
 by the laws, willingly, because they con- 
 sent to the laws ; the few opposed to order 
 and justice are governed also, not because 
 they consent to the laws, but because the 
 laws constrain them with another sort of 
 power; but, willing or unwilling, all are 
 subject — governed by the consent of the 
 majority governed. 
 
26 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 A pernicious citizen does not necessa- 
 rily have to be a cutthroat or an anarchist. 
 He may, to all pretences and appearances, 
 be a most zealous patriot; while he is in 
 fact only a selfish office-seeker, or a shame- 
 less leech on the public treasury. An hon- 
 est fanatic may turn out to be society's 
 worst and most dangerous enemy. Obvi- 
 ously, the more men in society that are 
 bad citizens, either because of ignorance, 
 delusion, or lack of principle, the greater 
 the menace to good government; and, 
 conversely, the greater the majority of 
 good citizens, whether they be politicians 
 or mechanics, peasants or princes, the 
 greater the safeguard against anarchy. 
 Every individual added to the number of 
 intelligent, conscientious voters, or citi- 
 zens without votes, is an additional pillar 
 in the temple of state. In the ideal state 
 intelligence plays so active a part that 
 every citizen is a potential factor ; and this 
 being true, the average state has a govern- 
 ment good or bad, safe or unsafe, just 
 in the proportion that the individual citi- 
 zens are wise or ignorant, honest men or 
 knaves. 
 
 No one recognized this fact more 
 clearly than Mr. Jefferson ; hence his con- 
 
Concerning Government 27 
 
 tinual insistence on each citizen being edu- 
 cated to act in accordance with principles 
 of justice and right. He built his struct- 
 ure of government upon the principle 
 that Emerson has expressed: 'The ap- 
 pearance of character makes the state 
 unnecessary. The wise man is the state. 
 He needs no army, fort, or navy— he 
 loves men too well"; . . . " of him the 
 existing government is, it must be owned, 
 a shabby imitation." 9 
 
 I repeat, therefore, that I believe Mr. 
 Jefferson was counting on a majority in 
 favor of law and order. He exhorted 
 every man to be a good citizen. Of 
 course, he knew that this condition is 
 never, in pre-millennial ages, to be real- 
 ized; but he had good reason for believing 
 that the majority— and the large major- 
 ity—will, in greater or less degree, be in- 
 clined to accord their fellow-men at least 
 some of the privileges esteemed by them- 
 selves. That this conclusion is true, with 
 respect to civilized peoples, I am con- 
 strained to believe that the history of the 
 world— certainly the history of America 
 —bears witness. Let us remember, how- 
 ever, that due allowance must be made for 
 
 9 Emerson's Essay on Politics. 
 
£8 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 perverting influences and delusions that 
 often lead nations, as well as individuals, 
 temporarily astray. Let us also freely 
 admit the fact that many evil and op- 
 pressive governments have existed for 
 long periods, even among peoples pos- 
 sessing a considerable degree of enlight- 
 enment. There are various conceivable 
 ways in which the order-loving many may 
 be deluded and controlled by the selfish or 
 vicious few — for a while, and to a certain 
 extent ; but any imposition that is violently 
 unjust or unnatural cannot always en- 
 dure. If no other way of adjustment is 
 found, if the ear of oppression is too long 
 deaf, the accumulated fires of revolution 
 burst forth, and thrones, empty titles, 
 palaces, and shackles of slavery are con- 
 sumed. The first are put last, the last 
 first. The power that seemed gives place 
 to the power that is. The majority tri- 
 umph. Should the criminal class ever be 
 in the majority, order and justice would 
 be at an end; life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness would be delusive names; 
 good government would cease from the 
 earth; the attempt to adjust grievances 
 by an appeal to the ultimate method 
 would only hasten an invitation to nihil- 
 
Concerning Government 29 
 
 ism and annihilation. Our only hope, 
 therefore, for even-handed justice and for 
 a safeguard against national disaster, is 
 in the manhood of the many; good citi- 
 zenship is the basis of good government. 
 
 E. THE ULTIMATE CORRECTIVE OF BAD 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 The ultimate corrective of bad govern- 
 ment is revolution. It is a terrible remedy, 
 and can be justified only by the failure 
 of every other means. Happy is that 
 people who yield their state to reform 
 before the chance of reform is lost; and 
 wise are those rulers who heed the voice 
 of reform before the thunderbolts of revo- 
 lution crash in their ears. These princi- 
 ples apply equally well to any form of 
 government — a monarchy or an oligarchy 
 as well as a republic. If the people de- 
 mand reform, they will have it, or they 
 will revolt. If the Czar of all the Russias 
 has absolute power, let him use it well ; he 
 has it only because the majority of his 
 subjects consent to give him unlimited 
 power. As a matter of fact, he does not 
 nave absolute authority. He dares not 
 utterly disregard the rights and interests 
 of his people, else they will rise in their 
 
30 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 power and exact from him the penalty 
 that tyranny so often has had to pay. 
 
 In the case of a limited monarchy the 
 same principle obtains. The power of 
 Great Britain is not in Edward VII. and 
 the two houses of Parliament, except only 
 so far as they are trusted by the majority 
 of the English people in the exercise of 
 that power. Parliament can pass and en- 
 force such laws as the people consent to 
 obey; Parliament dare not refuse to pass 
 such laws as the people demand. The 
 English Reform Bills of the early half 
 of last century did not originate in Par- 
 liament, or with the King, but in the suf- 
 fering populace. The voice of the people 
 was heard and heeded — wisely heeded, 
 because the wail of popular distress would 
 otherwise have been only the prelude of 
 disaster to princes and kings. _The thun- 
 ders of crashing empires were loudly 
 pounding at the Channel gates, and it 
 was only the wise measures of reform that 
 saved England from another bloody 
 revolution. 
 
 That Mr. Jefferson regarded popular 
 resistance to constituted authority as le- 
 gitimate in its place, there can be no doubt. 
 Revolt he recognized as the final resort 
 
Concerning Government 81 
 
 against injustice and oppression. But 
 mark the qualifying term — not the first 
 resort, but the final resort. The chief 
 reason he gives for having such a " jeal- 
 ous care of the right of election by the 
 people " is, that he considers this right " a 
 mild and safe corrective of abuses which 
 are lopped by the sword of revolution 
 where peaceable remedies are unpro- 
 vided " ; and although we cannot be mis- 
 taken as to the radical purpose of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, we are also 
 reminded in its opening sentences of how 
 momentous a step is contemplated: 
 " Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that gov- 
 ernments long established should not be 
 changed for light and transient causes, 
 and accordingly all experience hath shown 
 that mankind are more disposed to suffer 
 while evils are sufferable, than to right 
 themselves by abolishing the forms to 
 which they are accustomed." 10 
 
 So this great teacher of political poli- 
 cies would teach patience under oppres- 
 sion, and earnest perseverance to obtain 
 correction of abuses by all " mild and 
 safe " means, before abolishing established 
 forms — before unsheathing that two- 
 
 10 Declaration of Independence. 
 
3£ Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 edged and dangerous sword, dangerous 
 alike to him who strikes as well as to him 
 who receives the blow. " When a long 
 train of abuses and usurpations, pursu- 
 ing invariably the same object, evinces a 
 design to reduce them under absolute des- 
 potism," then, and not until then, is it a 
 people's " right," a people's " duty," to 
 revolt, and " to provide new guards for 
 their future security." 1X 
 
 F. THE BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT 
 
 Mr. Jefferson undoubtedly regarded 
 no form of government so safe and so 
 excellent for his own people as a republic. 
 Whether he would have advocated a re- 
 publican government for Spain or Eng- 
 land, or whether, had he been a Spaniard 
 or an Englishman, he would have advo- 
 cated a republican government for 
 Anterica, is an interesting question for 
 speculation; 12 but it is certain that he, an 
 American, advocated unreservedly a re- 
 publican government for America. " I 
 know, indeed," he says, " that some honest 
 
 11 Declaration of Independence. 
 
 12 In a letter to Lafayette, Nov. 4, 1823, he says: 
 " Whether the state of society in Europe can bear a 
 republican government, I doubted, you know, when with 
 you, and I do now." — Works, vol. vii, p. 325. 
 
Concerning Government 33 
 
 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 ex- 
 periment, abandon a government which 
 has so far kept us free and firm, on the 
 theoretic and visionary fear that this gov- 
 ernment, 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. I 
 believe it the only one where every man, 
 at the call of the laws, would fly to the 
 standard of the law, and would meet in- 
 vasions of the public order as his own 
 personal concern. Sometimes it is said 
 that man cannot be trusted with the gov- 
 ernment of himself. Can he, then, be 
 trusted with the government of others? 
 Or have we found angels in the forms of 
 kings to govern him? Let history an- 
 swer this question." 13 
 
 Some may contend that too much stress 
 is laid here on the " kind " of govern- 
 ment, and may point to the British Em- 
 pire as an argument in favor of 
 monarchy. But, then, is not the English 
 government essentially republican, after 
 all? Nevertheless, it is possible to lay too 
 
 is First Inaugural. 
 
84 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 much stress on names and forms. The 
 mere form of government, in truth, is 
 not of so much importance, seeing that 
 the form of any government may be 
 quickly changed, if necessity demand it. 
 Conditions vary, people vary, customs 
 vary, and good government may be had 
 under various forms; still, we are com- 
 mitted to the opinion of Mr. Jefferson, 
 that a republic is best for America; and, 
 in closing this paragraph, it may be well 
 to quote his definition of a republic. " In- 
 deed, it must be acknowledged," he says, 
 " that the term republic is of very vague 
 application in every language. . . . 
 ? Were I to assign to this term a precise 
 ;and definite idea, I would say, purely and 
 { simply, it means a government by its citi- 
 zens in mass, acting directly and person- 
 ally, according to rules established by the 
 
 • •■ >> 14 
 
 . majority. 
 
 14 Works, vol. vi, p. 605. 
 
II 
 
 CONCERNING THE AMERICAN 
 STATES 
 
 A. THEIR INHERENT CHARACTER 
 
 That the several States forming the 
 American Union were, subsequent to the 
 Treaty of Paris in 1783, and previous to 
 the adoption of the present Constitution 
 in 1788, inherently sovereign and inde- 
 pendent, there can be no doubt; that in 
 forming the general government they all 
 acted, each in its sovereign capacity, can- 
 not be questioned; and that the several 
 States, under the Constitution, are still 
 sovereign, except in those particular pow- 
 ers expressly delegated to the federal 
 government, is plainly implied in the Con- 
 stitution itself, 1 and has been reasserted 
 in turn by almost every State, or group 
 of States, in the Union. 
 
 ' Each State retains its sovereignty, 
 freedom, and independence, and every 
 
 i Amendments to the Constitution, Art. x. 
 35 
 
36 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 power, jurisdiction, and right which is not 
 by this confederation expressly delegated 
 to the United States in Congress assem- 
 bled." 2 
 
 " His Britannic Majesty acknowledges 
 the said United States, viz: New Hamp- 
 shire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island 
 and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, 
 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North 
 Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to 
 be Free, Sovereign, and Independent 
 States; that he treats with them as 
 such. . . ." 3 
 
 " The ratification of the conventions of 
 nine States shall be sufficient for the estab- 
 lishment of this Constitution between the 
 States so ratifying it." 4 
 
 " Done in convention by the unanimous 
 consent of the States present." 5 
 
 "The powers not delegated to the 
 United States by the Constitution, nor 
 prohibited by it to the States, are reserved 
 to the States respectively, or to the 
 people." 6 
 
 2 Articles of Confederation, Art. 2, July 9, 1778. 
 
 3 Art. i of Treaty of Paris, Sept. 3, 1783. 
 
 4 Constitution of the United States, Art. vii, 1. 
 
 5 End of Constitution. 
 
 6 Amendments to the Constitution, Art. x. 
 
Concerning the American States 37 
 
 The doctrine of State sovereignty, as 
 recognized in the above articles, and as 
 promulgated by John C. Calhoun in 1838, 
 when he declared, "that in the adoption 
 of the Federal Constitution, the States 
 adopting the same acted, severally, as free, 
 independent, and sovereign States," 7 
 seems not to have been questioned at the 
 time the Union was formed, and not for 
 a number of years afterward. " New 
 York voted ratification [of the Constitu- 
 tion] on the declared premise that ' the 
 powers of government may be reassumed 
 by the people whensoever it shall become 
 necessary to their happiness.' " 8 ' Vir- 
 ginia said, ' That the powers granted un- 
 der the Constitution, being derived from 
 the people of the United States, may be 
 resumed by them, whensoever the same 
 shall be perverted to their injury or op- 
 pression; and that every power not 
 granted thereby, remains with them and 
 at their will.' " 9 "It was clearly under- 
 stood that those who put the government 
 together [the States] could take it down 
 again." 10 
 
 7 Mo. Compromise and its Repeal, p. 139. 
 
 8 Powell's Nullification and Secession in the United 
 States, p. 12. 
 
 9 Ibid., p. 67. io Ibid., p. 12. 
 
88 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 Several of the States were slow in rati- 
 fying the Constitution. Rhode Island 
 held off till 1790; but no effort was made 
 to compel any State to enter the compact. 
 Each acted freely and independently. 
 Mr. Madison, in 1799, declared: "The 
 Constitution of the United States was 
 framed by the sanction of the States, 
 given by each in its sovereign capacity." 1X 
 That Mr. Jefferson shared fully in this 
 acknowledgment of State sovereignty 
 will become more apparent as we pro- 
 ceed, and must now be apparent at once 
 to anyone who will reflect that he is the 
 chief exponent of individualism in our 
 republic, as opposed to centralism and 
 paternalism. We need make here only 
 one quotation from him on the subject: 
 " I deem as an essential principle of our 
 government, the support of the State gov- 
 ernments in all their rights, as the most 
 competent administrations for our do- 
 mestic concerns and the surest bulwarks 
 against anti-republican tendencies." 12 
 
 B. THEIR RELATION TO ONE ANOTHER 
 
 One of the most important features to 
 contemplate in the history of our country, 
 
 n Powell's Nullification and Secession in the United 
 States, p. 102. 
 
 12 The Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 151. 
 
Concerning the American States 39 
 
 is the jealousy that has existed from time 
 to time between different States and dif- 
 ferent sections. Even before our national 
 history begins we find these local jeal- 
 ousies arising, and not only hindering 
 trade and social intercourse, but even pre- 
 venting a combined defense against the 
 depredations of the savage tribes. In 
 1754 a congress of commissioners from 
 the different colonies met at Albany, for 
 the purpose of concerting together with 
 one another and with the friendly Indians 
 upon measures of defense against the hos- 
 tile Indians and the French. Benjamin 
 Franklin brought forward a plan for 
 uniting the colonies for defense and for 
 some other purposes of general utility; 
 but the plan was rejected by the colonial 
 legislatures as likely to abridge their au- 
 thorities, and by the British Board of 
 Trade as likely to foster colonial inde- 
 pendence ; 13 and when the struggle for 
 independence was finally inaugurated, the 
 reluctance to unite upon any definite pol- 
 icy was a serious impediment to success. 
 The several States had little respect for 
 one another, and perhaps less for the fed- 
 eral Congress ; the troops of the different 
 
 1 3 Lecky's American Revolution, p. 11. 
 
40 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 States were often reluctant to serve ex- 
 cept in their own districts, and under their 
 own officers. When independence was 
 finally gained, the same petty jealousies 
 remained. When the Constitutional Con- 
 vention assembled in Philadelphia in 1787, 
 their greatest difficulties were encountered 
 in reconciling the " large " and " small " 
 States. 14 One step was gained when it 
 was agreed to put the States on an equal- 
 ity in the Convention, the votes of each 
 counting as one. Still, Pennsylvania re- 
 fused to be on an equal footing with little 
 New Jersey. One of the delegates from 
 Delaware declared that his State would 
 form a foreign alliance rather than 
 enter a Union in which it would be 
 at a disadvantage with larger States. 
 In 1782 Pennsylvania had threatened 
 to break away from the Confederacy 
 and use her taxes for her individual 
 ends. Rhode Island was continually 
 threatening to start off alone. 15 Finally, 
 by providing for a senate in the gen- 
 eral plan of government, in which each 
 State should have an equal representation, 
 and by various other compromises, so- 
 
 i* Johnson's History of the United States, p. 141. 
 15 Nullification and Secession, p. 12. 
 
Concemmg the American States 41 
 
 called, the Constitution was adopted. We 
 see, then, that the great object in view 
 was to preserve the several States on an 
 equal footing, except, of course, in respect 
 to those advantages of population or posi- 
 tion over which legislation has no control. 
 It is simply stating what must be obvi- 
 ous to all, to say that Mr. Jefferson, who 
 advocated " equal and exact justice to all 
 men," also advocated equal and exact 
 justice to all the States. He would be 
 satisfied with nothing less than the just 
 equality of States, as guaranteed by the 
 Constitution. Such declarations as the 
 following: that " full faith and credit 
 shall be given in each State to the public 
 acts, records, and judicial proceedings of 
 every other State"; that " the citizens of 
 each State shall be entitled to all privi- 
 leges and immunities of citizens in the 
 several States " ; and that " nothing in this 
 Constitution shall be so construed as to 
 prejudice any claims of the United States, 
 or of any particular State," were in true 
 harmony with his ideas. 
 
4& Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 C. THEIR RELATION TO THE GENERAL 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 On the relation that should exist be- 
 tween the States and the general govern- 
 ment, Mr. Jefferson's views are so defi- 
 nite and so clearly expressed that any 
 attempt to state them differently, or to 
 comment upon them, would be utterly out 
 of place; so I shall simply give the gist 
 of these opinions as he has repeatedly 
 expressed them. 
 
 In a letter written from Monticello, 
 June 5, 1824, to Major John Cartwright, 
 we find the following: 
 
 " With respect to our State and federal 
 governments, I do not think their rela- 
 tions are correctly understood by foreign- 
 ers. They generally suppose the former 
 subordinate to the latter. But this is not 
 the case. They are co-ordinate depart- 
 ments of one simple and integral whole. 
 To the State governments are reserved all 
 legislation and administration, in affairs 
 which concern their own citizens only, and 
 to the federal government is given what- 
 ever concerns foreigners, or the citizens 
 of other States; these functions alone 
 being made federal. The one is the do- 
 
Concerning the American States 4$ 
 
 mestic, the other the foreign branch of 
 the same government; neither having con- 
 trol over the other, but within its own 
 department. There are one or two excep- 
 tions only to this partition of power. But, 
 you may ask, if the two departments 
 should claim each the same subject of 
 power, where is the common umpire to 
 decide ultimately between them? In cases 
 of little importance or urgency, the pru- 
 dence of both parties will keep them aloof 
 from the questionable ground; but if it 
 can neither be avoided nor compromised, 
 a convention of the States must be called, 
 to ascribe the doubtful power to that de- 
 partment which they may think best. You 
 will perceive by these details, that we have 
 not yet so far perfected our constitutions 
 as to venture to make them unchangeable. 
 But still, in their present state, we con- 
 sider them not otherwise changeable than 
 by the authority of the people, on a special 
 election of representatives for that pur- 
 pose expressly: they are until then the 
 lex legum." 16 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, in the passage just 
 quoted, clearly defines, in general terms, 
 the relation of State and federal govern- 
 
 16 Works, vol. vii, p. 358. 
 
44 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 ments, the limits of power in each, and the 
 method of determining disputed ground. 
 In a letter to Judge Johnson, written 
 June 12, 1823, he lays down the same 
 principles : 
 
 " I ask for no straining of words 
 against the General Government, nor yet 
 against the States. I believe the States 
 can best govern our home concerns, and 
 the General Government our foreign ones. 
 I wish, therefore, to see maintained that 
 wholesome distribution of powers estab- 
 lished by the Constitution for the limita- 
 tion of both; and never to see all offices 
 transferred to Washington, where, fur- 
 ther withdrawn from the eyes of the 
 people, they may more secretly be bought 
 and sold as at market. 
 
 "But the Chief Justice [Marshall] 
 says, ' there must be an ultimate arbiter 
 somewhere.' True, there must; but does 
 that prove it is either party? The ulti- 
 mate arbiter is the people of the Union, 
 assembled by their deputies in convention, 
 at the call of Congress, or of two-thirds 
 of the States." 17 
 
 An earlier letter, written January 26, 
 1811, shows such admirable foresight that 
 
 it Works, vol. vii, p. 297. 
 
Concerning the American States 45 
 
 I cannot forbear quoting a small part of 
 it also; and I am constrained to believe 
 that had the sentiments and principles 
 therein embodied been consistently fol- 
 lowed for a half century after they were 
 expressed, that the most terrible chapter 
 of our history would be far less terrible 
 than it is. Statesmanship might have 
 cured what the sword lopped off. 
 
 " The true barriers of our liberty in this 
 country," writes Mr. Jefferson in the let- 
 ter referred to, " are our State govern- 
 ments; . . . Seventeen distinct States, 
 amalgamated into one as to their foreign 
 concerns, but single and independent as 
 to their internal administration, . . . 
 can never be so fascinated by the arts of 
 one man, as to submit voluntarily to his 
 usurpation. Nor can they be constrained 
 to it by any force he can possess. . . . 
 
 " Dangers of another kind might more 
 reasonably be apprehended from this per- 
 fect and distinct organization, civil and 
 military, of the States ; to wit, that certain 
 States from local and occasional discon- 
 tents, might attempt to secede from the 
 Union. . . . But it is not probable that 
 local discontents can spread to such an 
 extent, as to be able to face the sound 
 
46 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 parts of so extensive an Union ; and if ever 
 they should reach the majority, they would 
 then become the regular government, ac- 
 quire the ascendency in Congress, and be 
 able to redress their own grievances by 
 laws peaceably and constitutionally 
 passed." 18 
 
 In conclusion of this division of our 
 study, let us return again to Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's first Inaugural Address for a terse 
 statement of both sides of the question; 
 for it is only in a proper balance of State 
 and federal powers that our best interests 
 are secured: 
 
 " I deem as essential principles of our 
 government, the support of the State gov- 
 ernments in all their rights, as the most 
 competent administrations for our do- 
 mestic concerns and the surest bulwarks 
 against anti-republican tendencies; the 
 preservation of the general government 
 in its whole Constitutional vigor, as the 
 sheet anchor of our peace at home and 
 safety abroad." 
 
 is Works, vol. v, p. 570. 
 
Ill 
 
 CONCERNING THE UNITED 
 STATES GOVERNMENT 
 
 A. ITS FUNCTIONS 
 
 The functions of the federal govern- 
 ment have already been defined in general 
 terms in the preceding paragraphs. It 
 will be observed that while Mr. Jefferson 
 constantly insisted upon the rights and 
 powers of the States, that he just as 
 urgently insisted upon the prescribed 
 rights and powers of the central govern- 
 ment — aiming steadily at a proper balance 
 of the two. 
 
 " I do not think it for the interest of 
 the general government itself," he writes 
 to Peregrine Fitzhugh, in 1798, " and still 
 less of the Union at large, that the State 
 governments should be so little respected 
 as they have been. However, I dare say 
 that in time all these as well as their cen- 
 tral government, like the planets revolv- 
 ing round their common sun, acting and 
 
 47 
 
48 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 acted upon according to their respective 
 weights and distances, will produce that 
 beautiful equilibrium on which our Con- 
 stitution is founded, and which I believe 
 it will exhibit to the world in a degree of 
 perfection, unexampled but in the plan- 
 etary system itself. The enlightened 
 statesman, therefore, will endeavor to pre- 
 serve the weight and influence of every 
 part, as too much given to any member 
 of it would destroy the general equilib- 
 rium." 1 
 
 The particular functions of the federal 
 government are specified in the Constitu- 
 tion. The power of Congress to lay and 
 collect taxes, to regulate commerce, to 
 coin money, to declare war, to constitute 
 inferior tribunals, to raise and support 
 armies and navies; the power of the Ex- 
 ecutive to command the armies and navies, 
 to make treaties, to appoint public min- 
 isters; the power of the Supreme Court 
 to try public ministers, to try cases in 
 which the United States is a party, and 
 cases between the States — these are some 
 of the particular functions of the central 
 government; and these Mr. Jefferson 
 would have preserved in their " whole Con- 
 
 i Works, vol. iv, p. 217. 
 
Concerning the United States Government 49 
 
 stitutional vigor." Moreover, he would 
 have a proper balance between the several 
 general departments. " I am for pre- 
 serving ... to the legislature of the 
 Union its Constitutional share in the di- 
 vision of powers," he writes to Elbridge 
 Gerry; "I am not," he continues, 'for 
 transferring all the powers of the States 
 to the General Government, and all those 
 of that government to the executive 
 branch." 2 
 
 In short, the general government is to 
 be the general agent of the States, and of 
 the people through the States, and is to 
 perform those specified duties which, on 
 account of their general character, cannot 
 be performed by a particular State. 
 
 B. ITS ESSENTIAL FEATURES 
 
 Under this head will be noticed some of 
 the particular objects that Mr. Jefferson 
 thought should be aimed at in the adminis- 
 tration of public affairs, together with 
 some of the features that he regarded as 
 essential to the maintenance of good gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Simplicity of administration should be 
 a primary object. Offices should not be 
 
 2 Works, vol. iv, p. 268. 
 
50 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 unnecessarily multiplied, and the general 
 government should not burden itself with 
 what the local governments can do more 
 easily and effectively. 'When we con- 
 sider that this government is charged with 
 the external and mutual relations only of 
 these States; that the States themselves 
 have principal care of our persons, our 
 property, and our reputation, constitut- 
 ing the great field of human concerns, we 
 may well doubt whether our organization 
 is not too complicated, too expensive; 
 whether offices and officers have not been 
 multiplied unnecessarily, and sometimes 
 injuriously to the service they were meant 
 to promote. . . . The expenses of 
 diplomatic agency have been considerably 
 diminished. The inspectors of internal 
 revenue who were found to obstruct the 
 accountability of the institution, have been 
 discontinued. Several agencies created by 
 executive authority, on salaries fixed by 
 that also, have been suppressed. . . . 
 Other reformations of the same kind will 
 be pursued with that caution which is 
 requisite in removing useless things, not to 
 injure what is retained." 3 
 
 Such a policy as this, judiciously pur- 
 
 s Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 154. 
 
Concerning the United States Government 51 
 
 sued, would not only save expense, expe- 
 dite business, and lend effectiveness to ad- 
 ministration, but would also remove many 
 of the temptations to weak officials and 
 unprincipled office-seekers. 
 
 The minimum should be sought after in 
 taxation. " Considering the general ten- 
 dency to multiply offices and dependencies, 
 and to increase expense to the ultimate 
 term of burden which the citizen can bear, 
 it behooves us to avail ourselves of every 
 occasion which presents itself for taking 
 off the surcharge; that it never may be 
 seen here that, after leaving to labor the 
 smallest portion of its earnings on which 
 it can subsist, government shall itself con- 
 sume the residue of what it was instituted 
 to guard." 4 
 
 We cannot read these sentences without 
 being impressed with the feeling and 
 vividness with which the effects of oppres- 
 sive taxation are set forth. Does the au- 
 thor have in mind the burdens of British 
 " tyranny," under which his generation 
 had groaned for a while? Perhaps so. 
 But his experience was broader than that. 
 The oppression of Parliament was bad 
 enough, no doubt ; but compared with an- 
 
 * Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 155. 
 
58 Political Opimioms of Thomas Jef arson 
 
 other oppress^ system with which Mr. 
 Jefferson had been made familiar, it was 
 5.5 :;;::;.::« Fr:m March, 1 T S -3 . :: 0:::- 
 ber. 1789 ? he had been oar representative 
 at Paris: and we may believe that those 
 f oar years and a half, spent among a 
 people whose king was the nation, whose 
 capital was the country, and whose last 
 black loaf was snatched from their starv- 
 ing hps to feed the sleek cur of a court 
 favorite, presented an object lesson of 
 centralism, of favoritism, and of oppres- 
 sion so pathetic in its progress and so 
 terrible in its results that it was never 
 forgotten. 
 
 Of coarse, an obvious means of avoid- 
 ing heavy taxes is to avoid making debts. 
 Economy in the public expense " should 
 be observed, in order " that labor may be 
 lightly hardened." This, ^e have already 
 seen, was one of the advantages to be se- 
 cured by a simplicity of the system of 
 public administration. Mr. Jefferson 
 neglected no opportunitv to teach econ- 
 omv in afl the departments of govern- 
 ment; recognizing the necessity of this 
 principle in States as well as in individuals. 
 It is to be regretted that we have had no 
 Jefferson in recent davs to teach the same 
 
Concerning the United States Government 53 
 
 lesson, when our government, with seem- 
 ing great composure, was firing the hard- 
 earned wages of labor through thirteen- 
 inch guns at the rate of a million dollars 
 from sunrise till sunset. 
 
 It was regarded of great importance by 
 Mr. Jefferson that our country should be 
 free from large standing armies. He not 
 only regarded them as unnecessary, but 
 as actually harmful. He was in favor, 
 therefore, of the general government 
 maintaining a regular military force of 
 only sufficient number for outpost garri- 
 sons in time of peace, and to serve as a 
 nucleus for the mihtia in case of war. By 
 thus reducing the regular army to the 
 smallest possible number, a great burden 
 of expense would be avoided. Besides 
 this, it was his opinion that a government 
 in constant preparation for war would be 
 more likely, on that account, to become 
 involved in war. He was not in favor of 
 allowing the country to neglect precau- 
 tions for its public safety, as we shall pres- 
 ently see ; but he was opposed to a useless 
 and burdensome military equipment, both 
 on the ground of economy and from the 
 conviction that peace would thereby be 
 endangered. 
 
54 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 It is entirely possible that he had on 
 this point drawn valuable inferences from 
 his observations in France and other parts 
 of Europe, where the evils of militarism 
 were rife, and have survived even to the 
 present day. 
 
 I have said that Mr. Jefferson was not 
 careless of the public safety, although he 
 opposed large standing armies. His plan 
 was that the general government should 
 give all possible encouragement to a well- 
 regulated militia system in each State, as 
 affording a natural, non-oppressive, and 
 effective means of defense. This plan is 
 repeatedly advocated. The following 
 quotation is from his first annual message : 
 
 ' For defense against invasion their 
 numjber [the surplus number of regular 
 troops] is as nothing; nor is it conceived 
 needful or safe that a standing army 
 should be kept up in time of peace for that 
 purpose. Uncertain as we must ever be 
 of the particular point in our circumfer- 
 ence where an enemy may choose to invade 
 us, the only force which can be ready at 
 every point and competent to oppose them, 
 is the body of neighboring citizens as 
 formed into a militia. On these, collected 
 from the points most convenient, in num- 
 
Concerning the United States Government 55 
 
 bers proportioned to the invading foe, it 
 is best to rely, not only to meet the first 
 attack, but if it threatens to be permanent, 
 to maintain the defense until regulars may 
 be engaged to relieve them. These con- 
 siderations render it important that we 
 should at every session continue to amend 
 the defects which from time to time show 
 themselves in the laws for regulating the 
 militia, until they are sufficiently per- 
 fect." 5 
 
 In opposing a standing army, it is 
 probable that Mr. Jefferson recalled some 
 of the unfortunate instances in which the 
 military power had, after a while, domi- 
 nated the whole governmental system. At 
 any rate, he not only opposed militarism, 
 but was careful at the same time to insist 
 specifically upon preserving the " suprem- 
 acy of the civil over the military au- 
 thority," regarding this as one of the 
 essential features of our government. 6 
 
 Another feature of our republic, re- 
 garded as vitally essential, and worthy of 
 being maintained as such, was freedom of 
 the press. As a pool without a current of 
 any sort to agitate it becomes stagnant 
 
 s Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 155. 
 6 First Inaugural. 
 
56 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 and poisonous, so a nation without a me- 
 dium of communication of thought, with- 
 out a bulletin to proclaim its doings, 
 without a pillory for injustice, and a voice 
 to demand reform, loses its healthy vigor, 
 becomes sluggish, and soon begins to de- 
 cay. ' Governments are republican only 
 in proportion as they embody the will of 
 their people, and execute it." 7 The press 
 makes the will of the people known. Then, 
 if changes of public policy become expedi- 
 ent from time to time, in what other way 
 can these changes be so intelligently and 
 generally considered as by means of the 
 press? 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was convinced that 
 changes from time to time become neces- 
 sary. " Some men," said he, " look at 
 constitutions with sanctimonious rever- 
 ence, and deem them like the ark of the 
 covenant, too sacred to be touched. They 
 ascribe to the men of the preceding age a 
 wisdom more than human, and suppose 
 what they did to be beyond amendment. 
 I knew that age [the age that formed the 
 Constitution of Virginia] well; I be- 
 longed to it, and labored with it. It de- 
 served well of its country. It was very 
 
 7 Works, vol. vii, p. 9. 
 
Concerning the United States Government 57 
 
 like the present, but without the experi- 
 ence of the present; and forty years of 
 experience in government is worth a cen- 
 tury of book-reading, and this they would 
 say themselves, were they to rise from the 
 dead. I am certainly not an advocate for 
 frequent and untried changes in laws and 
 constitutions. . . . But I know also, 
 that laws and institutions must go hand 
 in hand with the progress of the human 
 mind. . . . We might as well require 
 a man to wear still the coat which fitted 
 him when a boy, as civilized society to 
 remain ever under the regimen of their 
 barbarous ancestors. It is this preposter- 
 ous idea which has lately deluged Europe 
 in blood. Their monarchs, instead of 
 wisely yielding to the gradual change of 
 circumstances, . . . have clung to old 
 abuses, . . . and obliged their subjects 
 to seek through blood and violence rash 
 and ruinous innovations, which, had they 
 been referred to the peaceful deliberations 
 and collected wisdom of the nation, would 
 have been put into acceptable and salutary 
 forms." 8 
 
 Here Mr. Jefferson makes direct allu- 
 
 8 Letter to Kercheval, written July 12, 1816. — Works, 
 vol. vii, p. 14. 
 
58 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 sion to the series of " bloody deluges " in- 
 augurated by the French Revolution; and 
 while he does not in this connection men- 
 tion how the suppression of political dis- 
 cussion through the press hastened and 
 augmented those terrible upheavals, he 
 certainly was aware of the fact and duly 
 appreciated its significance. "If the 
 rulers of France, instead of exerting 
 themselves to silence the national litera- 
 ture, had yielded to its suggestions, and 
 had receded before the pressure of ad- 
 vancing knowledge, the fatal collision 
 would have been avoided ; because the pas- 
 sions which caused the collision would have 
 been appeased." 9 In view, then, of these 
 facts, that evolution of governmental sys- 
 tems attends the progress of nations, and 
 that the public press is perhaps the best 
 means of aiding this development and of 
 providing a safety-vent against revolu- 
 tion, we are not surprised that Mr. Jeffer- 
 son repeatedly declared, " I am for free- 
 dom of the press." 
 
 But is not freedom of the press one of 
 the particular privileges guarded by the 
 Constitution? 10 True, it is. Yet, not- 
 
 9 Buckle, Dabney's Causes of the French Revolution, 
 p. 201. 
 
 10 Amendments to the Constituton, Art. i. 
 
Concerning the United States Government 59 
 
 withstanding that fact, Mr. Jefferson was 
 wise enough to know that the Constitution 
 may sometimes be violated, unless it is sus- 
 tained by an overwhelming public opinion. 
 In fact, he had witnessed a violation of 
 this very provision in the passage of the 
 Sedition Act, in 1798 ; and when Virginia 
 and Kentucky declared that act unjust 
 and illegal, it was Jefferson's hand that 
 penned Kentucky's resolutions. 
 
 The judicious encouragement of indus- 
 try by the general government, within the 
 " pale of constitutional powers," was re- 
 garded as of sufficient importance to elicit 
 frequent mention in Mr. Jefferson's mes- 
 sages to Congress. His views upon the 
 best means of fostering industry will be 
 further discussed under another head. 
 
 The fostering of seience and art and 
 the general diffusion of knowledge were 
 also regarded by Mr. Jefferson as coming 
 in some measure under the duties incum- 
 bent upon our federal government. In a 
 republic like ours, where so much depends 
 upon the individual citizen, it is of the 
 utmost importance that each individual 
 possess that degree of culture and 
 broad-mindedness that will enable him to 
 act with intelligence in the different ques- 
 
60 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 tions proposed to the public judgment. 
 " The arraignment of all abuses at the bar 
 of public reason " makes essential " the 
 diffusion of information." X1 Therefore, 
 Mr. Jefferson had the " two great meas- 
 ures at heart, without which no republic 
 can maintain itself in strength — that of 
 general education, to enable every man to 
 judge for himself what will secure or en- 
 danger his freedom; and the division of 
 every county into hundreds, of such size 
 that all the children of each will be within 
 reach of a central school in it." 12 Thus 
 his plans embraced schemes both local and 
 national, in each taking that practical 
 turn which so eminently characterized all 
 of his projects. The education itself that 
 he proposed was of a practical as well as 
 of a theoretical sort. The good of the 
 people required, he thought, that while 
 some were instructed " in general, com- 
 petently to the common business of life," 
 that others should " employ their genius 
 with necessary information to the useful 
 arts, to inventions for saving labor and 
 increasing our comforts, to nourishing our 
 health, to civil government, military sci- 
 
 n First Inaugural. 
 
 12 Works, vol. v, p. 525. 
 
Concerning the United States Government 61 
 
 ence," etc. 13 While he would in educa- 
 tion, as in all other things, place responsi- 
 bility upon the individual and upon 
 private institutions, in a degree commen- 
 surate with their ability, he nevertheless 
 was of the opinion that the general gov- 
 ernment was under obligation for its share 
 in the great problem of making American 
 citizens ; and, in common with Washington 
 and other statesmen of the period, he cher- 
 ished the plan for a great national uni- 
 versity, which should fittingly crown the 
 symmetrical proportions of his educa- 
 tional structure. In his sixth annual mes- 
 sage to Congress he recommends such an 
 institution to their consideration. " Edu- 
 cation," he says to them, " is here placed 
 among the articles of public care, not that 
 it would be proposed to take its ordinary 
 branches out of the hands of private en- 
 terprise, which manages so much better all 
 the concerns to which it is equal; but a 
 public institution can alone supply those 
 sciences which though rarely called for are 
 yet necessary to complete the circle, all 
 the parts of which contribute to the im- 
 provement of the country and some of 
 them to its preservation. The subject is 
 
 is Works, vol. vii, p. 187. 
 
62 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 now proposed for the consideration of 
 Congress, because, if approved by the 
 time the State legislatures shall have de- 
 liberated on this extension of the federal 
 trusts, and the laws shall be passed and 
 other arrangements made for their execu- 
 tion, the necessary funds will be on hand 
 and without employment. I suppose an 
 amendment to the Constitution, by con- 
 sent of the States, necessary, because the 
 objects now recommended are not among 
 those enumerated in the Constitution, and 
 to which it permits the public moneys to 
 be applied. The present consideration of 
 a national establishment for education, 
 particularly, is rendered proper by this 
 circumstance also, that if Congress, ap- 
 proving the proposition, shall yet think it 
 more eligible to found it on a donation of 
 lands, they have it now in their power to 
 endow it with those which will be among 
 the earliest to produce the necessary in- 
 come. This foundation would have the 
 advantage of being independent in war, 
 which may suspend other improvements 
 by requiring for its own purposes the 
 resources destined for them." 14 
 
 1 4 Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 191. 
 
IV 
 
 CONCERNING THE UNITED 
 STATES IN RELATION TO 
 FOREIGN POWERS 
 
 A. AS TO COMMERCE 
 
 Mr. Jefferson regarded commerce as 
 the " handmaid " of agriculture, 1 and as 
 one of the " pillars of our prosperity." 
 He was warmly in favor, therefore, of 
 encouraging commerce and attendant in- 
 dustries by all judicious and legitimate 
 means; but much legislation he did not 
 consider the best means. In his letter to 
 Elbridge Gerry he says : "I am for free 
 commerce with all nations." He makes 
 the following declarations in his first an- 
 nual message to Congress : " Agriculture, 
 manufactures, commerce, and naviga- 
 tion, the four pillars of our prosperity, 
 are the most thriving when left most free 
 to individual enterprise. Protection from 
 
 i First Inaugural. 
 63 
 
64 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 casual embarrassments, however, may 
 sometimes be reasonably interposed. If 
 in the course of your observations or in- 
 quiries they should appear to need any aid 
 within the limits of our constitutional 
 powers, your sense of their importance is 
 a sufficient assurance they will occupy 
 your attention." 2 
 
 From these statements it is evident that 
 the normal condition of trade was not con- 
 sidered attainable by legislation; but on 
 the contrary, that the " let alone " policy 
 is best, thus allowing the natural laws of 
 supply and demand to adjust commerce 
 to its proper balance. This is substan- 
 tially the same theory as that advocated 
 by Adam Smith: 
 
 " The true line of policy that govern- 
 ments should follow, as respects commer- 
 cial affairs, has been distinctly traced by 
 Mr. Alexander Baring (now Lord Ash- 
 burton). ' The only beneficial care,' says 
 he, ' a government can take of commerce, 
 is to afford it general protection in 
 time of war, to remove by treaties the re- 
 strictions of foreign governments in time 
 of peace, and cautiously to abstain from 
 any, however plausible, of its own creat- 
 
 2 Statesman's Manual, p. 156, vol. i. 
 
In Relation to Foreign Powers 65 
 
 ing. If every law of regulation, either of 
 our internal or external trade, were re- 
 pealed, with the exception of those nec- 
 essary for the collection of revenue, it 
 would be an undoubted benefit to com- 
 merce, as well as to the community at 
 large. An avowed system of leaving 
 things to take their own course, and of not 
 listening to the interested solicitations of 
 one class or another for relief, whenever 
 the imprudence of speculation has occa- 
 sioned losses, would, sooner than any arti- 
 ficial remedy, reproduce that equilibrium 
 of demand and supply, which the ardor 
 of gain will frequently derange, but which 
 the same cause, when let alone, will as 
 infallibly restore.' " 3 
 
 That Mr. Jefferson may have adopted 
 some of his ideas on political economy 
 from the study of Dr. Smith's great work, 
 is possible. In a letter to John Norvell, 
 June 11, 1807, he says: " If your- views of 
 political inquiry go further, to the sub- 
 jects of money and commerce, Smith's 
 ' Wealth of Nations ' is the best book to 
 be read, unless Say's ' Political Econ- 
 omy ' can be had, which treats the same 
 subjects on the same principles, but in a 
 
 s Smith's Wealth of Nations, p. 544. 
 
66 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 shorter compass and more lucid manner." 4 
 But even if Mr. Jefferson had never read 
 the " Wealth of Nations," it is prohahle 
 that his opinions as to trade regulations 
 would have been substantially the same. 
 We can scarcely imagine that his long resi- 
 dence in France, where the meddlesome 
 hand of law, under the pretense of help- 
 ing trade, really stifled it, could have left 
 him blinded to the evils of such a system; 
 and he doubtless had other ample opportu- 
 nities to observe the pernicious effects of 
 a similar system when applied to inter- 
 national affairs. 
 
 That Mr. Jefferson, therefore, re- 
 garded free trade as the normal policy — 
 the policy least likely to produce inter- 
 national derangement, and most efficient 
 in fostering home industries, seems un- 
 deniable. Furthermore, he demanded 
 reciprocity, on the part of other nations; 
 and, in order to induce them to remove, 
 or at least to modify, such trade restric- 
 tions as interfered with American com- 
 merce, he was even ready to consent, if 
 necessary, to pass counter restrictions to 
 some extent at home. This compromise 
 policy, of attempting the cure of one evil 
 
 * Works, vol. v, p. 91. 
 
In Relation to Foreign Powers 67 
 
 by submitting to another for a while, is 
 suggested as an undesirable alternative 
 in a report on the " Privileges and Re- 
 strictions on the Commerce of the United 
 States in Foreign Countries," made while 
 Mr. Jefferson was Secretary of State 
 under Washington : 
 
 " Such being the restrictions on the 
 commerce and navigation of the United 
 States; the question is, in what way they 
 may best be removed, modified or counter- 
 acted? 
 
 ' As to commerce, two methods occur. 
 1. By friendly arrangements with the 
 several nations with whom these restric- 
 tions exist: or, 2. By the separate act of 
 our own legislatures for countervailing 
 their effects. 
 
 " There can be no doubt but that of 
 these two, friendly arrangement is the 
 most eligible. Instead of embarrassing 
 commerce under piles of regulating laws, 
 duties, and prohibitions, could it be re- 
 lieved from all its shackles in all parts of 
 the world, could every country be em- 
 ployed in producing that which nature 
 has best fitted it to produce, and each be 
 free to exchange with others mutual sur- 
 
68 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 pluses for mutual wants, the greatest mass 
 possible would then be produced of those 
 things which contribute to human life and 
 human happiness; the numbers of man- 
 kind would be increased, and their condi- 
 tion bettered." 5 
 
 While the foregoing paragraphs show 
 how desirous Mr. Jefferson was to induce 
 foreign nations to abandon all restrictions 
 on American commerce, they also prove 
 how unwilling he was to secure even that 
 object by putting legislative " embarrass- 
 ments " on trade. The following quota- 
 tion, from his second annual message, in- 
 dicates his willingness, on the other hand, 
 to cooperate in reciprocal adjustments: 
 
 " It is with satisfaction I lay before you 
 an act of the British Parliament anticipat- 
 ing this subject so far as to authorize a 
 mutual abolition of the duties and coun- 
 tervailing duties permitted under the 
 treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a 
 spirit of justice and friendly accommoda- 
 tion which it is our duty and our interest 
 to cultivate with all nations. Whether 
 this will produce a due equality in the nav- 
 igation between the two countries, is a 
 subject for your consideration." 6 
 
 s Works, vol. vii, pp. 645, 646. 
 
 6 Statesman's Manual, p. 158, vol. i. 
 
In Relation to Foreign Powers 69 
 B. AS TO FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS 
 
 This topic may be dismissed with a very 
 brief discussion. It might have been 
 omitted altogether, had not Mr. Jefferson 
 considered it worthy of repeated notice. 
 It ought not to be necessary to assert that 
 strict business integrity is as much de- 
 manded of nations as of individuals; it 
 ought not to be necessary to declare that 
 no degree of power or height of prestige 
 can relieve a peoole from the obligation 
 to pay their just debts ; yet it may be that 
 Mr. Jefferson, when assuming the most 
 responsible office in the gift of a young 
 nation — " a rising nation, engaged in 
 commerce with nations that feel power and 
 forget right, advancing rapidly to desti- 
 nies beyond the reach of mortal eye," — it 
 may be, I say, that he was wise to include 
 among the " essential principles " of gov- 
 ernment for that young nation, " the hon- 
 est payment of debts and sacred preser- 
 vation of the public faith." 
 
 C. AS TO GENERAL ATTITUDE 
 
 In attempting to indicate Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's views as to the general attitude the 
 United States should maintain with re- 
 
70 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 spect to foreign powers, I can do no bet- 
 ter than to let him speak, in the main, for 
 himself : 
 
 " Peace, commerce, and honest friend- 
 ship with all nations — entangling alliances 
 with none " — this, he asserted, is one of 
 the essential principles of our govern- 
 ment. 7 Twenty-two years after the above 
 sentiment was expressed we find the fol- 
 lowing in a letter to President Monroe : 
 
 " I have ever deemed it fundamental for 
 the United States, never to take active 
 part in the quarrels of Europe. Their po- 
 litical interests are entirely distinct from 
 ours. Their mutual jealousies, their bal- 
 ance of power, their complicated alliances, 
 their forms and principles of government, 
 are all foreign to us. They are nations of 
 eternal war. All their energies are ex- 
 pended in the destruction of the labor, 
 property, and lives of their people. [Here, 
 I think, Mr. Jefferson was betrayed into 
 some exaggeration.] On our part, never 
 had a people so favorable a chance of try- 
 ing the opposite system, of peace and fra- 
 ternity with mankind, and the direction of 
 all our means and faculties to the purposes 
 of improvement instead of destruction. 
 With Europe we have few occasions of 
 
 t First Inaugural. 
 
In Relation to Foreign Powers 71 
 
 collision, and these, with a little prudence 
 and forbearance, may be generally accom- 
 modated." 8 
 
 To show how anxious Mr. Jefferson 
 was to preserve " peace " and " honest 
 friendship " with other nations, while 
 avoiding " entangling alliances," we have 
 but to quote the following from his third 
 annual message : 
 
 " We have seen with sincere concern the 
 flames of war lighted up again in Europe, 
 and nations with which we have the most 
 friendly and useful relations engaged in 
 mutual destruction. ... In the course 
 of this conflict, let it be our endeavor, as 
 it is our interest and desire, to cultivate the 
 friendship of the belligerent nations by 
 every act of justice and innocent kind- 
 ness; to receive their armed vessels with 
 hospitality from the distresses of the sea, 
 but to administer the means of annoyance 
 to none ; to establish in our harbors such a 
 police as may maintain law and order; to 
 restrain our citizens from embarking in- 
 dividually in a war in which their country 
 takes no part; to punish severely those 
 persons, citizen or alien, who shall usurp 
 the cover of our flag for vessels not enti- 
 
 s Works, vol. vii, p. 288. 
 
72 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 tied to it, infecting thereby with suspicion 
 those of real Americans, and committing 
 us into controversies for the redress of 
 wrongs not our own; to exact from every 
 nation the observance, toward our vessels 
 and citizens, of those principles and prac- 
 tices which all civilized people acknowl- 
 edge; to merit the character of a just na- 
 tion, and maintain that of an independent 
 one, preferring every consequence to in- 
 sult and habitual wrong." 9 
 
 From the foregoing it is manifest that 
 while Mr. Jefferson endeavored to pre- 
 serve peace by strict justice to other na- 
 tions, he also demanded justice from them 
 in return for friendship. " We must 
 make the interest of every nation stand 
 surety for their justice, and their own loss 
 to follow injury to us, as effect follows its 
 cause," he writes to Edward Rutledge, in 
 1797. 10 Nevertheless, his forbearance 
 with injustice was great, as was shown in 
 numerous instances — notably when the 
 depredations of England upon our com- 
 merce and the rights of our seamen had 
 been for a long period well-nigh unbear- 
 able ; and if anyone is disposed to say that 
 
 9 Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 165. 
 
 10 Works, vol. iv, p. 191. 
 
In Relation to Foreign Powers 7S 
 
 it was only fear of England's power that 
 delayed action against her injustice, we 
 have only to remember that the same spirit 
 of patience was manifested toward the 
 Barbary powers, until repeated impudence 
 and insults were added to injury. Let us 
 note also in this connection the President's 
 language to the Secretary of State, in 
 1805, concerning the most formidable 
 leader in Europe: ..." Consider- 
 ing the character of Bonaparte, I think it 
 material at once to let him see that we are 
 not of the powers who will receive his 
 orders." X1 
 
 To say that Mr. Jefferson, in his efforts 
 to secure peace and friendship with for- 
 eign powers, was above all seeking the in- 
 terests of the United States, is only to 
 speak the truth; and it takes but little ar- 
 gument to convince us that his coun- 
 try's well-earned prosperity is a true 
 statesman's highest object. By seeking 
 to elevate his own country, by all fair and 
 honorable means, he injures no other com- 
 monwealth; but, on the contrary, elevates 
 all mankind. " The first object of my 
 heart," writes Jefferson to Gerry, " is my 
 own country. In that is embarked my 
 
 11 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, p. 147. 
 
74 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 family, my fortune, and my own exist- 
 ence. I have not one farthing of interest, 
 nor one fiber of attachment out of it, nor 
 a single motive of preference of any one 
 nation to another, but in proportion as 
 they are more or less friendly to us." 12 
 
 If Mr. Jefferson gave his consent to 
 retaliatory measures, when all other means 
 of redress had been tried without success, 
 he also was a strong advocate of national 
 gratitude. " To say . . . that grati- 
 tude is never to enter into the motives of 
 national conduct, is to revive a principle 
 which has been buried for centuries, with 
 its kindred principles of the lawfulness of 
 assassination, poison, perjury, etc. All of 
 these were legitimate principles in the dark 
 ages which intervened between ancient and 
 modern civilization, but exploded and 
 held in just horror in the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. I know but one code of morality 
 for men, whether acting singly or collec- 
 tively. . . . But I indulge myself in 
 these reflections because my own feelings 
 run me into them; . . . Let us hope 
 that our new government will take some 
 other occasion to show that they mean to 
 proscribe no virtue from the canons of 
 
 12 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 9, p. 469. 
 
In Relation to Foreign Powers 75 
 
 their conduct with other nations. In every 
 other instance, the new government has 
 ushered itself to the world as honest, mas- 
 culine, and dignified." 13 
 
 We may sum up, then, in concluding 
 this division, with the words employed at 
 the beginning : " Peace, commerce, and 
 honest friendship with all nations — en- 
 tangling alliances with none." Com- 
 merce, left free, if possible, from all legal 
 interference; friendship, honestly secured 
 and honestly maintained ; peace, above all, 
 but not a policy of peace that is blind to 
 outrage, or that tolerates piracy, or pays 
 tribute. The American Eagle grasps in 
 one talon the olive branch, in the other, 
 thunderbolts. The olive branch is ex- 
 tended to all alike; it is proffered repeat- 
 edly; it is not withheld on slight provoca- 
 tion; it is withdrawn only when public 
 safety or national honor is in direct jeop- 
 ardy. 
 
 13 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 541. 
 
CONCERNING VARIOUS QUES- 
 TIONS OF IMPORTANCE 
 
 A. THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION 
 
 The United States Constitution, in the 
 main, embodied Mr. Jefferson's ideas. 
 Being in Paris at the time of its adoption, 
 he had no part in framing it ; nevertheless, 
 he heartily favored its leading principles, 
 and regarded it as fairly complete. Some 
 additional stipulations that he desired 
 were, " Freedom of religion, freedom of 
 the press, freedom of commerce, no sus- 
 pension of habeas corpus, and no stand- 
 ing army." * He also desired a limitation 
 of the term of presidential service and 
 the placing of the choice of president more 
 effectually in the hands of the people. 2 
 Some of these additional features, but not 
 all, were secured by amendments; never- 
 theless, Mr. Jefferson was as stanch a sup- 
 porter of the Constitution as if it had em- 
 
 1 Powell's Nullification and Secession, p. 7. 
 
 2 Works, vol. vii, p. 336. 
 
 76 
 
Various Questions of Importance 77 
 
 braced all his ideas. He would preserve 
 the general government " in its whole con- 
 stitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of 
 our peace at home and safety abroad," 3 
 and " cherish the federal union as the only 
 rock of safety " ; 4 yet he was just as care- 
 ful " to keep in all things within the pale 
 of our constitutional powers." 5 He 
 would interpret the Constitution " accord- 
 ing to its obvious principles, and those on 
 which it was known to be received." : ' On 
 every question of construction," said he, 
 [let us] " carry ourselves back to the time 
 when the Constitution was adopted, recol- 
 lect the spirit manifested in the debates, 
 and instead of trying what meaning may 
 be squeezed out of the text, or invented 
 against it, conform to the probable one in 
 which it was passed." 6 He would also 
 have changes made in the Constitution, as 
 conditions might require: "The real 
 friends of the Constitution in its federal 
 form, if they wish it to be immortal, should 
 be attentive, by amendments, to make it 
 keep pace with the advance of the age in 
 science and experience. 
 
 » 7 
 
 s First Inaugural. 4 Second Annual Message. 
 
 5 Ibid. 6 Works, vol. vii, p. 296. 
 
 t Works, vol. vii, p. 336. 
 
78 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 B. AFRICAN SLAVERY 
 
 Although Mr. Jefferson himself had a 
 large number of slaves, he was personally- 
 opposed to the institution of slavery, and 
 lost no opportunity to speak against it. 
 While yet a young man, and a new mem- 
 ber of the Virginia Legislature, he drew 
 upon himself, in conjunction with Colonel 
 Bland, the denunciations of the House, by 
 seconding a proposal for certain moderate 
 extensions of the laws to the negroes. 8 As 
 President of the United States he called 
 the attention of Congress, notably in his 
 sixth annual message, to the approach of 
 the period (January 1, 1808), at which 
 they might interpose their authority con- 
 stitutionally to stop the foreign slave 
 trade — " to withdraw the citizens of the 
 United States from all further participa- 
 tion in those violations of human rights 
 which have been so long continued on the 
 unoffending inhabitants of Africa, and 
 which the morality, the reputation, and 
 the best interests of our country have long 
 been eager to proscribe." 9 In 1814 he 
 writes as follows to Edward Coles: " Your 
 
 s Randall's Life of Jeferson, vol. 3, p. 643. 
 9 Statesman's Manual, p. 190. 
 
8£ Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 ent as we read his annual messages and 
 other state papers, and note his continued 
 solicitude for them and their rights. The 
 following paragraph, from his sixth an- 
 nual message, embodies his general senti- 
 ments on the subject: 
 
 " We continue to receive proofs of the 
 growing attachment of our Indian neigh- 
 bors, and of their disposition to place all 
 their interests under the patronage of the 
 United States. These dispositions are in- 
 spired by their confidence in our justice, 
 and in the sincere concern we feel for their 
 welfare, and as long as we discharge these 
 high and honorable functions with the in- 
 tegrity and good faith which alone can 
 entitle us to their continuance, we may ex- 
 pect to reap the just reward in their peace 
 and friendship." 14 
 
 It is to be regretted that such friendly 
 dispositions on the part of the Indians 
 have not always been compelled by justice 
 and honor on our part. 
 
 D. FOREIGNERS 
 
 After noting Mr. Jefferson's concern 
 for the welfare of the Indian tribes, we 
 are not surprised that he should have a 
 
 I* Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 189. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 81 
 
 cation, — that of the negro as well as the 
 white; for although he ventures the opin- 
 ion that the " black man in his present state 
 is not equal in body and mind to the white 
 man," he also says : "It would be hazard- 
 ous to affirm that, equally cultivated for a 
 few generations, he would not become 
 so." 12 Perhaps, could he observe our con- 
 ditions now, he would concur in the opin- 
 ion recently expressed by the colored edu- 
 cator of Savannah, Georgia, Major It. It. 
 Wright, that " if the government had 
 given each colored man forty acres and a 
 mule instead of the ballot it would have 
 been of more profit to the race." In the 
 training of the negro, I think it is prob- 
 able he would emphasize industrial fea- 
 tures ; and this view appears the more ten- 
 able when we remember the care he exer- 
 cised in providing his workshops with car- 
 penters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and 
 nailsmiths from among his slaves. 13 
 
 C. THE AMERICAN INDIANS 
 
 The concern entertained by Mr. Jeffer- 
 son for the welfare and just treatment of 
 the various Indian tribes becomes appar- 
 
 12 Life of Jefferson, vol. 1, pp. 369, 370. 
 i3 Smucker's Life of Jefferson, p. 296. 
 
80 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 We observe from the foregoing quota- 
 tion that Mr. Jefferson's plan for eman- 
 cipation was very similar to that of Henry 
 Clay, who would have provided for grad- 
 ual emancipation, for deportation, and for 
 having the slaves themselves to earn the 
 cost of their transportation and settle- 
 ment. Jefferson would have provided for 
 gradual emancipation, for education, and 
 for deportation. Says his biographer, 
 Randall: "His hostility to African slav- 
 ery is earnestly, vehemently expressed; 
 and he avows the opinion . . . that 
 it was impossible for the two races to live 
 equally free in the same government 
 
 . . that, accordingly, emancipation 
 and ' deportation ' should go hand in hand 
 — and that these processes should be grad- 
 ual enough to make proper provisions for 
 the blacks in their new country, and fill 
 their places in this with free white 
 laborers." n -v" ■ 
 
 How Mr. Jefferson would attempt to 
 solve the problem that confronts us to- 
 day, — that of adjusting the two races 
 " equally free in the same government," — 
 can only be conjectured. He unquestion- 
 ably would spare no means for their edu- 
 
 n Life of Jefferson, vol. 1, p. 370. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 79 
 
 solitary but welcome voice is the first 
 which has brought this sound to my ears ; 
 and I have considered the general silence 
 which prevails on this subject, as indicat- 
 ing an apathy unfavorable to every hope. 
 Yet the hour of emancipation is advanc- 
 ing in the march of time. It will come; 
 and whether brought on by the generous 
 energy of our own minds, or by the bloody 
 process of St. Domingo, . . . is a 
 leaf of our history not yet turned over. 
 
 "As to the method by which this diffi- 
 cult work is to be effected, if permitted to 
 be done by ourselves, I have seen no prop- 
 osition so expedient, on the whole, as that 
 of emancipation of those born after a 
 given day, and of their education and ex- 
 patriation at a proper age. This would 
 give time for a gradual extinction of that 
 species of labor, and substitution of an- 
 other, and lessen the severity of the shock, 
 which an operation so fundamental can- 
 not fail to produce. The idea of emanci- 
 pating the whole at once, the old as well 
 as the young, and retaining them here, is 
 of those only who have not the guide of 
 either knowledge or experience on the sub- 
 ject." 10 
 
 10 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, p. 644. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 83 
 
 similar solicitude for the oppressed of 
 other lands. The following quotation is 
 made from his first annual message : 
 
 " I cannot omit recommending a revisal 
 of the laws on the subject of naturaliza- 
 tion. Considering the ordinary chances 
 of human life, a denial of citizenship 
 under a residence of fourteen years is a 
 denial to a great proportion of those who 
 ask it, and controls a policy pursued from 
 their first settlement by many of these 
 States, and still believed of consequence 
 to their prosperity. And shall we refuse 
 the unhappy fugitives from distress that 
 hospitality which the savages of the wil- 
 derness extended to our fathers arriving 
 in this land? Shall oppressed humanity 
 find no asylum on this globe? The Con- 
 stitution, indeed, has wisely provided that, 
 for admission to certain offices of impor- 
 tant trust, a residence shall be required 
 sufficient to develop character and design. 
 But might not the general character and 
 capabilities of a citizen be safely commu- 
 nicated to everyone manifesting a bona- 
 fide purpose of embarking his life and 
 fortunes permanently with us? With re- 
 strictions, perhaps, to guard against the 
 fraudulent usurpation of our flag. . ." 15 
 
 is Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 157. 
 
84 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 E. THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC 
 
 A temperate man himself, Mr. Jeffer- 
 son felt concerned for the class of men 
 whose weakness for strong drink renders 
 them unfortunate. To what extent, and 
 by what method, he thought legislation 
 might protect the intemperate class, will 
 be apparent from the following extracts 
 from his writings : 
 
 " I rejoice, as a moralist, at the prospect 
 of a reduction of the duties on wine, by 
 our National Legislature. It is an error 
 to view a tax on that liquor as merely a 
 tax on the rich. It is a prohibition of its 
 use to the middling class of our citizens, 
 and a condemnation of them to the poison 
 of whisky, which is desolating their houses. 
 No nation is drunken where wine is cheap ; 
 and none sober, where the dearness of wine 
 substitutes ardent spirits as the common 
 beverage. It is, in truth, the only anti- 
 dote to the bane of whisky. Fix but the 
 duty at the rate of other merchandise, and 
 we can drink wine here as cheap as we do 
 grog; and who will not prefer it? Its ex- 
 tended use will carry health and comfort 
 to a much enlarged circle." l6 
 
 is To M. de Neuville, cir. 1818- -Randall's Life of 
 Jefferson, vol. 3, p. 449. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 85 
 
 To General Samuel Smith he writes, on 
 May 3, 1823: ". . . One of his [the 
 legislator's] important duties is as guard- 
 ian of those who, from causes susceptible 
 of precise definition, cannot take care of 
 themselves. Such are infants, maniacs, 
 gamblers, drunkards. The last, as much 
 as the maniac, requires restrictive measures 
 to save him from the fatal infatuation 
 under which he is destroying his health, his 
 morals, his family, and his usefulness to 
 society. One powerful obstacle to his 
 ruinous self-indulgence would be a price 
 beyond his competence. ... A tax 
 on whisky is to discourage its consump- 
 tion; a tax on foreign spirits encourages 
 whisky by removing its rival from compe- 
 tition. The price and present duty throw 
 foreign spirits already out of competition 
 with whisky, and accordingly they are 
 used but to a salutary extent. You see 
 no persons besotting themselves with im- 
 ported spirits, wines, liquors, cordials, etc. 
 Whisky claims to itself alone the exclu- 
 sive office of sot-making." 17 
 
 If it were true that whisky " claims to 
 itself alone the exclusive office of sot-mak- 
 ing," and if it were true that nobody 
 
 17 Works, vol. vii, p. 285. 
 
86 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 would drink whisky when wine, etc., is as 
 cheap as " grog," then Mr. Jefferson's 
 theory of temperance reform would be 
 very nearly complete. As it is, no one can 
 condemn it wholly. Perhaps, after all, it 
 is about as effective as any legal restric- 
 tion can be; and perhaps, in Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's day, it was even more feasible than 
 at the present. 
 
 Without stopping further to consider 
 the practicability of Mr. Jefferson's plan, 
 as proposed above, or to search for a bet- 
 ter one, I will adduce one more quotation 
 on the subject under discussion, this one 
 from a special message of January 28, 
 1803: 
 
 " These people [certain Indian tribes] 
 are becoming very sensible of the baneful 
 effects produced on their morals, their 
 health, and existence, by the abuse of ar- 
 dent spirits, and some of them earnestly 
 desire a prohibition of that article from 
 being carried among them. The legisla- 
 ture will consider whether the effectuating 
 that desire would not be in the spirit of 
 benevolence and liberality which they have 
 hitherto practiced toward these our neigh- 
 bors, and which has had so happy an effect 
 toward conciliating their friendship. It 
 
Various Questions of Importance 87 
 
 has been found, too, in experience, that 
 the same abuse gives frequent rise to inci- 
 dents tending much to commit our peace 
 with the Indians." 18 
 
 Since Mr. Jefferson recognized that it 
 is a duty of the legislator to guard the 
 drunkard, as well as the maniac; that the 
 distribution of liquor among savages gives 
 frequent rise to trouble; and that with- 
 holding from them ardent spirits might be 
 the part of benevolence and liberality, we 
 can scarcely help but wonder whether he 
 ever reflected upon the advisability of try- 
 ing the same policy with civilized men. 
 However this may be, we cannot help 
 wishing that when our people embarked 
 upon their recent civilizing ( ?) projects 
 they would have followed, a little more 
 closely, in their dealings with Asiatic sav- 
 ages ( ?) , the policy recommended by Mr. 
 Jefferson for dealings with the savages of 
 North America. 
 
 F. CIVIL SERVICE 
 
 It has already been noted under previ- 
 ous heads that Mr. Jefferson advocated a 
 simple system of administration, believing 
 that the number of officials both at home 
 
 is Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 162. 
 
88 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 and abroad should be reduced to the small- 
 est number consistent with efficient service. 
 When he entered upon office as President 
 he had a problem to meet, with respect to 
 the distribution of minor offices, that had 
 not confronted either of his predecessors. 
 Most of the men he found holding posi- 
 tions under presidential appointment were 
 those who had been appointed by General 
 Washington. These persons, on Mr. 
 Adams' election, being either Federalists 
 or men that had never strongly avowed 
 party connection one way or the other, of 
 course gave Mr. Adams no ground for 
 their removal, and so were continued in 
 office during his administration. In Mr. 
 Jefferson's case, however, the conditions 
 were different. He could not consistently 
 and effectively carry out his plan of gov- 
 ernment if a large majority of important 
 positions were held by men antagonistic 
 to his principles. On the other hand, he 
 could not remove many of the Federalists 
 from office without arousing the general 
 opposition of that party, thereby alienat- 
 ing the support that many of them other- 
 wise were disposed to give to his adminis- 
 tration. In the dilemma he endeavored 
 to pursue a middle course — he removed 
 
Various Questions of Importance 89 
 
 some who were violent partisans, some who 
 were appointed literally on the eve of his 
 inauguration, and some who were disqual- 
 ified for the efficient discharge of their du- 
 ties — in all but a comparatively small 
 number. But notwithstanding his discre- 
 tion, he was assailed by both parties — by 
 the Federalists, as having instituted a 
 'spoils" system; by the Republicans, as 
 having yielded too much to the Federal- 
 ists. But although his opponents accuse 
 him of originating the doctrine, " To the 
 victors belong the spoils," they at the same 
 time are forced to acknowledge his mod- 
 eration. "It is due him to say that, al- 
 though he confined his appointments to 
 office to his political friends, as did gener- 
 ally his successors, Presidents Madison 
 and Monroe, his removals of political op- 
 ponents from office, during the eight years 
 of his administration, were but few in 
 number, compared with those of more 
 recent administrations." 19 
 
 On the whole, therefore, it seems evi- 
 dent that Mr. Jefferson based his choice 
 of men for office upon their fitness for ef- 
 ficient service, rather than upon party dis- 
 tinctions. ''* I have never removed a man," 
 
 io Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 221. 
 
90 Political Opmions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 says he, " merely because he was a Feder- 
 alist: I have never wished them to give a 
 vote at an election, but according to their 
 own wishes. But as no government could 
 discharge its duties to the best advantage 
 of its citizens, if its agents were in a regu- 
 lar course of thwarting instead of execut- 
 ing all its measures, and were employing 
 the patronage and influence of their offices 
 against the government and its measures, 
 I have only requested they would be quiet, 
 and they should be safe ; that if their con- 
 science urges them to take an active and 
 zealous part in opposition, it ought also to 
 urge them to retire from a post which they 
 could not conscientiously conduct with 
 fidelity to the trust reposed in them; and 
 on failure to retire, I have removed them ; 
 that is to say, those who maintained an ac- 
 tive and zealous opposition to the govern- 
 ment." 20 
 
 G. MONEY AND BANKS 
 
 By the limitation of its charter, the 
 United States Bank had expired in 1811. 
 Very soon after its friends in Congress 
 began earnestly to urge its reestablish- 
 ment, on the ground that the want of it 
 
 20 To John Page, July 17, 1807.— Works, vol. v, p. 136. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 91 
 
 mainly led to the distressing derangement 
 prevailing in monetary affairs. Some of 
 the earlier Republican opponents of the 
 bank had begun to yield to these views; 
 but Mr. Jefferson maintained his uncom- 
 promising hostility. His general plan 
 was to propose, as a substitute for the 
 bank, the issuance of Treasury bills, 
 ' emitted on a specific tax appropriated 
 for their redemption." He pronounced 
 the system of State banks, as then organ- 
 ized, unsubstantial and fraudulent — " pro- 
 ductive of evil at best, and always ready 
 to explode and carry ruin throughout the 
 community." He regarded State banks 
 as convenient, and even necessary, per- 
 haps, for the accommodation of business 
 men, but thought they should offer noth- 
 ing but cash in exchange for discounted 
 bills. 21 On September 10, 1814, when the 
 banks suspended specie payment, he wrote 
 to Thomas Cooper: " The crisis, then, of 
 the abuses of banking is arrived. . . . 
 Between two and three hundred millions 
 of dollars of their promissory notes are in 
 the hands of the people, for solid produce 
 and property sold, and they formally de- 
 clare they will not pay them. This is an 
 
 2i Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, pp. 386, 387. 
 
92 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 act of bankruptcy, of course, and will be 
 so pronounced by any court before which 
 it shall be brought. ... A fearful 
 tax ! if equalized on all ; but overwhelming 
 and convulsive by its partial fall. . . . 
 From the establishment of the United 
 States Bank, to this day, I have preached 
 against this system, but have been sensible 
 no cure could be hoped but in the catas- 
 trophe now happening. . . . We are 
 now without any medium; and necessity, 
 as well as patriotism and confidence, will 
 make us all eager to receive treasury notes, 
 if founded on specific taxes. Congress 
 may now borrow of the public, and with- 
 out interest, all the money they may want, 
 to the amount of a competent circulation, 
 by merely issuing their own promissory 
 notes, of proper denominations, for the 
 larger purposes of circulation, but not for 
 the small. Leave that door open for the 
 entrance of metallic money. . . ." 22 
 
 H. RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY 
 
 While Mr. Jefferson continually in- 
 sisted that it is the duty of every citizen to 
 acquiesce in the decision of the majority, 
 he at the same time recognized that the 
 
 22 Randall's Life of Jeferson, vol. 3, pp. 402, 403. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 93 
 
 minority have rights that the majority are 
 bound to respect. This is a truth that 
 should always be remembered. There are 
 always many souls in every commonwealth 
 that have no voice in the government, how- 
 ever democratic the system may be. Be- 
 cause women and children may have no 
 vote, and therefore exercise no active 
 power in the State, is no reason why the 
 laws should ignore their interests. Like- 
 wise, when one political party has been de- 
 feated, its interests, or at least the individ- 
 ual rights of those composing it, should 
 not be held as forfeited to the party in 
 power, but the hand of justice should pro- 
 tect the privileges of vanquished as well 
 as victors. 
 
 " All . . . will bear in mind this 
 sacred principle," says Mr. Jefferson, in 
 his first inaugural address, " that though 
 the will of the majority is in all cases to 
 prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be 
 reasonable ; that the minority possess their 
 equal rights, which equal laws must pro- 
 tect, and to violate which would be oppres- 
 sion. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite 
 with one heart and one mind. Let us re- 
 store to social intercourse that harmony 
 and affection without which liberty and 
 
94 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 even life itself are but dreary things. And 
 let us reflect that having banished from 
 our land that religious intolerance under 
 which mankind so long bled and suffered, 
 we have yet gained little if we counte- 
 nance a political intolerance as despotic, as 
 wicked, and capable of as bitter and 
 bloody persecutions." 
 
 I. EXPAXSIOX OF TEREITORY 
 
 Mr. Jefferson favored expansion of ter- 
 ritory, to a certain extent; for, besides his 
 natural desire for healthy national growth, 
 he believed that the government of a large 
 country is apt to be safer and freer from 
 corrupting influences than the government 
 of a small district. The great empire of 
 Louisiana was his purchase. He regarded 
 Texas and the Floridas as naturally fall- 
 ing to our right. 23 ' I have ever looked 
 on Cuba," he says, " as the most interest- 
 ing addition which could ever be made to 
 our system of States. The control which, 
 with Florida Point, this island would give 
 us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the coun- 
 tries and isthmus bordering on it, as well 
 as all those whose waters flow into it, would 
 fill up the measure of our political well- 
 
 23 Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. 3, pp. 471, 472. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 95 
 
 being." 24 Possibly, then, he would have 
 favored the acquisition of the nearer 
 South American states and a portion, or 
 all, of Canada. Possibly he would, I say. 
 If Canada and such of the South Ameri- 
 can states as could combine with intelli- 
 gence their citizens with ours would have 
 manifested a disposition to enter our 
 Union, I believe Mr. Jefferson would 
 have been one to consider the proposition 
 favorably. But would he have compelled 
 them by force of arms to partake of our 
 liberties? I trow not. Would he then 
 have sought territory by conquest on the 
 opposite side of the globe? To ask this 
 question is, it seems to me, to answer it; 
 for much as he desired Cuba, right at our 
 doors, he did not want it at the " expense 
 of war and enmity." 25 But if anyone is 
 still disposed, as some have seemed to be, 
 to justify the present expansive policy of 
 the United States by pointing to the ex- 
 pansive policy of Jefferson, let them pro- 
 ceed to reconcile the principle of standing 
 armies with the principle of no standing 
 army, and the principle of governmental 
 despotism with governmental liberty; and 
 if these principles seem reconcilable and 
 
 24 Works, vol. vii, p. 317. 25 ibid. 
 
96 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 reconciled, then let them consider the fol- 
 lowing declarations: 
 
 ' From many conversations with him 
 [M. Corres, appointed minister to Brazil 
 by the Government of Portugal], I hope 
 he sees, and will promote in his new situa- 
 tion, the advantages of a cordial frater- 
 nization among all the American nations, 
 and the importance of their coalescing in 
 an American system of policy, totally in- 
 dependent of and unconnected with that 
 of Europe. The day is not distant when 
 we may formally require a meridian of 
 partition through the ocean which sepa- 
 rates the two hemispheres, on the hither 
 side of which no European gun shall ever 
 be heard, nor an American on the other; 
 and when, during the rage of the eternal 
 wars of Europe, the lion and the lamb, 
 within our regions, shall lie down together 
 in peace." 26 
 
 " Our first and fundamental maxim 
 should be, never to entangle ourselves in 
 the broils of Europe. [But of Asia?] 
 Our second, never to suffer Europe to in- 
 termeddle with cis- Atlantic affairs." 27 
 
 26 To William Short, August 4, 1820.— Randall's Life 
 of Jeferson, vol. iii, p. 472. 
 
 27 To President Monroe, October 24, 1823.— Works, 
 vol. vii, p. 315. 
 
Various Questions of Importance 97 
 J. PROVIDENCE IN POLITICS 
 
 Some men have counted Mr. Jefferson 
 an atheist. Now, whatever he was, that he 
 was not. However we may question his 
 orthodoxy, we cannot question his belief 
 in an Almighty and All- Wise Providence, 
 — unless we question his sincerity. That 
 he regarded the All- Wise as being con- 
 cerned in the welfare and progress of men 
 and nations, and that he desired to encour- 
 age a becoming reverence for Him, is ap- 
 parent in all his more formal state pa- 
 pers. The following paragraph, quoted 
 from Mr. Jefferson's second inaugural 
 address, will serve to illustrate the point 
 in question: 
 
 " I shall need, too, the favor of that 
 Being in whose hands we are, who led our 
 forefathers, as Israel of old, from their 
 native land, and planted them in a country 
 flowing with all the necessaries and com- 
 forts of life ; who has covered our infancy 
 with His providence, and our riper years 
 with His wisdom and power ; and to whose 
 goodness I ask you to join with me in sup- 
 plications that He will so enlighten the 
 minds of your servants, guide their coun- 
 cils, and prosper their measures, that what- 
 
98 Political Opinions of Thomas Jefferson 
 
 soever they do, shall result in your good, 
 and shall secure to you the peace, friend- 
 ship, and approbation of all nations." 28 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS 
 
 Jefferson was not only a political scien- 
 tist ; he was also a practical statesman. He 
 served his own age well, but succeeding 
 ages better; for while he was, perhaps, a 
 step in advance of his own generation, he 
 was building also for their children. He 
 stood for freedom of action, freedom of 
 conscience, freedom of intellect. The 
 American apostle of human rights and 
 human liberties, he reinaugurated the 
 American crusade against ignorance, 
 seeking to implant knowledge and virtue 
 in each individual as the " true basis of 
 the state, and as the best safeguard for 
 the right exercise of liberty." 
 
 28 Statesman's Manual, vol. i, p. 176. 
 
 2187 85 
 

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