Jefferson and His Vision

Jong Hwan Won

English 170B

Professor Michael Colacurcio

May 8, 2006

Ў°Jefferson and his VisionЎ±

Guided by his fervent and unwavering commitment to reason and the principles of natural law and natural rights, Thomas Jefferson crafted his own unique political and social vision for the United States of America which, excluding a few notable omissions, has survived to become an important contribution to the cornerstone of American democracy. His vision was of an agrarian and populist nation of citizens with access to general and widespread education, whose rulers are chosen on grounds of their individual merits and talents rather than on basis of birth and inheritance, and governed by a decentralized system of government, whose main duty is to safeguard the unalienable natural rights and freedom of the individual, and the general well-being and happiness of the citizen, as well as the unimpeded enforcement of the general will of society at large. This vision is the result and culmination of his personal beliefs on the topics of universal liberty and political philosophy, weighed and viewed through the discerning and logical lens of reason.

An enlightened figure of liberal and rational eighteenth century thought, Jefferson wholeheartedly championed the concept and principle of natural rights Ў°as derived from the laws of natureЎ± (Summary View). He also believed that given Ў°the nature of things, every societyЎ± must naturally have some form of Ў°legislatureЎ± and government (Summary View), and Ў°that the will of the majority should always prevailЎ± (Letter to Madison). Jefferson believed it was critical to submit absolutely to Ў°the decisions of the majority,Ў± which is the Ў°vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to

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force,Ў± which is the Ў°vital principleЎ¦ of despotismЎ± (Inaugural Address). In order to reconcile these seemingly opposite and incompatible dictates of individual freedom and the necessity for government and submission to its rule, Jefferson proposed and argued for a weak and republican form of central government. His assertion that he is Ў°not a friendЎ± to a form of Ў°very energetic governmentЎ± because Ў°it is always oppressive,Ў± encapsulates his desire for a limited federal government (Letter to Madison). His fear of a strong central government and its inherent and disproportionate allocation of power into the hands of a few, shows in his protest of Ў°the abandonment in every instance of the necessity of rotation in office,Ў± the perpetuation of which would logically lead to despotism and corruption, as an elected officer will Ў°then be an officer for life,Ў± easily targeted and swayed by factional interests in contention to the general will (Letter to Madison). His trepidation of giving too much power to a few also shows in his desire to give the Judiciary branch of government Ў°a separate powerЎ± of veto in addition to the veto power already allocated to Congress (Letter to Madison). Another tenet of JeffersonЎЇs political vision expresses itself in his insistence on the necessity of the protection of natural rights, as embodied by his urging to include in the Constitution a Bill of Rights, guaranteeing certain rights that Ў°the people are entitled to against every government on earthЎ± (Letter to Madison). He asserted that the protection of these basic rights and liberties Ў°should be the creed of our political faithЎ± (Inaugural Address). Of utmost importance to Jefferson, he made sure that the natural rights he felt all people were entitled to in a state of nature, were protected from the ravages of a social contract executed by a strong and oppressive government.

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Instead of a strong central government, Jefferson favored the role of the individual states Ў°as the most competent administrations forЎ¦ domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies,Ў± and called for the Ў°preservation ofЎ± a weak central government mostly catering to the protection of Ў°the right of election by the peopleЎ± and other liberties, while securing Ў°peace at home and safety abroadЎ± (Inaugural Address). He proposed Ў°a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one anotherЎ± and at the same time, Ў°leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuitsЎ± (Inaugural Address). Above all things, he wanted to avoid an oppressive and tyrannical central government vested with too much power. This central government proposed by Jefferson Ў°shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned,Ў± and instead