1790-1820 жылдардағы Американдық Джефферсон демократиясы

American political persuasion of the 1790s until the 1820s

Jeffersonian democracy, named after its advocate Thomas Jefferson, was one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The Jeffersonians were deeply committed to American republicanism, which meant opposition to what they considered to be artificial aristocracy, opposition to corruption, and insistence on virtue, with a priority for the "yeoman farmer", "planters", and the "plain folk". The Jeffersonians advocated a narrow interpretation of the Constitution's Article I provisions granting powers to the federal government. They strenuously opposed the Federalist Party, led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. President George Washington generally supported Hamilton's program for a financially strong national government. The election of Jefferson in 1800, which Jefferson labeled "the revolution of 1800", brought in the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson and the permanent eclipse of the Federalists, apart from the Supreme Court. Jeffersonian democracy is an umbrella term and some factions favored some positions more than others. While principled, with vehemently held core beliefs, the Jeffersonians had factions that disputed the true meaning of their creed. For example, during the War of 1812 it became apparent that independent state militia units were inadequate for conducting a serious war against a major country. The new Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, a Jeffersonian, proposed to build up the Army. With the support of most Republicans in Congress, Calhoun got his way. However, the "Old Republican" faction, claiming to be true to the Jeffersonian Principles of '98, fought him and reduced the size of the Army after Spain sold Florida to the U. S.

Historians characterize Jeffersonian democracy as including the following core ideals:
The core political value of America is republicanismcitizens have a civic duty to aid the state and resist corruption, especially monarchism, and aristocracy. Jeffersonian values are best expressed through an organized political party. The Jeffersonian party was officially the "Republican Party"; political scientists later called it the Democratic Republican Party to differentiate it from the later Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln. It was the duty of citizens to vote and the Jeffersonians invented many modern campaign techniques designed to get out the vote. Turnout indeed soared across the country. The work of John J. Beckley, Jefferson's agent in Pennsylvania, set new standards in the 1790s. In the 1796 presidential election, he blanketed the state with agents who passed out 30,000 hand written tickets, naming all 15 electors (printed tickets were not allowed). Historians consider Beckley to be one of the first American professional campaign managers and his techniques were quickly adopted in other states. The Federalist Party, especially its leader Alexander Hamilton, was the arch foe because of its acceptance of aristocracy and British methods. The national government is a dangerous necessity to be instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the people, nation or communityit should be watched closely and circumscribed in its powers. Most anti Federalists from 1787 to 1788 joined the Jeffersonians. Separation of church and state is the best method to keep the government free of religious disputes and religion free from corruption by the government. The federal government must not violate the rights of individuals. The Bill of Rights is a central theme. The federal government must not violate the rights of the states. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 (written secretly by Jefferson and James Madison) proclaim these principles. Freedom of speech and the press are the best methods to prevent tyranny over the people by their own government. The Federalists' violation of this freedom through the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 became a major issue. The yeoman farmer best exemplifies civic virtue and independence from corrupting city influencesgovernment policy should be for his benefit. Financiers, bankers, and industrialists make cities the "cesspools of corruption" and should be avoided. The United States Constitution was written in order to ensure the freedom of the people. However, as Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1789, "no society can make a perpetual constitution or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation". All men have the right to be informed and thus to have a say in the government. The protection and expansion of human liberty was one of the chief goals of the Jeffersonians. They also reformed their respective state systems of education. They believed that their citizens had a right to an education no matter their circumstance or status in life. The judiciary should be subservient to the elected branches and the Supreme Court should not have the power to strike down laws passed by Congress. The Jeffersonians lost this battle to Chief Justice John Marshall, a Federalist, who dominated the Court from 1801 to his death in 1835.

Territorial expansion of the United States was a major goal of the Jeffersonians because it would produce new farm lands for yeomen farmers. The Jeffersonians wanted to integrate the Indians into American society or remove further west those tribes that refused to integrate. However, Sheehan (1974) argues that the Jeffersonians, with the best of goodwill toward the Indians, destroyed their distinctive cultures with their misguided benevolence. The Jeffersonians took enormous pride in the bargain they reached with France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It opened up vast new fertile farmlands from Louisiana to Montana. Jefferson saw the West as an economic safety valve that would allow people in the crowded East to own farms. However, established New England political interests feared the growth of the West and a majority in the Federalist Party opposed the purchase. Jeffersonians thought the new territory would help maintain their vision of the ideal republican society, based on agricultural commerce, governed lightly and promoting self reliance and virtue. Jeffersonians' dream did not come to pass as the Louisiana Purchase was a turning point in the history of American imperialism. The farmers that Jefferson identified with conquered the West, often through violence against Native Americans. Jefferson himself sympathized with Native Americans, but that did not stop him from enacting policies that would continue the trend towards the dispossession of their lands.

Jeffersonian agrarians held that the economy of the United States should rely more on agriculture for strategic commodities than on industry. Jefferson specifically believed: "Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if He ever had a chosen people, whose breast He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue". However, Jeffersonian ideals are not opposed to all manufacturing, rather he believed that all people have the right to work to provide for their own subsistence and that an economic system which undermines that right is unacceptable. Jefferson believed the expansion of industry and trade could lead to the development of a class of wage laborers reliant on others for income and sustenance. It would result in workers who were dependent voters. This made Jefferson apprehensive that Americans were at risk of economic exploitation and political coercion. Jefferson’s solution was, as scholar Clay Jenkinson noted, "a graduated income tax that would serve as a disincentive to vast accumulations of wealth and would make funds available for some sort of benign redistribution downward" as well as tariffs on imported articles, which were mainly purchased by the wealthy. In 1811, Jefferson wrote a friend:
These revenues will be levied entirely on the rich The Rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone, the whole taxes of the General Government are levied. The poor man pays not a farthing of tax to the General Government, but on his salt. However, Jefferson was of the belief that a tax on income, as well as consumption, would constitute excessive taxation, writing in an 1816 letter: if the system be established on the basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from everyone, to step into the field of Consumption and tax special articles is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in the exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens. Similarly, Jefferson had protectionist views on international trade. He believed that not only would economic dependence on Europe diminish the virtue of the republic, but that the United States had an abundance of natural resources that Americans should be able to cultivate and use to tend to their own needs. Furthermore, exporting goods by merchant ships created risks of capture by foreign pirates and armies, which would require an expensive navy for protection.

While the Federalists advocated for a strong central government, Jeffersonians argued for strong state and local governments and a weak federal government. Jeffersonians favored a strict construction interpretation of federal government powers described in Article I of the Constitution. For example, Jefferson once wrote a letter to Charles Willson Peale explaining that although a Smithsonian style national museum would be a fantastic resource, he could not support the use of federal funds to construct and maintain such a project. The "strict constructionism" of today is a remote descendant of Jefferson's views.

The spirit of Jeffersonian democracy dominated American politics from 1800 to 1824, the First Party System, under Jefferson and succeeding presidents James Madison and James Monroe. The Jeffersonians proved much more successful than the Federalists in building state and local party organizations that united various factions. Voters in every state formed blocs loyal to the Jeffersonian coalition. Prominent spokesmen for Jeffersonian principles included Madison, Albert Gallatin, John Randolph of Roanoke, Nathaniel Macon, John Taylor of Caroline, and James Monroe, John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay; however, Calhoun, Adams, and Clay pursued new paths after 1828. Randolph was the Jeffersonian leader in Congress from 1801 to 1815, but he later broke with Jefferson and formed his own "Tertium Quids" faction because he thought the president no longer adhered to the true Jeffersonian principles of 1798. The Quids wanted to actively punish and discharge Federalists in the government and in the courts. Jefferson himself sided with the moderate faction exemplified by figures such as Madison, who were much more conciliatory towards Federalism. After the Madison administration experienced serious trouble financing the War of 1812 and discovered the Army and militia were unable to make war effectively, a new generation of Republican nationalists emerged. They were supported by President James Monroe, an original Jeffersonian; and included John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. In 1824, Adams defeated Andrew Jackson, who had support from the Quids; and in a few years two successor parties had emerged, the Democratic Party, which formulated Jacksonian democracy and which still exists; and Henry Clay's Whig Party. Their competition marked the Second Party System. After 1830, the principles were still talked about but did not form the basis of a political party, thus editor Horace Greeley in 1838 started a magazine, The Jeffersonian, that he said "would exhibit a practical regard for that cardinal principle of Jeffersonian Democracy, and the People are the sole and safe depository of all power, principles and opinions which are to direct the Government".

Cogliano, Francis D. ed. A Companion to Thomas Jefferson (2012), 648 pp; 34 essays by scholars focusing on how historians have handled Jefferson. online
Robertson, Andrew W. "Afterword: Reconceptualizing Jeffersonian Democracy," Journal of the Early Republic (2013) 33#2 pp. 317–334 on recent voting studies online