Jeffersonian democracy

The core political value of America is  – citizens have a civic duty to aid the state and resist corruption, especially monarchism, and aristocracy.^[12]

Jeffersonian values are best expressed through an organized political party. The Jeffersonian party was officially the "Republican Party"; political scientists later called it the to differentiate it from the later Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln.^[13]

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.^[15]

The , especially its leader Alexander Hamilton, was the arch-foe because of its acceptance of aristocracy and British methods.

The is a dangerous necessity to be instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the people, nation or community – it should be watched closely and circumscribed in its powers. Most anti-Federalists from 1787 to 1788 joined the Jeffersonians.^[16]

is the best method to keep the government free of religious disputes and religion free from corruption by the government.^[17]

The federal government must not violate the . The Bill of Rights is a central theme.^[18]

The federal government must not violate the . The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 (written secretly by Jefferson and James Madison) proclaim these principles.^[19]

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.^[20]

The farmer best exemplifies civic virtue and independence from corrupting city influences – government policy should be for his benefit. Financiers, bankers, and industrialists make cities the "cesspools of corruption" and should be avoided.^[21]

The 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".^[22]

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 , a Federalist, who dominated the Court from 1801 to his death in 1835.^[24]

Banning, Lance. The Jeffersonian Persuasion: Evolution of a Party Ideology (1978)

Banning, Lance. "Jeffersonian Ideology Revisited: Liberal and Classical Ideas in the New American Republic," William and Mary Quarterly (1986) 43#1 pp. 3–19

Beard, Charles A. "Some Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy." American Historical Review 19#2 (1914): pp. 282–298; Summary of his famous book;

Brown; Stuart Gerry. The First Republicans: Political Philosophy and Public Policy in the Party of Jefferson and Madison

Cunningham, Noble E. The Jeffersonian Republicans in power; party operations, 1801–1809 (1963)

Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric L. McKitrick. The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 (1995), the standard political history of the 1790s