Jeffersonian Localism at 250

Mason Letteau Stallings argues that while Thomas Jefferson was America's most liberal Founding Fathers, his instincts nevertheless drew him to some solid pre-liberal conceptions of politics.

There is much that Thomas Jefferson can be criticized for. After all, he sympathized strongly with the French Revolution and held wacky theological beliefs. At the same time, he was one of the American nation’s paters patriae, and his role in the American War for Independence, as secretary of state, vice president, and then president, leaves him second only to Washington. On their own, these things mark Jefferson out as one of the greatest national heroes, independent of his ideological beliefs. However, there are certain aspects of Jeffersonianism which can be separated from Jefferson’s liberalism, and represent a pre-liberal worldview and should be recognized in any American attempts to move beyond liberalism.

Out of all of the Founding Fathers, Jefferson was probably the most liberal. It is common knowledge that Jefferson was deeply influenced by the philosopher John Locke, using Locke’s “Life, Liberty, and Property” when writing “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. Rejecting any notion of “the democracy of the dead,” Jefferson held that “the earth belongs to the living generation.” He was hostile to any religious establishment and is responsible for the “wall of separation” phrase that liberals like to throw around in their jurisprudence (this should not be confused with contemporary social liberalism; after all, Jefferson still favored castration as punishment for sodomy). Jefferson sympathized strongly with the French Revolution (though later in life believed that the French should have merely moved towards a British-style limited monarchy).