The Patriot Post® · That Red-Haired Virginian

I admit that Thomas Jefferson holds a special place in my history Hall of Fame. The young scholar and political philosopher who penned the Declaration of Independence, flawed though he may have been, has sparked a love of liberty and a few revolutions during the almost 250 years since that document provided the justification for the American Revolution.

By 1800, when he was elected as president of the United States, Jefferson had already amassed a list of accomplishments that would have guaranteed him a place in U.S. history. He had studied Enlightenment writings; pursued legal studies under the guidance of George Wythe; practiced law; served in the Virginia House of Burgesses; organized the Virginia Committee of Correspondence; written Summary View of the Rights of British America; authored the Virginia Statues on Religious Freedom; and served as a member of the Second Continental Congress. Are you exhausted yet? And those hallmarks of service were accomplished before his 34th birthday!

Between 1776 and 1800, he had argued against the practice of slavery and yet owned slaves. He had advocated for a comprehensive system of free public schools because he believed that literacy was critical to active, engaged citizenship. He believed that any student, regardless of social class, should be admitted to university studies; the only barrier to higher education should be a true intellectual limit — not a popular idea in the late 17th century.

He had served two terms as governor of Virginia; written a book about Virginia; been chosen as a Virginia delegate to the Confederation Congress; provided the framework for the Northwest Ordinance of 1787; lived in Paris as U.S. Minister to France; corresponded with James Madison and others during the Constitutional Convention; and returned home to serve President George Washington as Secretary of State and later as Vice President during John Adams’s one term as president.

The 1800 presidential election saw Jefferson triumph over his former friend, John Adams, but the level of rivalry, negative press, and conflict present during campaigning shocked most citizens. The fact that the House of Representatives took 35 ballots to determine the winner — with Federalist Alexander Hamilton tipping the scales in favor of Jefferson only because he despised Aaron Burr — only increased the conflict. (Burr, not noted for his forgiving nature, would later kill Hamilton in a duel…)

Now that the Virginian was president, how would he deal with the issues facing the republic at the beginning of the 19th century? Could he heal the wounds created by two presidential elections that had not gone smoothly?

In his Inaugural Address, Jefferson attempted to explain his priorities as president — and he had obviously given much thought to his role and responsibilities because the list is long and specific.

It is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and, consequently, those which ought to shape its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations:

— Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political:

— peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none:

— the support of the state governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic 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: a jealous care of the right of election by the people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided:

— absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of the despotism:

— a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them:

— the supremacy of the civil over the military authority:

— economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened:

— the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith:

— encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid:

— the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason:

— freedom of religion; freedom of the press; and freedom of person, under the protection of the Habeas Corpus:

— and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation, which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment:

— they should be the creed of our political faith; the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty and safety.

Well, that’s a list, isn’t it?

Next week, we’ll see how he does.