A Revisionist perspective of the election of Thomas Jefferson
Consensus historians paint Thomas Jefferson as the great father of democracy, referring to his election to the presidency as the "revolution of 1800." In actuality, Thomas Jefferson was an inconsistent man, who was philosophically against the Federalists, but who did not bring about any significant political or ideological changes during his presidency. Recently, revisionist historians have begun to question the notion of Jefferson as the "representative of the common man." Many of these historians now agree that Jefferson's life was wrought with contradictions, and that his policies, as a president, actually reflected a synthesis of the Federalist and Republican ideologies. "We are all republicans, we are all federalists," Jefferson stated in his first inaugural address. Many Americans were shocked to hear those words come out of the same mouth that had supported the bloody conflicts of the French Revolution years before. Jefferson's many political theories, and personal letters, sometimes reflected an interest in the common man and democracy, while his actual practices were drastically different. Politically, the Jeffersonian party was insecure and inconsistent. After being elected president
One of the main contradictions of the Jefferson administration was its adoption of Federalist economic policies. Jefferson had no clear economic plan; he theorized about the adoption of a laissez-faire policy, and the destruction of the Hamiltonian system, but did nothing about this as president. Jefferson, by and large, maintained the Federalist system throughout his presidency. One of the first things Jefferson did was to abolish the hated excise taxes on whiskey. In order to do this, he had to find another way to acquire funds. Thus he justified increasing protective tariffs. This rendered the abolition of the whiskey tax merely cosmetic, as the direct tax was reduced, but the prices of all commodities were raised. Jefferson also had the national bank destroyed, but re-instituted it in 1816 in order to raise national funds. His party's legislature began to issue charters freely to local banks. Jefferson made no attempts to put an end to many parts of the existing federalist system, such as land speculation on public land. In addition Jefferson developed the infrastructure, spending $20 million on a network of national roads and canals. Hoffsteter states, "Since his policies did not deviate too widely from the federalists, Jefferson hoped to win over the moderates from their ranks...soon the republican machines began flirting with the financial interests they were sworn to oppose." Through examining his personal letters and private life, we find many serious inconsistencies in Jefferson's ideologies. One issue that has been scrutinized lately is Jefferson's views on slavery and women. Many consensus historians argue that Jefferson was a benevolent slave owner, and advocated for the abolition of slavery. A revisionist historian will continue to tell you that while he wanted to abolish slavery, he stated that blacks and whites could never both live freely in the same society. As Conor Cruise O'Brien pointed out in his article, "Thomas Jefferson: Radical and Racist," "In
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