Thomas Jefferson, the Apostle of AmericanismChinard, Gilbert
History
Thomas Jefferson, the Apostle of Americanism
Chinard, Gilbert
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826
generally did not own a particle of land, were footloose, unattached,
and free to move from one city to another at any time; they constituted
a restless and dangerous element. It mattered little that, for the
present, they gave their support to the Republicans and had joined the
Democratic clubs; Jefferson knew too well that they would be easily
influenced in their views by a good orator, by passions of the moment,
and could not be relied upon in an emergency.
It would be easy to point out the close resemblance of certain features
of this ideal of Jefferson with the theories of the Physiocrats. Such a
parallelism, however, can be easily exaggerated and to a great extent is
very misleading. Whether all riches came from the soil, or were the
product of labor in any form, or both, Jefferson did not know and did
not care. He was no more a disciple of Quesnay than of Adam Smith,
simply because he was not an economist but a sociologist. Hamilton, who
was an economist of the first rank, was primarily interested in the
development of production and in the circulation of wealth, and paid
little attention to the social modification that an industrialization of
the country would probably bring about. Jefferson, on the contrary, was
solely interested in protecting and preserving a certain pattern of
civilization which was essentially an agricultural pattern--the only
safe foundation for the political and private virtues of vital
importance in a democracy. Manufactures meant surplus production, which
meant, in turn, the necessity of exporting. If America became a great
industrial nation, she would have, sooner or later, to export her
surplus production and in turn to import many products from Europe. But
if the country maintained extensive trade connections with Europe she
would be necessarily caught in the maze of international politics. Her
commercial interests would clash with the interests of Europe, and this
would ultimately result in wars or at least in a constant threat of war.
It would also mean the building of a strong navy to protect American
commerce, perhaps the establishment of a permanent army; at any rate,
the immediate consequence would be an enormous increase in taxes, the
necessity of resorting to internal taxation, the burden of which would
fall on the backs of the farmers. Numerous tax collectors would have to
be appointed; Federal employees and officials ready to act at the beck
and call of the Government would swarm all over the country. State
rights and individual rights would be restricted and invaded, and
liberty would exist only in name. On the other hand, foreign commerce
was not to be entirely suppressed. Commerce was a natural and desirable
thing with one's neighbors. Geographically the West Indies had closer
connections with America than with Europe, and it was in that direction
that the United States could develop their trade. This was a natural law
and a natural right, and any obstacle put to the natural flow of trade
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