Compare And Contrast Thomas Jefferson A Democratic Form Of Government

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Throughout his life, Thomas Jefferson, a lifelong Enlightenment student, advocated democratic principles in his writing of the Declaration of Independence, his political career, his Presidency, and even his retirement. Jefferson believed that a democratic form of government was the best way for the governed to ensure that their government would guarantee natural rights for all people while ensuring they were capable of governing effectively.
Jefferson believed people had the right to follow any, or no, religion and was opposed to a governmental establishment of it. He felt that such an establishment supported the oppression the Church had committed with the Crown. People should to decide for themselves what they support and believe without government influence; a true religion could stand on its own. …show more content…

He supported the common idea of the time that only property holders, who had something to lose, could vote responsibly. In order to expand suffrage to all adult white males, he proposed giving them all a plot of land so they could meet the requirements. However, he opposed allowing women to play a part in government, believing them to be both physically and mentally inferior to men. Not subscribing to the belief that only members of the upper class should rule, he assigned political positions based on qualifications rather than social class. He believed that small farmers lived the purest and most corruption-free lives and that an agrarian society made government purer than an urban one. Thomas Jefferson believed that democracy was the best way to guarantee that a government ensured its people’s natural rights. He believed that an educated people, free from mandated intellectual influences, economic dependence, and requirements of privileged birth, would be capable of protecting their own rights. However, not all aspects of his beliefs came to fruition in his

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