Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson has been commonly portrayed as a militant man that was against a capitalist society who destroyed Federalism. Jefferson was given these titles by people who exaggerated or over emphasized the impact of his deeds and henceforth Jefferson’s character was distorted. Jefferson was born into the common wealth of Virginia by his aristocratic parents Peter Jefferson and mother, Jane Randolph. Jane Randolph was also born into a very distinguished family thus making it inevitable for Thomas Jefferson to not already have a highly predetermined social class. Jefferson was a very wealthy man that had hundreds of slaves carry out his every day chores creating an immense amount of free time for Jefferson to produce his great writings. Jefferson was a much more fair and generous slave master than others of the contemporary and he couldn’t help his view of the common society be persuaded by the people that supported him. He prided himself on not trying to interfere with other people’s affaires but on aiding them when they need help. Jefferson was a leader not a follower and created his own ideas and concepts that were somewhat revolutionary at that time. Most men of the time, especially if an aristocrat, were very determined to have rigidly defined social classes but Jefferson, an aristocrat, believed that all men were equal and social classes should be disregarded, it’s ironic and quite hypocritical of Jefferson because he, himself was a slave owner.

After graduating from William and Mary of Virginia, he fell right along with the masses and became involved politically. At that time it was almost demanded, socially, of Virginian aristocrats to become involved in politics. Like many other Virginia pl...

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...ead it has earned.”(Page 49)

Jefferson and his followers had seen the terrible effects of British influence on American affairs and thought Hamilton’s system was a mere continuation of it. They believed that Hamilton had helped the capitalists at the expense agrarians. Jefferson did not hope to set up a government that would help the agrarians at the expense of the capitalists but would “let things alone.” People before Jefferson saw that the government was needed to interfere to help the poor but Jefferson claimed that the only interference needed was to deprive the rich of certain things such as, interest bearing debts and bounties. He believed in laissez- faire economics and thought if the government played no favorites then the wealth would become evenly distributed.

“Nothing then is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man”