what is Jefferson's idea of "The Empire of Liberty"?
475113
Jefferson sought to formulate a policy not driven by "reason of state". Reason of state subjugated all aspects of a country to the survival of the state by whatever means possible. Religious, moral, and political laws could be set aside if the security of the state were threatened. In a foreign policy based upon reason of state, war and foreign policy supersede all else, as these function as the primary agents to preserve the state. Instead, Jefferson posited "peaceable coercion" of other nations by economic and diplomatic means, reasoning that free trade could be established without war and political involvement. His insistence on a different type of foreign policy, among other factors, gave rise to his Republican-Federalist feud with Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, in Jefferson’s opinion, concentrated far too much upon reason of state and the institutions and ideologies that supported the state. Jefferson abhorred these institutions and ideologies, particularly the waging of war. Jefferson equated war with alliances; alliances with foreign entanglements; and foreign entanglements with corruption of the "pure" American government. The French Revolution raised Jefferson’s hopes that liberty would spread abroad to supplant the monarchical governments based on reason of state. However, the War of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars soon disillusioned him, causing him to turn toward isolationism.
116490
You have a twisted view of the First Amendment - as do most Americans today. Until the mid-1900s, this amendment was understood to be exactly what it said:\n\n"Congress shall make no law respecting an ESTABLISHMENT of religion, or PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF ..." (caps added)\n\nThe statement about a wall of separation between church and state was made in a letter on January 1, 1802, by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. The congregation heard a widespread rumor that the Congregationalists, another denomination, were to become the national religion. This was very alarming to people who knew about religious persecution in England by the state established church. Jefferson made it clear in his letter to the Danbury Congregation that the separation was to be that government would not establish a national religion or dictate to men how to worship God. Jefferson's letter from which the phrase "separation of church and state" was taken affirmed first amendment rights. Jefferson wrote:\n\n"I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.\n\nThe reason Jefferson choose the expression "separation of church and state" was because he was addressing a Baptist congregation; a denomination of which he was not a member. Jefferson wanted to remove all fears that the state would make dictates to the church. He was establishing common ground with the Baptists by borrowing the words of Roger Williams, one of the Baptist's own prominent preachers. Williams had said:\n\n"When they have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the Church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the candlestick, and made his garden a wilderness, as at this day. And that there fore if He will eer please to restore His garden and paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world..." \n\nThe "wall" was understood as one-directional; its purpose was to protect the church from the state. The world was not to corrupt the church, yet the church was free to teach the people Biblical values.\n\nOur Constitution was founded on Biblical principles and it was the intention of the authors for this to be a Christian nation. The Constitution had 55 people work upon it, of which 52 were evangelical Christians. We can go back in history and look at what the founding fathers wrote to know where they were getting their ideas.\n\nThis is exactly what two professors did. Donald Lutz and Charles Hyneman reviewed an estimated 15,000 items with explicit political content printed between 1760 and 1805 and from these items they identified 3,154 references to other sources. The source they most often quoted was the Bible.\n\nThe founding fathers took ideas from the Bible and incorporated them into our government. If it was their intention to separate the state and church they would never have taken principles from the Bible and put them into our government.\n\nAn example of an idea taken from the Bible and then incorporated into our government is found in Isaiah 33:22 which says, "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king..."  The founding fathers took this scripture and made three major branches in our government: judicial, legislative, and executive. As mentioned earlier, the founding fathers strongly believed that Man was by nature corrupt and therefore it was necessary to separate the powers of the government.\n\nFor instance, the President has the power to execute laws but not make them, and Congress has the power to make laws but not to judge the people. The simple principle of checks and balances came
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Thomas Jefferson used the social contract theory to say that since the king was not governing as the people needed, we had the right to form our own government. (Declaration of Independence)\n\nJames Madison wrote the Constitution. His first line was "We the people..."
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The philosophy was that colonies exist solely for the purpose of creating wealth for the mother country. The colonists felt that at least SOME of the wealth they created should be for their own benefit, not ALL for "the crown", hence the armed conflict known as The American Revolution.
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I converted from Republican.  Libertarianism is more classical liberalism so there is no basis for the statements that "it won't work".  Many Jeffersonian beliefs are involved in Libertarianism.  And for God's sake, there is NO correlation between Libertarianism and communism.  They are two diametrically opposed philosophies.  \n\nWe're out here.  We will continue to gain support.  You can thank us now, or you can thank us later for saving America.  That's a little strong.  I'll work on it.
503075
I can't believe how ignorant my fellow Americans are about American history.  Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.  JAMES MADISON wrote the first draft of the US Constitution
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Sounds pretty straightforward to me. Have you made up the list of principles that Jefferson advocated in his pre-presidential days? If not, that would be a good starting point. \nYou can probably find this information by putting Thomas Jefferson into your search engine. \nGood luck!
1140440
Many of the answers listed here are incorrect.  Jefferson was the ambassador to France at the time and was living in Paris.  It would have been interesting to see how the constitution would have come out if he had been involved.  \n\nHe was very influencial at the time.  If it had been publicly known that they were going to completely redesign the government he might have been involved.  At the time it was expected that they would just "fix" the articles of confederation.\n\nJefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence, and important document but not one with any actual legal weight.\n\nHope this helps.
43681
That was a very heated discussion as they were writing it.  Thomas Jefferson (the writer) was forced by other Virginians to take out several passages where the freedom of the slaves would be brought into question.  AT THE TIME - the slave owners thought of the slaves as less than human (3/5ths of a human to be exact).  So yes, the final document was a bit hypocritical in hindsight, but not in their point of view.
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Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 N.S. – July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801–1809), principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential founders of the United States. Major events during his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase (1803), the Embargo Act of 1807, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806).\n\nA political philosopher who promoted classical liberalism, republicanism, and the separation of church and state, he was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786), which was the basis of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. He was the eponym of Jeffersonian democracy and the founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party which dominated American politics for over a quarter-century and was the precursor to today's Democratic Party. Jefferson also served as the second Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State (1789–1793), and second Vice President (1797–1801).
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Thomas Jefferson lived in France for a period of time following the American Revolution. When he returned, he brought new foods and introduced them to the U.S. Many have since become staples of our culture: macaroni & cheese, ice cream, french fries, for example. \n\nYou could explain the history leading up to Jefferson's time in France, what happened when he was there, give out samples of some of the foods he brought back with him, and talk about the role they play in our everyday lives today.
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"Wall of Separation" between Church and State\nThomas Jefferson, as president, wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut on 1802-JAN-1. It contains the first known reference to the "wall of separation". The essay states in part:\n\n"...I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State..."\n\nDuring the 1810's, President James Madison wrote an essay titled "Monopolies" which also refers to the importance of church-state separation. He stated in part:\n\n"Strongly guarded as is the separation between religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history."\n\nThe US Supreme Court has interpreted the First Amendment as if it requires this "wall of separation" between church and state. It not only prohibits any government from adopting a particular denomination or religion as official, but requires government to avoid excessive involvement in religion.
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Benjamin Franklin:\n\n"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."\n\nIt's one of my all-time favorite quotes!\n\n.
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Notable ideas: tabula rasa, "government with the consent of the governed"; state of nature; rights of life, liberty and property \nInfluences: Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Grotius, Descartes, Hooker, Hobbes
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Thomas Jefferson said:\n\nTimid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty\n\nI would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it\n\nThose who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one
1003070
Yes, it should be up to the states definitley but maybe even local governments. Why should someone in DC dictate what I do with my mind? Thomas Jefferson must be rolling in his grave.
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Thomas Jefferson believed that the legitimate powers of government were related to only those acts which were injurious to others.\n\nThe current public funding policy began with FDR during the Great Depression. His "New Deal" lifted millions out of poverty and unemployment and is responsible for the construction of 650,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000 buildings, and seven hundred miles of airport runways.\n\nA lot of FDR's ideas came from his predecessor, Republican Herbert Hoover, and his "Emergency Relief Administration". FERA provided work for over 20 million people and developed facilities on public lands across the country at a cost of $3.1 billion.\n\nAs for the current democrat/republican view:\n"If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he eats for life" Democrats prefer to "give a man a fish" without expecting him to work towards self-sufficiency. Republicans prefer the "teach a man to fish" approach, as long as it doesn't include a hand-out. As is typically the case, the best answer lies somewhere in the middle. There is no use in "teaching a man to fish" if he starves while learning.