Political Philosophy and Views
See also: Jeffersonian democracy and Republicanism in the United StatesJefferson idealized the independent yeoman as the best exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and often favored decentralized power. He suspended his qualms about exercising the powers of the federal government to buy Louisiana. Jefferson disliked the European system of established churches and called for a wall of separation between church and state at the federal level. (But this was hardly a new idea; Roger Williams (1603–1683), the Puritan-turned-Baptist founder of Rhode Island, had established such a wall at the state level about a century before Jefferson was born, and extended freedom of religion to Quakers and Jews.) Jefferson supported efforts to disestablish the Church of England, called the Anglican Church in Virginia after the Revolution, and authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. His Jeffersonian democracy and Democratic-Republican Party became dominant in early American politics. Jefferson's republican political principles were strongly influenced by the 18th-century British opposition writers of the Whig Party. He had high regard for John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Jefferson
Famous quotes containing the words political, philosophy and/or views:
“If any doubt has arisen as to me, my country [Virginia] will have my political creed in the form of a “Declaration &c.” which I was lately directed to draw. This will give decisive proof that my own sentiment concurred with the vote they instructed us to give.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“One of the main things that interfere with our joy is the belief that if we try hard enough, read the right books, follow the right advice, and buy the right things, we could be perfect parents. If we are good enough as parents, our children will be perfect too.... Unfortunately, what comes from trying to live out this philosophy is not perfect children but worried parents.”
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“Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the book-worm.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)