Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2013

Abstract

Thomas Jefferson is often invoked as an advocate of limited government and a defender of individual rights. This article argues that rights were Jefferson’s starting place. Jefferson also believed that American citizens should have opportunities to develop the capabilities necessary to enjoy the full use of their rights. Rather than thinking about Jefferson as progovernment or antigovernment, this article concludes that we must understand the particular kind of government Jefferson desired, the ends he had in mind, and why and how those ends differed from his Federalist predecessors. A better understanding of Jefferson’s statecraft not only offers a new perspective on the relationship between government and rights in Jefferson’s thought but also how and why Jeffersonians in power used the state to promote individual freedom.

Publication Title

Studies in American Political Development

Volume

27

Issue

1

First Page

36

Last Page

50

Required Publisher's Statement

© 2013, Cambridge University Press. View original published article in Studies in American Political Development.

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Civil rights--Unites States--History; Social values--United States--History

Subjects - Names (LCNAF)

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826--Political and social views; Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826--Philosophy

Geographic Coverage

United States--Politics and government--1775-1783

Genre/Form

articles

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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Included in

History Commons

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