For the most part, Jefferson did stay true to the values
of Jeffersonian democracy when he was president. He did this in ways that were symbolic
and in ways that were more substantive. Symbolically, for example, Jefferson did not
like ceremony and other shows of power in his administration. He had a simple
inauguration ceremony. He rode a horse around town rather than being pulled in a
carriage. He reduced the amount of protocol at White House dinners. In all of these
ways, he was following his egalitarian instincts.
In more
substantive ways, Jefferson tried to reduce the size of government. He repealed, for
example, the whiskey tax and other excise taxes. He also cut back on military spending
since he thought that a militia was better because it was less susceptible to being used
to help the government tyrannize the people. Finally, Jefferson bought the Lousiana
Purchase. By buying so much land, he was making it more possible for small farmers to
own their own property. This was very much in line with his
principles.
Of course, Jefferson was not 100% pure. The
Louisiana Purchase itself was disliked by some Jeffersonians because there was nothing
in the Consitution that said the president could do such a thing. Jefferson also did
not try to destroy Hamiltonian initiatives such as the Bank of the United States. In
ways such as this, Jefferson was not a dogmatic Jeffersonian.
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