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Thomas Jefferson’s Transformative Presidency



Author(s)

William A. P. Thompson, Jr.

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DOI:10.17265/2328-2134/2022.06.001

University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, United States

Thomas Jefferson created a public philosophy that created in essence his significance as not only a transformative president but as the founder who developed the rationale and enduring tradition for the United States political system. Above all, Jefferson is transformative alone for having created democracy when he introduced his public philosophy, as stated in Charles E. Merriam and Carl Becker’s analysis. Jefferson’s election on March 4, 1801, began his two presidencies and created the Jeffersonian Democracy. Jefferson’s definition of a public philosophy is defined by James W. Ceaser. A public philosophy as defined by James W. Ceaser who reviewed the concept that was first used by the journalist Walter Lippman, in his book The Public Philosophy, was concerned about competing philosophies with liberalism against its adversary such as Marxism. Political scientists Theodore Lowi and Samuel Beer defined a public philosophy “as a synonym for what social scientists in American politics called ideology”. Lowi and Beer further defined how a public philosophy was a transforming idea governing public opinion by utilizing Roosevelt’s New Deal to explain an example of a change in public philosophy, in which as federal government is strengthened, replacing the older idea of an inactive government. Further, Lowi described how a public philosophy is a way of understanding the significance of public policies, i.e., New Deal Policies on society. In addition, James W. Ceaser, described a public philosophy “as a core set of values embodied in long term opinion that influences public policy over a full era.”

democracy, revolution: ending autocracy, public philosophy, government by persuasion

William A. P. Thompson, Jr. (2022). Thomas Jefferson’s Transformative Presidency. International Relations and Diplomacy, Nov.-Dec. 2022, Vol. 10, No. 6, 247-253.