Ideologies / Classical Liberal / Thomas Jefferson
§ The minds · 1743–1826 · United States · President & founder
Thomas Jefferson
That government is best which governs least
Agrarian liberty and limited federal power.
Economic+45
SocialistMarket
Governance−48
LibertarianAuthoritarian
Social+5
TraditionalProgressive
Principal author of the Declaration of Independence, whose vision of limited government and agrarian liberty defined one strand of American political thought.
social
Enlightenment rationalist on religion and inquiry — contradicted by slaveholding.
economic
Favoured independent yeoman property over concentrated finance and industry.
governance
Feared central power; championed states' rights and individual liberty.
Notable for
- Drafted the Declaration of Independence
- Louisiana Purchase
- Founded the University of Virginia
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