The Change of the Jeffersonian World View
The philosophy of Jeffersonian worldview of the economy and democracy was based on the concept that agriculture was the centerpiece of the American economy. Generated in the time when agriculture held the largest share and motivation in development, the perspective maintained its legitimacy through the appeal to the majority of citizens in America. The philosophy was driven by Jefferson fundamental political belief in the value of the will of the people 1 . Nonetheless, the ideology was challenged by the mid-19 th century through social, economic and political changes in the country. The change took place in the attack of the ideology on four fundamental perspectives.
Dependent on agriculture, Jeffersonian worldview relied on agrarian democracy whose legitimacy came under threat in the proliferation of urban development. Urban development increased the mass movement of people from the farmlands to cities where agriculture was not a major economic activity. In this perspective, urbanization robed the citizens the independence they enjoyed as farmers 2 . The shift in the social structure and organization diminished the power of agrarian democracy. Jefferson’s major theme acclaimed the respect of human liberties and equalities where the social change in urbanization threatened to diminish those liberties.
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In context with the development changes, the Jeffersonian democracy in the context of the American economy changed in the diversification of the economy. As industrialization and development in technology flourished, agrarian culture in the country diminished its influence in policies. In this perspective, Jefferson’s vision was the incorporation of technology into farming to make it more productive at the household level 3 . Nonetheless, the vision was an inconsistency with social structure as society interacted with the technology and industrialization. Poverty and minimal capital fuelled urbanization and industrialization as marginalized individuals such as women and youth were pushed into the industrial labor.
The pivot point of the Jefferson perspective rested on the expansion of the agriculture as a symbol of independence, equality, and liberty of the American people. It was challenged by the flaws of the western expansionism as the development of technology and industrialization took hold in the American society 4 . As farmers needed more land to increase and expand their agrarian economy, the expansion threatened the liberties and independence of the Native Americans in the country 5 . Their land represented their liberty, and therefore loss of the land remained a contradiction to the core facets of the Jeffersonian philosophy. The inability of Native Americans to be accommodated in the agrarian republic challenged the democratic values of the Jeffersonian worldview while creating social conflict in the country.
Further, the republican liberty and democratic equality of the Jeffersonian worldview was challenged by the presence of slavery in the country. The social structure and organization that perpetuated slavery as a major economic commodity within the agrarian economy threatened the principle of the philosophy. Jefferson maintained that all people are equal and that the will of the majority ought to be reasonable in respect of the minority. Nonetheless, the explanation that racial inferiority prevented African Americans from realizing the full and equal status of citizenship in the country challenged the legitimacy of the ideology 6 . Further, into the 19 th century, the rise racial justice and fight for equality among the races toppled the ideology. The absence of free labor in the farms increased the cost of production in the farms. This increased the influence of industrial economy and international commerce in the country.
Bibliography
Alexander Boulton, O. "The American Paradox: Jeffersonian Equality and Racial Science." American Quarterly 47.3 (1995): 467-492.
John Cumbler, T. "Worker and Community: Response to Industrialization in a Nineteenth-Century American City, Albany, New York, 1850–1884. By Greenberg Brian. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985. Pp. ix, 227. $34.50 cloth, $12.95 paper." The Journal of Economic History 46.4 (1986): 1073-1074.
Lance Banning. "Jeffersonian ideology revisited: liberal and classical ideas in the new American republic." The William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History and Culture (1986): 4-19.
Padraig Riley,. Slavery and the Democratic Conscience: Political Life in Jeffersonian America . University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
Peter Chang. "Confucian China and Jeffersonian America: Beyond Liberal Democracy." Asian Studies Review 35.1 (2011): 43-62.
Tarla Peterson, Rai. "Jefferson's yeoman farmer as frontier hero a self defeating mythic structure." Agriculture and Human Values 7.1 (1990): 9-19.
1 Chang, Peter. "Confucian China and Jeffersonian America: Beyond Liberal Democracy." Asian Studies Review 35.1 (2011): 43-62.
2 Banning, Lance. "Jeffersonian ideology revisited: liberal and classical ideas in the new American republic." The William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History and Culture (1986): 4-19.
3 Boulton, Alexander O. "The American Paradox: Jeffersonian Equality and Racial Science." American Quarterly 47.3 (1995): 467-492.
4 Cumbler, John T. "Worker and Community: Response to Industrialization in a Nineteenth-Century American City, Albany, New York, 1850–1884. By Greenberg Brian. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985. Pp. ix, 227. $34.50 cloth, $12.95 paper." The Journal of Economic History 46.4 (1986): 1073-1074.
5 Peterson, Tarla Rai. "Jefferson's yeoman farmer as frontier hero a self defeating mythic structure." Agriculture and Human Values 7.1 (1990): 9-19.
6 Riley, Padraig. Slavery and the Democratic Conscience: Political Life in Jeffersonian America . University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
