Political parties in the 1790s did not issue official platforms, but our
co-founder Thomas Jefferson issued a major statement in January 1799 that was
widely reprinted and circulated. It became the basis of his party's philosophy
and is no longer the basis of the platform of the Jefferson Democrat-Republican
Party today:
…In confutation of these and all future calumnies, by way of anticipation, I shall make to you a profession of my political faith; in confidence that you will consider every future imputation on me of a contrary complexion, as bearing on its front the mark of falsehood and calumny.
I do then, with sincere zeal, wish an inviolable preservation of our present federal constitution, according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the States, that in which it was advocated by its friends, and not that which its enemies apprehended, who therefore became its enemies; and I am opposed to the monarchising its features by the forms of its administration, with a view to conciliate a first transition to a President and Senate for life, and from that to a hereditary tenure of these offices, and thus to worm out the elective principle. I am for preserving to the States the powers not yielded by them to theUnion
and to the legislature of the Union its
constitutional share in the division of powers.
And I am not for transferring all the powers of the States to the general government, nor all those of that government to the Executive branch. I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication of officers and salaries merely to make partisans, and for increasing, by every device, the public debt, on the principle of it's being a public blessing.
I am for relying, for internal defence, on our militia solely, till actual invasion, and for such a naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors from such depredations as we have experienced; and not for a standing army in time of peace, which may overawe the public sentiment; nor for a navy, which, by its own expenses and the eternal wars in which it will implicate us, grind us with public burthens, and sink us under them. I am for free commerce with all nations, political connection with none, and little or no diplomatic establishment.
And I am not for linking ourselves by new treaties with the quarrels ofEurope ; entering that field
of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in the confederacy of kings
to war against the principles of liberty. I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring
about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another: for freedom of the press,
and against all violations
of the constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints
or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their
agents.
And I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its branches and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred name of philosophy. For awing the human mind by stories of raw-head & bloody bones to a distrust of its own vision, & to repose implicitly on that of others, to go backwards instead of forwards to look for improvement, to believe that government, religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance, and that nothing can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by our forefathers.
To these I will add, that I was a sincere well-wisher to the success of the French revolution, and still wish it may end in the establishment of a free and well-ordered republic. But I have not been insensible under the atrocious depredations they have committed on our commerce.
-Thomas Jefferson
…In confutation of these and all future calumnies, by way of anticipation, I shall make to you a profession of my political faith; in confidence that you will consider every future imputation on me of a contrary complexion, as bearing on its front the mark of falsehood and calumny.
I do then, with sincere zeal, wish an inviolable preservation of our present federal constitution, according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the States, that in which it was advocated by its friends, and not that which its enemies apprehended, who therefore became its enemies; and I am opposed to the monarchising its features by the forms of its administration, with a view to conciliate a first transition to a President and Senate for life, and from that to a hereditary tenure of these offices, and thus to worm out the elective principle. I am for preserving to the States the powers not yielded by them to the
And I am not for transferring all the powers of the States to the general government, nor all those of that government to the Executive branch. I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication of officers and salaries merely to make partisans, and for increasing, by every device, the public debt, on the principle of it's being a public blessing.
I am for relying, for internal defence, on our militia solely, till actual invasion, and for such a naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors from such depredations as we have experienced; and not for a standing army in time of peace, which may overawe the public sentiment; nor for a navy, which, by its own expenses and the eternal wars in which it will implicate us, grind us with public burthens, and sink us under them. I am for free commerce with all nations, political connection with none, and little or no diplomatic establishment.
And I am not for linking ourselves by new treaties with the quarrels of
And I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its branches and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred name of philosophy. For awing the human mind by stories of raw-head & bloody bones to a distrust of its own vision, & to repose implicitly on that of others, to go backwards instead of forwards to look for improvement, to believe that government, religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance, and that nothing can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by our forefathers.
To these I will add, that I was a sincere well-wisher to the success of the French revolution, and still wish it may end in the establishment of a free and well-ordered republic. But I have not been insensible under the atrocious depredations they have committed on our commerce.
-Thomas Jefferson
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