The Nineteenth Century: The Jeffersonian Democracy

The Jeffersonian Democracy was a movement in the first decade of the nineteenth century led by Thomas Jefferson, and they felt that the people made the best choices in choosing a leader with the greatest abilities (Dictionary.com, n.d.).
Thomas Jefferson, a democratic- republican, took a different political stance than his Federalist counterparts. He felt that it was ideal to deal with the citizens directly, which quickly made him popular. The Jefferson democratic-republicans created newspapers for the public and was also able to reach the public by hosting political barbeques and clambakes (Shultz, 2014). While the Federalist party was out of touch with the people, Jefferson's democratic- republicans skillfully brought politics to the people
He genuinely believed in human reasoning and felt that this would guide the government to do what was best (UShistory.org, 2018). He also believed deeply in the agrarian culture and felt that through farming each American could reach true American tranquility and freedom (UShistory.org). He was vehemently against big cities and believed that they were a cesspool of corruption (Shultz, 2014). He felt that they cities threatened men's independence that they had as farmers (UShistory.org). Jefferson focused on three domestic policies, and they were: 1) reducing the size of the government by cutting taxes and cutting jobs of federal employees and reducing the size of the military 2) The development of the court system 3) The expansion of the agrarian republic (Shultz,
Second, was that Native Americans were excluded from his dreams for an agrarian country (UShistory.org, 2018). Third, is the biggest area of contradictions with Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson believed intensely that "all men were created equal" and they had the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (Longley, 2017). However, he still owned slaves and felt that due to their racial inferiority they could not become U.S citizens (UShistory.org,