Intro…sounds of echoing hooves on stone, a cart creaks, lanterns glow, a horse pulls steady and slow.

1801. The Revolution’s Philosopher Takes Power

It's March 4, 1801. A cold wind sweeps through the muddy streets of Washington, D.C., a rough, partially built capital city. Philosopher, writer, and revolutionary Thomas Jefferson is about to become America’s third president.

As he stood before the partially finished Capitol, the weight of history settled on his shoulders. Demonstrating simplicity, Jefferson wore plain clothes instead of a monarch’s suit. Unlike his predecessors, who arrived in grand carriages, Jefferson walked from his room to the Capitol. When he arrived, nearly a thousand people filled the Senate Chamber, waiting.

This wasn’t just another transfer of power. It was a test. The election had been bitterly contested, newspapers spreading lies to the darkest corners of the nation.

But he had prevailed. Now, America faced a question: Would the young republic stay true to its founding ideals or drift toward the centralized power Jefferson feared?

(Sounds; a horse neighs in the distance…)

We remember Jefferson not just as a president, but as a great philosopher.

He devoted his life to contemplating freedom, governance, and human rights. He upheld the liberal ideal that everyone is born with natural rights no government can take away. His ideas laid America’s foundation. Inspired by Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Jefferson regarded government not as an instrument of control, but a protector of individual freedom.

Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence weren’t politics; they were principles of governance and philosophy. He carefully crafted the Declaration to define what America stood for. More than two centuries later, those ideas still shape our views on freedom, representation, and government.

Jefferson’s philosophy shaped America from our earliest days. His principles still inspire discussions about freedom and our democratic republic.

Moving from philosophy to practical matters, Jefferson believed in limited government, fiscal restraint, and individual liberty.

He championed small government, lower taxes, minimal public debt, and strict adherence to the Constitution. He viewed centralized power and extensive government intervention as threats to individual freedom and pursued policies to limit federal influence, reduce government size, and preserve states’ rights and personal liberty.

(Ambient crowd sound…)

Back to March of 1801. Jefferson stood in the Senate Chamber to deliver an inaugural address defining his presidency.

The crowd fell silent.

Jefferson spoke passionately about simpler, smaller government. He declared: “a wise and frugal government... shall restrain men from injuring one another…(and)…shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits…”

His speech echoed a 1799 letter to Elbridge Gerry, where he detailed his vision of a disciplined, frugal, and simple government. Every dollar should strengthen the nation’s economic footing, not expand government control to reward political allies.

The Shadow of Debt

Jefferson entered office with a clear vision, but immediately faced a looming crisis: America was drowning in $80 million of debt, an unimaginable sum for a struggling young country.

Debt wasn’t just a financial burden. Jefferson believed debt represented bondage, robbing future generations of freedom.  

In a 1789 letter to James Madison, Jefferson pondered whether one generation had the right to bind another with debt. He argued that the dead have no rights over the living.

If the government kept borrowing, it had to keep taxing. Endless taxing meant Americans would never truly be free. Jefferson feared policies driven by debt obligations rather than the people’s will.

Taking office, Jefferson didn’t hesitate. He refused to let the new republic fall into the traps of Europe’s monarchies, where endless spending fueled endless war. Determined, he launched an ambitious plan to slash spending, dismantle bloated government offices, and strip unnecessary costs.

He intended to create a government small enough to live within its means, freeing future Americans from borrowed money. Success meant setting a precedent for efficient government. Failure meant endless national debt and expanding federal power.

Jefferson’s Radical Plan

Jefferson saw the military as too big, too expensive, and too dangerous. He believed standing armies led to tyranny, soldiers answering to power, not people. So, he slashed military spending, cutting the army nearly in half. Officers were dismissed, outposts abandoned. Only six Navy ships remained active, enough to protect trade, not wage war. The rest sat idle.

Critics warned Jefferson was leaving America defenseless, vulnerable to Britain, France, or pirates. Jefferson didn’t flinch. He envisioned a citizen-led defense, believing a large military was a threat rather than protection.

While ruthless with military budgets, he trimmed the rest of government more gently. His aim wasn’t to gut government, but to prevent it from growing. Military savings funded debt reduction, the republic’s real enemy.

For Jefferson, this wasn’t just about money. As a philosopher, he wanted government out of people’s lives, power resting with citizens. To that end, he fought against a bloated army and an overreaching federal system.

A Revolutionary Tax Overhaul

Jefferson saw taxes as tools of government control. He quickly eliminated the whiskey tax, a hated levy that sparked rebellion in the 1790s. To Jefferson, the idea that the government would send troops against its own people over taxes was a disgrace.

He didn’t stop there. Jefferson aimed to reshape federal revenue entirely. Instead of direct taxes, he preferred customs duties, or what we would today call tariffs.

At the time, material needs were modest, social programs nonexistent, infrastructure minimal. Federal tax needs were low.

Jefferson proposed there would be no income tax, property tax, or internal revenue taxes during peacetime. Government would be funded only by trade. He bet a thriving economy with goods moving through American ports would suffice.

Critics warned tariffs made America vulnerable. Reduced imports meant reduced revenue. Others argued tariffs raised consumer prices. Jefferson stood firm.

Mostly, his plan succeeded. Government stayed afloat, people kept more money, and he cut the national debt in half.

Triumph and Irony

Jefferson reduced the national debt from $80 million to $57 million his first two years in office. Americans celebrated. It was proof his vision worked.

Yet Jefferson soon faced contradiction. In 1803, Napoleon offered the Louisiana territory, 827,000 square miles, for $15 million. The Constitution gave no clear authority for this purchase.

Jefferson, a strict constitutionalist, faced a philosophical crisis. He suddenly found himself arguing in favor of implied powers that he had long opposed. Ultimately, his practical vision of freedom won out. He justified the Louisiana Purchase as securing liberty for future generations.

With one stroke of the pen, America doubled in size. He opened vast new lands for settlement, farming, and expansion.

Critics highlighted the contradiction. How could Jefferson, who spent years shrinking government, justify this massive federal purchase?

Jefferson believed this purchase didn’t expand government power, but opportunity. More land meant more self-sufficient citizens and less European interference.

Legacy of the Small-Government Philosopher Revolutionary

Jefferson’s presidency leaves a powerful legacy. His dramatic cuts and bold ideas about limited government continue to shape American debates even today.

Much has changed in America in the last two hundred and twenty-four years. Roads stretch from coast to coast. Power lines hum with energy. The internet connects even the most remote corners of the country. Education shapes the next generation. Social security ensures no one is left behind in old age. All of it; our infrastructure, our systems, our stability, comes at a cost.

But Jefferson’s fierce dedication to freedom and simplicity defined an era and makes us question what is possible today.

Should we dramatically cut the size of government?

On the one hand, we’ve forgotten Jefferson’s philosophical principle that one generation has no right to bind another generation with debt. The dead have no rights over the living. Yet, every president since 1940 has increased the national debt. Every president. Both parties.

And on the other, each generation uses, and must pay to maintain, national infrastructure. Roads and telecommunications systems are infrastructure. Education and training is infrastructure. Societal stability is infrastructure. We can’t eliminate federal taxes and still maintain our infrastructure. There is no free lunch.

We can’t claim to be Jeffersonian conservatives and cut taxes on the rich, expanding government control to reward our political allies. Jefferson didn’t cut taxes for his political allies. He intended to strengthen the economic footing of every American and reduce the burden of debt on future generations.

And Jefferson didn’t cut the size of the federal workforce just to slash jobs. He was guided by philosophy.

Cutting the federal workforce while taking steps that increase the federal debt and pass the burden of debt on to future generations is against his philosophy.

Only four presidents have monuments on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

Washington, who helped birth an America at war, and then gave that power back to the people of the republic.

Lincoln, who reunited a nation torn apart from our dispute over whether people from any station of birth have a right to the fruits of their labor.

FDR, who championed the infrastructure that protects working Americans.

And Jefferson, the revolution’s philosopher, who sought to safeguard every American’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through limited government, lower taxes, minimal public debt, and unwavering commitment to the Constitution.

So…should we dramatically cut the size of government? After some reflection, that seems to be the wrong question to ask.

Should we strengthen the economic footing of every American and reduce the burden of debt on future generations?

May God bless the United States of America.

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