As a young politician, Jefferson had cautiously -- and unsuccessfully -- backed some reforms to ameliorate the evils of slavery. However, after the Revolution, he made clear to supporters that he understood that any anti-slavery positions would destroy his political viability among his fellow plantation owners in the South.
While in Paris as the U.S. representative, Jefferson rebuffed offers to join the abolitionist Amis des Noirs because by associating with abolitionists he would impair his ability to do "good" in Virginia, historian John Chester Miller noted, adding: "Jefferson's political instinct proved sound: as a member of the Amis des Noirs he would have been a marked man in the Old Dominion."
Jefferson vs. Hamilton
In the 1790s, as Hamilton and the Federalists worked to create the new government that the Constitution had authorized, a counter-movement emerged, to reassert states' rights as defined by the Articles of Confederation, which the Constitution had obliterated.
This backlash, which sought to protect the business of slavery, took shape behind the charismatic figure of Jefferson, who skillfully reframed the issue, not as defense of slavery but as resistance to a strong central government and the reassertion of the primacy of the states.
Though Jefferson had played no role in drafting the Constitution or the Bill of Rights -- he was in Paris at the time -- he simply interpreted the Constitution as he wished, similar to his frequent invocation of Providence as, amazingly, always favoring whatever he wanted.
There was an Orwellian brilliance to Jefferson's strategy -- even though it predated Orwell by more than a century. Just ignore the Constitution's clear language, such as when it mandates in Article I, Section 8 that Congress "provide for ... the general Welfare of the United States" and grants Congress the power "to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States."
Jefferson simply staked out a position in favor of "strict construction," i.e. that only the specific powers mentioned in Article I, Section 8, not the sweeping language of those other two clauses were constitutionally invested in Congress. That didn't make any real sense, of course. Beyond the specific list of powers in Article I, Section 8, such as coining money, regulating commerce, etc., the federal government would have to undertake many unforeseen actions, which was why the Framers had included the broad language that they did.
But Jefferson built a political movement based on the absurd notion that the Framers hadn't meant what the Framers had clearly written. Jefferson went even further and reasserted the concept of state sovereignty and independence that George Washington, James Madison and other Framers had despised and intentionally expunged when they threw out the Articles of Confederation, which indeed had bestowed sovereignty and independence on the states. The Constitution shifted national sovereignty to "We the People of the United States."
And, despite the Constitution's explicit reference to making federal law "the supreme law of the land," Jefferson exploited the lingering resentments over ratification to reassert the states' supremacy over the federal government. Often working behind the scenes -- even while serving as Vice President under President John Adams -- Jefferson promoted each state's right to nullify federal law and even to secede from the Union.
Aiding Jefferson's cause was the recognition by James Madison that his political future in slave-owning Virginia, too, was dependent on him forsaking his earlier Federalist allies and shifting his allegiance to his neighbor and fellow slaveholder, Jefferson. Madison's break with his old allies, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, gave Jefferson's revisionist take on the Constitution a patina of legitimacy given Madison's key role as one of the Framers.
Jefferson spelled out this political reality in a 1795 letter to Madison in which Jefferson cited what he called "the Southern interest," because, as author Meacham observed, "the South was his personal home and his political base." It was the same for Madison. [For more on Madison's role, see Consortiumnews.com's "The Right's Dubious Claim to Madison."]
Winning the Presidency
In his rise to power, Jefferson waged a nasty propaganda war against the Federalists as they struggled to form a new government and avoid getting drawn into a renewed conflict between Great Britain and France. Jefferson secretly funded newspaper editors who spread damaging personal rumors about key Federalists, particularly Hamilton who as Treasury Secretary was spearheading the new government's formation.
Though Jefferson framed his argument as opposing a powerful central government, his political actions dovetailed with the interests of slaveholders and his own personal finances. For instance, Jefferson protested the Federalists' disinterest in pursuing compensation from Great Britain for slaves freed during the Revolutionary War, a high priority for Jefferson and his plantation-owning allies. Jefferson correctly perceived that Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, two staunch opponents of slavery, had chosen not to make compensation a high priority.
Also Jefferson's interest in siding with France against Great Britain was partly colored by his large financial debts owed to London lenders, debts that might be voided or postponed if the United States went to war against Great Britain.
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