What would a Jeffersonian America look like?

As it says on the tin...

If the ideals of Thomas Jefferson were followed, such as a limited central government, power to the states (states rights), the endorsement of slavery and power of the rural class (farmers and such) were endorsed, What would a Jeffersonian America look like, and how would it survive, or would it fracture.

Edit: this takes into account of disregarding Federalist doctrine,
 
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As it says on the tin...

If the ideals of Thomas Jefferson were followed, such as a limited central government, power to the states (states rights), the endorsement of slavery and power of the rural class (farmers and such) were endorsed, What would a Jeffersonian America look like, and how would it survive, or would it fracture.

Basically we have the C.S.A. only with another name? And about surviving i'm not very optimistic
 
Very little from the Declaration of Independence would be used in actual laws other than the cursing the central government wherever it be. There would also be no Lousianna Purchase, which would probably be invaded instead using some trumped up excuses. That or it becomes a huge French plantation. He might have forced the New Englanders to stop the slave revolt in Haiti. All the land North of the Ohio River would have been made Virginian after he managed to get all other states but Virginia to give up their claims to the central government(which he would be president of), then sell it to the Commonwealth of Virginia in order to pay off some of his debts. There might also be more occasions where territories and states are forced to have slavery, like how South Carolina did it with Georgia.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
The conquest of Canada, Cuba, and the whole of the Floridas, were his most passionate foreign policy designs.
 
The conquest of Canada, Cuba, and the whole of the Floridas, were his most passionate foreign policy designs.
I think he said something about wanting to have the Spanish stay around a bit and for them to pluck the fruit of Colombia when they were deemed ripe. I somehow imagine that they would not go with the more level headed approach from the Southern sponsored Mexican-American War where the vast lands populated by maybe fifty-thousand Mexicans was purchased. He would be more supportive of going after lands with native populations to enslave. It always was that being shipped south, be it from New England or Arkansas to Tennessee or Peru, meant death. His successors might make the Muscovy sized Virginia into an area for breeding and little else that doesn't make them look like gentlemen. Or course this is about Jeffersonian beliefs, not Jefferson's believes. Will we consider things as being Jeffersonian as under the leadership of Jefferson, Jackson, Davis, or some later revival?
 
Basically we have the C.S.A. only with another name? And about surviving i'm not very optimistic

That's the Confederacy that existed only on myth.

The real Confederacy was not about a weak central government - the Fugitive Slave Law, the Dred Scott Decision, the Lecompton Constitution, the Border Ruffians showed southern political leaders were just fine with mercilessly trampling on States Rights. They were also willing to mercilessly trample Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, and Freedom of Religion; taking it even to the highest levels of government with the Sumner Caning and the Gag Rule. During the ACW, the Confederacy funded itself on inflation and massive public debt, employed more bureaucrats than the Union, forced railroads to carry government cargoes at a loss, forced blockade runners to carry government cargoes for free, drafted workers to force industry to fulfill government contracts, instituted wage and price controls, required internal passports, confiscated civilian firearms, and tried to institute Prohibition.
 
That's the Confederacy that existed only on myth.

Exactly! Jeffersons ideals would be taken and run with as an excuse to justify all sorts of antics in the name of freedom. His predecessors just a generation later would be more authoritarian than Hamilton in order to justify many of their property ideals and trying to stomp out the idea of abolition (which would probably horrify them).
 
I really don't think a Jeffersonian America is possible. Jefferson is one of the most important men in American history, but his vision for America neglected to take into account the coming Industrial Revolution, which transformed America into an urban nation. Also, Hamilton's actions as Secretary of the Treasury were crucial in shaping the Federal government.
Now, if Jefferson had won in 1796 instead of 1800, he could have had perhaps even more influence on the country. Even then, I really don't think his vision for America could come into existence.
Scipio
 
In my ongoing TL, the United States has stayed as close to Jeffersonian ideals as it could manage. All taxpayers can vote. But a lot Natives, and the whole serf class who do most of the agricultural labour don't pay taxes. Industry is pretty sparse, existing only in the north and in the Upper South. The whites, while above the serfs are split fairly starkly into different classes. There are aristocratic hereditary titles around. If you're a working class white man you probably either work in a small workshop, or are a subsistence farmer. Most of the land which produces a surplus is controlled by the powerful families of the United States. Industry and transport or under the control of corrupt corporate combines. Only now in the 1920s, as a new radical ideology emerges does industrialisation really begin to take off.
 
I really don't think a Jeffersonian America is possible. Jefferson is one of the most important men in American history, but his vision for America neglected to take into account the coming Industrial Revolution, which transformed America into an urban nation. Also, Hamilton's actions as Secretary of the Treasury were crucial in shaping the Federal government.
Now, if Jefferson had won in 1796 instead of 1800, he could have had perhaps even more influence on the country. Even then, I really don't think his vision for America could come into existence.
Scipio

Perhaps in Virginia, but the New England area would have revolted or split. The regional differences during this period were different enough.
 
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