A Return to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness | Politics of the Presidency: Washington to Lincoln

Jeff Riemann

For Jefferson Explanation Paper

In this video I hoped to draw on the fear of monarchy that Jefferson and Democratic-Republicans focused on eliminating by erasing an overpowering federal and executive branch of government. I wanted to revolve the video around getting American’s back in the Revolutionary spirit that Jefferson and his followers felt Americans had strayed from during Washington’s presidency, all while exposing Jefferson’s character as a person to connect to American citizens.

The song “Ah! Ca Ira” that I used throughout this video was the song of the French Revolution, meaning “Oh! It’ll be Fine”. It gave the hope of liberty and freedom to the French Revolutionists and Democratic- Republicans used it to persuade American’s to recapture the revolutionary spirit that had escaped them during the presidency of Washington and the Federalists. The French were trying to overthrow a monarchy and Jefferson was trying to prevent a monarchy from forming in America.

My first clip’s quote lays out Jefferson’s plan for balancing the powers of government, assigning foreign affairs to the federal government but giving the state governments responsibility of all domestic and taxation policies. This would separate powers and prevent one branch of government from becoming too overbearing. I scrolled this quote in light blue letters to soothe and reassure the audience that this plan would be good for America. The background picture is supposedly dated 1784. I could not find many good pictures on loc.gov dated before the 1796 election so I used this from Google images.

My next clip used an excerpt from Greenleaf’s New York Journal from 1796, highlighting Jefferson being a “pure Republican and honest man.” I wanted to counter any arguments that he didn’t fight in the military like Washington and other American hero’s by claiming that he hadn’t “been corrupted by military habits.” I also hoped that this might overshadow the criticisms of him deserting his post as Governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War. Pointing out his avoidance of “sordid speculation” helped distance him from Federalist and Hamiltonian economic and debt policies.

I added a shot of the Declaration of Independence to remind the audience that Jefferson had sparked the Revolutionary spirits and created the document that led to liberty and American freedom. This is what he wanted American’s to return to.

A November 2, 1796 “Centinel of Freedom” article gave me two different excerpts in favor of Jefferson. The first highlights how Jefferson being president would spread liberty and invigorate virtues in citizens. I used light blue for the liberty spreading comments to provide a comfortable feeling to the audience. For the “Should Mr. Jefferson be placed… in the Presidential chair” I highlighted it light green to represent a spring-time, rebirth feeling that stood for the reincarnation of liberty and Revolutionary principles. Jefferson’s presidency would be a new start to the executive government that would bring back what the Revolutionary patriots had in mind when creating the new nation.

The French Revolution political cartoon, “L’Attaque de la Constitution” shows the sentiments of the French people fighting for their liberty like Americans had twenty years before. It shows people fighting the French Constitution, monarchy, and anything standing in the way of their liberty. Jefferson wanted Americans to return to this mindset and not settle for anything less than a true Republic without the fear of a looming monarchy emerging.

The second excerpt from “Centinal of Freedom” highlights how Jefferson was against foreign influence and England. I wanted to counter any arguments that he was “too French” by showing that he wanted to use the attitudes of liberty and rebellion against monarchies that were flourishing in France to inspire Americans, but he was doing everything for the good of America. I wanted to make sure that the audience knew that he was “against any improper interference from the French nation” and had America’s best interests in mind. I scrolled it upwards to speed up the process and make the viewer focus on the light blue highlighted words of Jefferson detesting foreign influence, hating England, and not letting France take advantage of him and his goals.

My last quote is intended to be simple and speaks for itself with white lettering and a black background, centered on the screen. The words were from a 1795 Kentucky Democratic-Republican Society toast. It ties everything together by telling the audience that in order to return to the mindset of 1776 and true patriotism, Jefferson needed to be elected to eliminate the “degeneracy and corruption” that had tarnished the US government over the past few years of Federalist rule.

SLIDE URL LINKS:

a. “Ah! Ca Ira!” (Song), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-srLjMRjoVI

b. (Picture of Jefferson),

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/rev-nation.htm

c. (Jefferson quote to Madison on balancing government powers)

Wood, “Empire of Liberty”, 148

2. Greenleaf’s New York Journal (1796), http://docs.newsbank.com/s/HistArchive/ahnpdoc/EANX/1096B51436724738/0F4223B7E8433C2F

3. Photo of the Declaration of Independence,

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/headline/declaration-of-independence-2/

4. “Centinel of Freedom” article (1796)

http://docs.newsbank.com/s/HistArchive/ahnpdoc/EANX/10A09E8C5AC70E88/0F4223B7E8433C2F

5. “L’Attaque de la Constitution” French Revolution Political Cartoon,