My emphasis was not on the "French Revolution", but on the fact that if not for those you described as "terrorists" we would have not defeated the British in our Revolutionary War.
Jefferson believed the US should always be a agricultural economy and held economic views outdated by two generations. He was the deadly enemy of all who adopted a view that the promotion of modern capitalism was the way to riches and power.
You're misrepresenting Thomas J's views on the matter. He was against any form of a centralized gov't, (another pin in your Jefferson = Democrats balloon). Though he favored an agriculture economy, he did not advocate the evisceration of manufacturing and industry.
Another of his anti-Democrat traits is he championed the property owner, believing that property sacred and should never be taxed. Along with the fact that his views on taxation in general correlate those of today's supply-siders I'd hardly label Thomas J a "deadly enemy" of capitalism.
Jefferson weakened our military so much that we could not even defend Washington from 10,000 British soldiers. His idea of a navy was to limit it to coastal defense and to let the navies of other nations have the carrying trade.
Granted, he failed here.
Jefferson was an excellent cabinet maker and rhetoritician.
I'd include dialectician along with your two descriptors.
His life made his rhetoric a total lie. Jefferson was only sorry he got caught slandering Washington but his actions against Hamilton were far worse. He is the most overrated of our Presidents and his beliefs helped pave the way to the Civil War.
Hamilton was no choir boy himself. And Thomas J's first term is by many accounts noted as being one of the most successful of all our Presidents.
Thomas J actually predicted a 'civil war' would transpire in this country within a century. He was not, I'll kindly remind you, the only Founder who owned slaves.
Madison was a valuable player in the 1780s until Jefferson returned from France when he promptly went off the deep end and started sabotaging efforts to strengthen the Union.
Jemmy M was a staunch supporter of France his entire political life. It was he, while serving in the House of Representatives, who proposed legislation favoring France in trade and 'discriminating' against Great Britain in these matters, (although his bill was eventually defeated). A representative from Massachusetts, (I believe), named Fischer Ames went so far as to refer to Madison's politics as "Frenchified".
He also did not understand economics, finance or banking or the need to diversify the economy.
I beg to differ.
You can ignore the Revolutionairies KILLING those who helped us if you like but that does not change reality.
Jeffersonianism = States Rights = equal the Democratic Party until the 1970s. Simple and true.
Jefferson hated industry and believed it created great cities which demeaned man and turned him into a debased creature. Thus he discouraged the economic policies which created modern capitalism. He did not understand banks or finance and his great indebtness made him little more than a functionary of the great Scottish and British banks which banrolled his plantations. His inability to comprehend the necessity of a central government of sufficient strength to force other nations to respect it was very dangerous and led to an unecessary war with England.
He was truly filled with many impractical ideas such as the impermissability of taxation on property. That demogogery has always been dangerous and the Pie in the Sky always attractive to the less discerning.
I don't hold Jefferson's slaveholding against him that much or his relationship with Sally Hemmings but the former certainly makes his declamations about "Liberty" ring hollow.
Madison's prescription of favoring France showed his lack of realism as to funding the government and understanding the close cultural ties between the US and Great Britain. Hamilton's program was designed first and foremost with funding the federal government and this meant tapping the great trade with the former mother country. France was neither capable of providing the same goods nor even of understanding what that demand really was. It was a prime example of letting political emotion get the better of financial thinking.
Thanks for the site. I printed it off and will read it.