“We Are All Republicans, We Are All Federalists:” Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address Urged the United States to Find Unity

Thomas Jefferson

In his First Inaugural Address, delivered March 4, 1801, the United States’ third president, Thomas Jefferson, delivered, to a divided nation, a message of hope, unity, and tolerance. Jefferson became president only after a vicious election campaign that left the nation in bitter ideological conflict. Not only did Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party conflict with the more authoritarian Federalists, but Jefferson badly split with Aaron Burr, his own running mate. The 1800 election was ultimately decided in the House of Representatives.

Jefferson began by stating the basic principle of republican government: majority rule tempered by respect for minority rights. Jefferson further insisted that the majority needed to be reasonable and compassionate. Are those not the lessons that would cure the 21st century’s hateful politics? Just as the nation was divided and imperfect as Jefferson took office, and just as Jefferson was far from a perfect man, so we remain divided and imperfect today. Jefferson’s proposed solution was to hearken back to the nation’s founding values. So, he stated the “sacred principle” of representative government:

“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”

Jefferson further reminded the nation that people should remember what they share in common, and sympathize with those whose political views differed:

“Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”

Many people, then and now, mistrust government of the people. They think that such governments are weak. Knowing this, Jefferson insisted that republican government – what we today call representative democracy – is strong. Although citizens then and now sometimes crave a strong leader who will take over and solve their problems, Jefferson instead placed his confidence in the people themselves:

“I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not.”

In contrast, Jefferson believed that representative government was the strongest, most protective of all governments:

“I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth.”

The problems that Jefferson discussed have never disappeared. On January 6, 2021, a little more than a year ago, a screaming, violent horde attacked the United States Capitol and tried to overthrow the 2020 election. Americans’ attitudes about that riot divided according to party. Republicans often supported the insurrection, while Democrats pleaded for accountability and order. As recently as January 2022, an opinion poll showed that most Republican voters still felt that the rioters had a point. (I do not imply that sides are equally at fault on January 6. President Donald Trump’s pretense that Joe Biden’s election was illegitimate is utterly false. The rioters and their enablers must be brought to justice.) At the same time, however, just as Jefferson asked, can Americans find a way to recognize common interests? To understand that we must work together to protect our form of government and way of life?

Faced with a similar division in 1801, Jefferson insisted that orderly government was a moral expectation that all citizens should meet. He reminded the nation that the representative form of government depended on respect for the law. Of all forms of government, a republic was, he said:

“… the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.”

No, we have not found “angels in the form of kings.” Indeed, history continues to judge the United States of America. When the Republican National Committee had the temerity to call the January 6 riot “legitimate political discourse,” it is time to remember Jefferson’s words. We do not only need to fear foreign invasion; we also need, in Jefferson’s words, to “meet invasions of the public order as,” indeed, our “own personal concern.”

Jefferson's 1st Inaugural Address

So, how will history judge the United States of 2022? Does our centuries-long experiment in representative government continue to be the strongest on earth? Or is the United States Constitution failing? Perhaps it is not that our Constitution threatens to fail; maybe it is our failure to remember Jefferson’s values.

As we celebrate Presidents’ Day, Jefferson’s wisdom needs to resonate more than ever. We must remember, as he said, that majority rule must always respect minority rights. We all must remember to act and speak reasonably. We must remember that what we share in common matters more than our differences.

At the same time, as the United States celebrates Black History Month, we also need to remember that Jefferson owned three Virginia plantations, all operated by slave labor and administered by overseers. If we study Jefferson’s writings carefully, we can see that Jefferson valued representative government sincerely and passionately. At the same time, he privately understood that slavery utterly contradicted everything that he spoke for. Also, of course, the reader will have noticed Jefferson’s gender-specific language. By the standards of his time, it seemed inconceivable (to men) that women could even participate in government.

So, just as Jefferson was imperfect, so we are imperfect today. That does not mean that we should undervalue the American experiment. Instead, it means that we, as Americans, should strive to come closer to our value-laden governing philosophy. Jefferson said, “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.” Today, are not we all Democrats, and are not we all Republicans? Can we not find shared values in our common heritage?

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Earlier Post: Conservatives Invent a Fake Thomas Jefferson Quotation

Earlier Post: President George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation:” An Appeal for Unity

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Images: Library of Congress