The Old Republicans: Southern conservatism in the age of Jefferson

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The Old Republicans Southern Conservatism

in the Age of Jefferson Norman K. Risjord “Love of peace, hatred of offensive war, jealousy of the State governments towards the General Government and of the influence of the Executive over the coordinate branches of the Government;

a dread of standing armies; a loathing of public debt, taxes, and excises; tender-

ness for the liberty of the citizen; jealousy, Argus-eyed jealousy, of the patronage of the President.” These were—according to Randolph of Roanoke—the basic principles that brought the Republican party into power—and according to the author—a catalogue of the basic features of nineteenth-century American Liberalism. In Tue Oxp Repusiicans, Norman K. Risjord, the author, reminds the reader that a political movement that may be described as Liberal is not necessarily progressive. Jeffersonian Democracy— just such a movement—when carried to its logical conclusions was essentially negative. The Jeffersonian theory of government lacking the personal attitudes of Jefferson himself became a driving force of conservatism. This is a study of the conservative wing of Jefferson’s Republican party—the men who took deeply to heart this compact theory of government with its corollaries of economy, simplic(continued on back flap)

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£338 Me 257 RISJORD, NORMAN K OLD REPUBLICANS

A

The Old Republicans —

Lhe Old Republicans SOUTHERN

CONSERVATISM TNS

AGE

OF

JEFFERSON

Norman K. Risjord

COLUMBIA New

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

York and London 1965

Copyright © 1965 Columbia University Press Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 65-17642 Printed in the United States of America

For Connie, Mark, and Eric

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation

https://archive.org/details/oldrepublicansOO0O00unse

Acknowledgments

Professor Bernard Mayo of the University of Virginia, who guided this project from term paper to doctoral dissertation, has

given me constant encouragement in the preparation of this book. His careful scholarship and perceptive thought have been a continuing source of inspiration. Professors Thomas Perkins Abernethy and Dumas Malone, who have read portions of the manuscript, have also given me much valuable criticism. Two of my former colleagues at DePauw University, Clifton Phillips

and James Findlay, offered a number of worthwhile suggestions concerning style and interpretation. The Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, has kindly permitted me to use, in Chapter V, portions of my article, “1812: Conservatives, War Hawks,

and the Nation’s Honor,”

William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd

series, XVIII (1961), 196-210. I must also express my gratitude

to the many librarians whose kind assistance eased the labors

of research. Finally, I should like to thank my wife, who accompanied me through the joy and the pain of producing a book. Norman

Madison, Wisconsin September, 1964

K. Risyorp

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