Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - András Tarnóc: "Jefferson Still Survives".

racial integration was not desirable preferring gradual emancipation and resettlement instead. In his musings on possible locations for the University of Virginia he emphasized the proximity of white areas as a selection guideline. There are three arguments in Jefferson's defense. He admitted that his conclusions had resulted strictly from personal observations of his own slaves. He was aware that his knowledge was insufficient in this respect, and the first version of the Declaration of Independence contained a passage on slavery condemning the King for this heinous practice, but fears of Southern opposition forced its omission.

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5 Jefferson was also a staunch advocate of agriculture rejecting the values of urban America. In an age of ardent economic expansionism he argued the supremacy of agriculture: "Farmers whose interests are entirely agricultural are the true representatives of the Great American interest, and are alone to be relied on for expressing the proper American sentiments."

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6 Jefferson also fervently believed in small government, a limited administrative bureaucracy, and for a proponent of a government "strong enough to protect natural rights but not strong enough to take them away", the power of the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the actions of the President and Congress created a dangerous precedent. Jefferson's response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, known as the Kentucky Resolutions forwarded the compact theory of government. In his reply to the Adams administration's anti-Republican and anti-French measures he asserted that the United States Constitution was a result of a compact or agreement between the federal government and the states, therefore individual states had a right to nullify or interpose laws found hostile to their interests. While no state took that course and Jefferson warned against violence, he unwittingly laid the foundations of the states' rights movement, the cornerstone of Southern ideology leading to the Civil War. 1

5 Ibid. 1

6 Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), p. 36. 124