Jeffersonian democracy

Cultural  

1. A movement for more democracy in American government in the first decade of the nineteenth century. The movement was led by President Thomas Jefferson. Jeffersonian democracy was less radical than the later Jacksonian democracy. For example, where Jacksonian democracy held that the common citizen was the best judge of measures, Jeffersonian democracy stressed the need for leadership by those of greatest ability, who would be chosen by the people.

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Example Sentences

“That is a very Jeffersonian democracy approach on siting and permitting,” said Silverman, a former top official at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 31, 2023

“You cannot build a Jeffersonian democracy overnight,” he said in an interview.

From New York Times • Jan. 25, 2022

It wasn’t a Jeffersonian democracy, but the system had legitimacy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2018

Jackson’s predecessor, John Quincy Adams, knew well the strains rending Jeffersonian democracy.

From Washington Post • Apr. 24, 2017

Nobody in his five wits will deny that Jeffersonian democracy wished to give the law a general control in more public things, but the citizens a more general liberty in private things.

From What I Saw in America by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)