Biden And His D.C. Buddies Could Learn A Little Something From The Jeffersonians

Last week, President Biden delivered his State of the Union address. It was full of pomp, circumstance, and grandeur. After a tour of Congress, the president climbed to the podium and began to list a number of items that he wanted Congress to address.

This is the normal course for modern presidents. But for three of Biden’s most illustrious predecessors — Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe — obsequious deference to the chief executive was positively un-American. To make one man the center of the nation’s political life was antithetical to the Constitution and republicanism in the eyes of the three Jeffersonians.

In his latest book, “The Jeffersonians: The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe,” Kevin R.C. Gutzman provides a detailed, yet comprehensive account of how these three Virginians managed the nation and what legacy of republicanism it left. By studying the example they set, we might be better equipped to address our own political woes.

Gutzman’s story begins with the titular Jefferson. Jefferson was elected to office in 1801, and his supporters considered it a revolution. As Gutzman writes, “Part of that Revolution was a sharp shift in manners.” Jefferson set himself apart from his predecessors and wanted to be seen as an honest man of the people. He chose to walk to the Capitol in plain clothes for his inauguration, eschewing President Adams’ fancy carriage and ceremonial sword.

Jefferson also decided to scrap his predecessors’ tradition of delivering the State of the Union address orally. Jefferson, who was not comfortable with speeches, decided to submit his report electronically because he felt the annual address seemed like an appropriate way to communicate his thoughts. “speech from the throne.” In his unpretentious style, Jefferson informed the people’s representatives that out of “principal regard to … the economy of their time,” He wouldn’t ask them to get together to listen to his story.

Madison and Monroe did the same, as every president up to Woodrow Wilson. For the Jeffersonians, the president’s job was to efficiently administer the government, not waste time with pompous speeches. Imagine what they might think of the current State of the Union addresses.

But the Jeffersonians weren’t only concerned with outward appearances. They also believed government policies needed to closely adhere to the country’s founding principles. Protecting freedom of speech, reducing the size of the military, and slashing federal spending were all on the Jeffersonians’ agenda.

Jefferson started pardoning people who were convicted of sedition under the Sedition Act in 1798 just days after his inauguration. This flagrantly unconstitutional law made it illegal to criticize members of the federal government (except, conveniently, the vice president, the position Jefferson held at the time of the law’s enactment). The president declared the law null and void and refused to permit anyone to be tried under it.

The Jeffersonians’ next priority was to shrink the military. The Jeffersonians are suspicious of