Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson

By Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson

Book Overview

None of the founding fathers seems more elusive than Thomas Jefferson. A Virginian nationalist, a slave-holding philosophe, an aristocratic democrat, a provincial cosmopolitan, a pacific imperialist--the paradoxes loom as meaningful and portentous as America itself. Indeed, they represent the deep contradictions of his policies as well as personality, laid bare here in a provocative study of Jefferson's statecraft.
Empire of Liberty takes a new look at the public life, thought, and ambiguous legacy of one of America's most revered statesmen, offering new insight into the meaning of Jefferson in the American experience. Robert Tucker and David Hendrickson vividly portray a complex man driven by his passion for liberty and his longing for a vast empire. They explore how Jefferson developed a new approach to diplomacy in the course of his bitter debates with Alexander Hamilton. This new diplomacy joined a policy of territorial and commercial expansion with a dread of war and a reliance on economic sanctions. It was with such an outlook that Jefferson met the two great crises of his presidency: the threat to American security posed by the French acquisition of Louisiana and the restrictions on American commerce prompted by the death struggle between Britain and France. The policy produced paradoxical success in the Louisiana crisis but led to complete failure in the form of the Embargo. Taken to escape the alternatives of national humiliation and war, the Embargo led first to humiliation and then, ultimately, to war. The system of war that Jefferson had hoped after hope to reform by the Embargo was not reformed. In the end, Jefferson came close to embracing measures which called into question almost every principle of government he professed to believe.
Empire of Liberty examines Jefferson's legacy for American foreign policy in the light of several critical themes which continue to be highly significant today: the struggle between isolationists and interventionists, the historic ambivalence over the nation's role as a crusader for liberty, and the relationship between democracy and peace. Written by two distinguished scholars, this book provides invaluable insight into the classic ideas of American diplomacy.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195062078
• ISBN13: 9780195062076
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.4" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

Empire of Liberty

By examining United States foreign policy between 1783 and 1809 in their book "Empire of Liberty," Robert W. Tucker and David C. Hendrickson put the myth of Thomas Jefferson under fire. Tucker and Hendrickson's central thesis is that Jefferson's statecraft wavered between two contradictory principles of liberty and empire. While president, Jefferson often found himself torn between pursuing a foreign policy role that provided examples of liberty, and a role as an "active crusader in international affairs" (Chaudhuri, American Political Science Review, September 1991). Tucker and Hendrickson claim that Jefferson tried in vain to accomplish both of these conflicting goals. The aim of his "new diplomacy" was to pursue the traditional ends of security and prestige while renouncing the traditional means of entangling alliances and wars that had been constantly used by European powers in the past (Mayer, Washington Post, August 2, 1990). Instead, Jefferson would rely upon what he called "peaceable coercion"--a foreign policy establishing security by commercial arrangements, through the force of American ideals. Jefferson believed that liberty and empire could go hand in hand in the formation of United States foreign policy.Tucker and Hendrickson analyze several policies during the Jefferson administration to give historiographical context to their argument. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase is mentioned as a case in point. On the surface, the acquisition of almost half a continent at a negligible price was a great triumph of statecraft. Jefferson believed that this incredible land acquisition "preserved the republican character of the Union by removing the presence of dangerous neighbors and the prospect of wars that must result in the imposition of unbearable burdens on society" (Dallek, New York Times, July 1, 1990). It also insured that a predominantly agricultural political economy would be sustained while the United States experienced a steady increase in population. The Louisiana Purchase appeared to be clearly within the interests of the United States.However, Tucker and Hendrickson point out that in order to make this purchase, Jefferson abandoned several of his sacred principles of liberty. In acquiring Louisiana, Jefferson abandoned his deeply held commitment to strict construction of the Constitution, which did not specifically mention a power to acquire territory (Dallek 1990). Tucker and Hendrickson question this abandonment of principle in light of the circumstances revolving around the purchase. They point out that Napoleon would most likely have not repudiated the agreement if action had been delayed, and that the speedy ratification of the treaty that Jefferson advocated was not necessary (Cunningham, Journal of the Early Republic, September 1991). Like Henry Adams, whose history of Jefferson's administration the authors admire and frequently draw upon, Tucker and Hendrickson emphasize the president's abandonment of strict construction in re