Jefferson had many ideals that he believed should be the basis of the national government. He thought that his standards were in the interest of everyone as a whole, and that they were the perfect form to follow in developing a strong government. It was soon proven, though, that even if some things appear to be in good thought, they may not be what the rest of the world is looking for or even ready for.
The Democratic Republican party's perspective on the proper role of government was that the government itself should have very limited powers, and that control of any necessary powers should be given as much to the people as possible. If it wasn't for the people, then there truly wouldn't be any censors on governors; so to try and deprive the people of their residuary mass of right to their own self-government would be shameful. Then to further degrade the citizens, and the very Constitution with which so many political figures so gallantly flaunt, by attempting to relentlessly punish any and all outspoken, brazen opinions would be downright absurd. The opinion of the people is the only safeguard of public liberty, so it is only obvious that the people be provided with full information regarding their affairs through the channel of public papers. Above all Jefferson wanted to protect the population of independent, self-sufficient, land-owning farmers; these farmers were their own masters, and only in this did they find the hope for freedom. Everything basically came down to the idea of an agrarian republic; the view was that if the government was agricultural then there was no possible way that it could become as corrupt and morally inept as the dreaded European society. .
While this was all very promising, it turned out that the realities of the Jefferson presidency were much more compromising. While Jefferson focused so much on wanting the national government to be run by the people, he failed to plan out just what he would do about the relations with foreigners.
