In this episode, John dives into the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, focusing specifically on his most important ideas and priorities as he took over from the Federalists as America’s third president. John discusses why Jefferson was such a monumental figure in American history, how he and his ideas came to dominate the first quarter century of the 1800s and how he saw his role in America’s “Empire of Liberty”. John talks about the Jeffersonians’ goals to shrink the size of the federal government, pay off the national debt, demilitarize the U.S. from the brink of war with France and encourage the growth of democracy and the influence of Americans who did not come from the wealthy or educated elite classes.

John also devotes a significant amount of time to explaining the shortcomings of Jeffersonian Democracy. He talks about how Jefferson seemed to have some really significant blind spots when it came to who his style of governance and his foreign and domestic policies would benefit. John also points out the ways in which Jefferson moderated from his stalwart opposition to the Federalists when he became president, in part because Jefferson recognized that he would be setting the example for what future presidents would do when they took power from departing presidents who belonged to an opposition party.