Thomas Jefferson: Liberty and Power Jefferson believed that
government was the greatest threat to individual liberty. APRIL
01, 1993 by CLARENCE B. CARSON Dr. Clarence Carson is an
American historian, a prolific author, and a longtime
contributor to The Freeman. This essay is based on his newest
book, Basic American Government, which is available from The
American Textbook Committee, Rte. 1, Box 13, Wadley, AL 36276,
for $32.95 hardcover. It is doubtful that Thomas Jefferson could
have been elected President in the twentieth century. It is
almost equally doubtful that he could have been elected to that
high office at any time past 1850. Now I do not draw these
conclusions simply because, as we say, times change, and any
person thrown suddenly into another era would be more or less
out of place and unsuited to positions of power and prestige in
the later era. It is rather that Jefferson did not have the
temperament, character, and turn of mind to have won election in
the later era. Jefferson shrank from public