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Thomas Jefferson on the Law of Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2017

Charles M. Wiltse
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Extract

Jefferson’s importance as a political theorist tends to be overshadowed by his success as diplomat and statesman. The practical accomplishments of his forty years in public office often obscure the breadth and consistency of the philosophy behind all of his official conduct, and his tremendous influence in formulating and disseminating the principles on which the modern democratic state rests is too often forgotten. His genius consisted, not so much in the originality of his political ideas, as in his ability to select from the conflicting theories of his day all that could be practically applied, and to transmute a diverse intellectual heritage into a working philosophy of the state. Against the sovereign whose command is law, Jefferson sets up a legal theory seeking justice as well as order, and by which ruler and subject are alike bound. It is a theory which transcends national lines, recognizing that isolation, in any rigorous sense, means stagnation and death, both to the individual and to the state. So when Jefferson asks for “peace, commerce, and honest friendship, with all nations–entangling alliances with none,” only the second phrase is negative, and it means no more than it says. Peace and commerce are both relations external to the individual state; and both presuppose for their maintenance some form of international organization–some system of international law. Both Jefferson’s writings and his official acts testify to his belief that the intercourse of nations must be governed by some body of legal rules.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , January 1935 , pp. 66 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1935

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References

1 First Inaugural Address, Jefferson's Writings, Memorial Edition (Washington, 1903, 20 vols.), III, 321. Unless otherwise noted, all references to Jefferson's works will be to this edition.

2 Official Papers, III, 228.

3 Loc. cit.

4 Ibid.,228-9.

5 loc. Cit.

6 Ibid.,230.

7 Anas,I, 480.

8 To Duane, Apr. 4, 1813, XIII, 230.

9 See an unpublished letter to Dr. Mitchell, June 13, 1800, quoted by Chinard, Thomas Jefferson, 398.

10 To John Melish, Dec. 31, 1816, XV, 94; Cf.Channing, History of the United States, I, 337.

11 To Gallatin, July 4,1807, XI, 257; Cf.Official Papers, III, 165 ff.

12 Official Papers, III, 180. He cites Grot. L.2. c.2. sec. 15; Puf. L.3. c.3. sec.8; Vat. L. 2. sec. 129.

13 See Bemis, “Thomas Jefferson,” in American Secretaries of State, II, 51; Cf.Channing, op. cit.,III , 488.

14 Official Papers, III, 18-19; Cf. Anas,I, 340-1.

15 Anas,I, 341.

16 Cf.Balch, “ The United States and the Expansion of the Law between Nations,” 64 Pennsylvania Law Review, 131.

17 To Manners, June 12, 1817, XV, 124-5; Cf.to Wendover, Mar. 13, 1815, XIV, 279; Locke, Of Civil Government, II, 118.

18 Moore, American Diplomacy, 288 ff.; Digest of International Law, III, 552 ff. Some twenty years before Jefferson's statement quoted above was written, and twenty years after the Virginia code referred to, Chief Justice Ellsworth, in U.S. v.Williams, had declared: “When a foreigner presents himself here, and proves himself to be of good moral character, well affected to the Constitution and Government of the United States, … if he has resided the time prescribed by law, we grant him the privilege of a citizen… . But this implies no consent of the government, that our citizens should expatriate themselves.” Cf.Brown, Life of Oliver Ellsworth, 257 ff.

19 First Annual Message, Dec. 8, 1801, III, 338.

20 Official Papers, III, 244.

21 To Col. Forrest, Oct. 20,1784, V, 1.

22 II, 182. The jury de medietate linguaewas an English institution, which was rejected by the framers of the American Constitution. It was finally abolished in England in 1870.

23 See Moore's Digest, IV, 245 ff, for technical discussion of the whole question.

24 To President Washington, Nov. 7, 1791, VIII, 253-4.

25 To Gov. Pinckney, Apr. 1, 1792, VIII, 321-2.

26 See draft of proposed extradition treaties, VIII, 330 ff.

27 Ibid.,331-2.

28 Official Papers, III , 233.

29 VIII, 437.

30 To Genet, Dec. 9, 1793, IX, 264-5

31 To Gallatin, Oct. 18, 1805, XI, 91.

32 To Van Berckel, July 2, 1792, VIII, 385.

33 To Count de Montmorin, June 20, 1788, VII, 54-5.

34 Ibid.,60.

35 Nov. 14, 1788, VII, 165; Cf.VII, 171 ff.

36 To Phillip Mazzei, July 18, 1804, XI, 39.

37 Mar. 23, 1815, XIV, 293.

38 Cf.Balch, op. cit.,119.

39 Apr. 17, 1812, XIII, 140

40 XVII, 23 (May 7, 1784).

41 Mar. 27, 1779, IV, 54-5.

42 To Sir Guy Carleton, July 22, 1779, IV, 301 ff.

43 Mar. 24, 1781, IV, 399.

44 To Thos. Pinckney, Sept. 7, 1793, IX, 221-2.

45 Anas,I, 372-3; 379.

46 To George Hammond, May 15, 1793, IX, 90-1.

47 Official Papers, III, 248.

48 Official Papers, III, 80; Cf.Bemis, op. cit.,40 ff.

49 To B. Stoddart, Feb. 18, 1809, XII, 250.

50 To Genet, July 24, 1793, IX, 170.

51 Dec. 20, 1793, XVII, 348 ff; Cf.Randall, Life of Jefferson, II, 670 ff.

52 To Livingston, Sept. 9, 1801, X, 277 ff.

53 Ibid.,280.

54 To Sir John Sinclair, June 30, 1803, X, 397

55 Anas,I, 381.

56 Balch, op. cit,132.

57 Fifth Annual Message, Dec. 3, 1805, III, 387.

58 To Noah Worcester, Nov. 26, 1817, XVIII, 298-9.

59 Anas,I, 368; Cf.Randall, II, 157 ff.

60 Proposals, etc., XVII, 145 ff, Nov. 1786; Cf.to Adams, July 11, 1786, V, 364 ff; to Monroe, Aug. 11, 1786, V, 385-6; Autobiography, I, 97 ff.

61 To Pinckney, May 29, 1787, IX, 389-90; Cf.to Livingston, Sept. 9, 1801, X, 281-2; to Paine, Mar. 18,1801, X, 223; to Logan, Mar. 21,1801, VIII, 23 (Ford ed.).

62 To Madison, Mar. 1793, IX, 34.

63 Sears, Jefferson and the Embargo, preface, et passim. Cf.Hirst, Thomas Jefferson, 441 ff, for a concurring English view. For critics of the embargo, see Henry Adams, History of the United States, Vol. 4; Allen Johnson, Jefferson and His Colleagues, Chap. 8.

64 Bemis, op. cit.,30.

65 Cf.Sears, op. cit.,40-1.

66 To W.W. Seward, Nov. 12, 1785, V, 203.

67 Official Papers, III, 249.

68 Ibid.,406.

69 To Clinton, July 6,1807, XI, 258; Cf.to Bidwell, July 11,1807, XI, 272.

70 Zum Ewigen Frieden.

71 Cf.Henry Adams, op. cit.,I, 146-7.