Mr. Randall would have done a good service, if he had made a brief analysis of Jefferson’s political system.  It affords a fine theme and is much needed, because Jefferson himself left no systematic exposition of his doctrines.  They must be sought for through a large number of state papers and a voluminous correspondence.  Like all public men, he has been misrepresented both by opponents and adherents.  There is a vague impression abroad that he enunciated certain liberal theories, that he was an ardent philanthropist, and that his opinions were those which have prevailed among the modern French philosophers; but the boundaries of his system do not seem to be well defined in the public mind.  His theory of politics may, with sufficient accuracy, be said to be embraced in the following propositions:—­First.  All men are politically equal.  Second.  A representative government upon the basis of universal suffrage is the direct result of that equality, and the surest means of preserving it.  Third.  The sphere of government is limited, and its action must be confined to that sphere.

The first proposition is contained in the statement which occurs in the Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal.”  This remark has been severely criticized, and we think there has been much confusion as to its meaning.  Jefferson could not have intended to say that all men are equal in the sense of being alike.  Such an assertion would be absurd.  Undoubtedly he recognized, as every one must, the infinite diversity and disparity of intellectual and physical qualities.  He was speaking of man in his social relations, and in the same sentence he qualified the general assertion by particularizing the respects as to which the quality exists,—­saying, that men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  The equality of which he spoke does not consist in equal endowments, but in equal rights,—­in the right of each man to the enjoyment of his individual gifts, whatever they may be.

The proposition, that a representative government upon the basis of universal suffrage is the direct result of man’s equality and the surest means of preserving it, opens a wide field for discussion, into which we will not enter.  It is not peculiar to Jefferson.  We must, however, remark, that he did not hold the extreme opinions upon this subject which have been attributed to him.  He thought that popular institutions could be established, and the elective franchise safely made universal, only in an intelligent and virtuous community.  In France he advised La Fayette and Barnave to be contented with a constitutional monarchy.  When the South American States rebelled, and Clay and many other statesmen were enraptured with the prospect of a Continent of Republics, Jefferson declared that they were not prepared for republican governments, and could not maintain them.  At the same time, he was very far from thinking, as some of our modern writers do, that men can become fit for freedom by remaining slaves.