was contrary to the public welfare.  They absolutely failed to give him credit for the patriotism of his intentions or for the merit of his achievements, and their unscrupulous and unfair tactics established a baleful tradition in American party warfare.  But Jefferson was wholly right in believing that his country was nothing, if not a democracy, and that any tendency to impair the integrity of the democratic idea could be productive only of disaster.

Unfortunately Jefferson’s conception of democracy was meager, narrow, and self-contradictory; and just because his ideas prevailed, while Hamilton toward the end of his life lost his influence, the consequences of Jefferson’s imperfect conception of democracy have been much more serious than the consequences of Hamilton’s inadequate conception of American nationality.  In Jefferson’s mind democracy was tantamount to extreme individualism.  He conceived a democratic society to be composed of a collection of individuals, fundamentally alike in their abilities and deserts; and in organizing such a society, politically, the prime object was to provide for the greatest satisfaction of its individual members.  The good things of life which had formerly been monopolized by the privileged few, were now to be distributed among all the people.  It was unnecessary, moreover, to make any very artful arrangements, in order to effect an equitable distribution.  Such distribution would take care of itself, provided nobody enjoyed any special privileges and everybody had equal opportunities.  Once these conditions were secured, the motto of a democratic government should simply be “Hands Off.”  There should be as little government as possible, because persistent governmental interference implied distrust in popular efficiency and good-will; and what government there was, should be so far as possible confided to local authorities.  The vitality of a democracy resided in its extremities, and it would be diminished rather than increased by specialized or centralized guidance.  Its individual members needed merely to be protected against privileges and to be let alone, whereafter the native goodness of human nature would accomplish the perfect consummation.

Thus Jefferson sought an essentially equalitarian and even socialistic result by means of an essentially individualistic machinery.  His theory implied a complete harmony both in logic and in effect between the idea of liberty and the idea of equality; and just in so far as there is any antagonism between those ideas, his whole political system becomes unsound and impracticable.  Neither is there any doubt as to which of these ideas Jefferson and his followers really attached the more importance.  Their mouths have always been full of the praise of liberty; and unquestionably they have really believed it to be the corner-stone of their political and social structure.  None the less, however, is it true that in so far as any antagonism has developed in American life between