Coming from the guy who purchased Louisiana, before he told congress about it. Jefferson created the first Imperial Presidency. He would never have been invited to be a part of conservatism, by any stretch of the imagination. His fisrt term was a backroom political deal saddling him with Aaron Burr as his vice-president. The history of those two reads a little like Lyndon Johnson and Humbert Humphrey !. He had a great deal of chutzpah, as the appointment of John Marshal, his cousin, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court showed and it worked out for him about as well as Dwight Eisenhower's appointment of Earl Warren did about 150 years later.
Thomas Jefferson was a Founding Father all right, but if you are quoting him in support of some vague idea that you will find conservative principles in his political bio, forget it. Jefferson was and still is considered a "liberal" and for his day almost a dangerous one.
Tai Pan
