Thomas Jefferson's Prophecy about Foreign Influence and the Seeds of a Grassroots Movement to Return Power to the People

The Anti-Federalist that Never Was

Aug 08, 2026

First allow me to say that Thomas Jefferson was not an “Anti-Federalist” proper; insofar as that title is attributed to the men who wrote the “Anti-Federalists” papers and opposed the ratifying of the Constitution in 1787-1788. In July 1784, Jefferson arrived in Paris after he was appointed to be the “Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Versailles”1 earlier the same year. Here he was reunited with Benjamin Franklin and, was later joined by John Adams; the former being replaced by Jefferson as the “senior Minister in France” on May 17, 1785, after which date, Franklin returned to the United States. John Adams served in France from April 1, 1788, to February of 1789; leaving Paris just several months before Jefferson did on November 23rd of the same year. These dates mean that Thomas Jefferson did not attend the Constitutional Convention and was absent from the debates leading up to the Convention and carrying on until the ratification of the Constitution on June 21, 1788. The geographical distance made it impossible for Jefferson to have an adequate understanding of the nuances of the debate being had; an inadequacy that he was keenly aware of when he wrote his pseudo-Anti-Federalist letter to James Madison on December 20,1787. In this letter he says, “I have thus told you freely what I like, and what I dislike [of the proposed Constitution], merely as a matter of curiosity; for I know it is not in my power to offer matter of information to your judgement, which has been formed after hearing and weighing everything which the wisdom of man could offer on these subjects.”2 Nonetheless, Jefferson still felt it necessary to write to Madison “with disquisitions which [he had] already heard repeated by others, a thousand and a thousand times…”3 This disquisition places Jefferson firmly in the ranks of the Anti-Federalists, even if he be found to have a more conciliatory bend than BRUTUS or FEDERAL FARMER.

More central to my purpose here than a denunciation of a strong Federal Government or a defense of States rights, is Thomas Jefferson’s prediction of what would occur if “the principle of rotation in office, and most particularly in the case of the President…”4 be abandoned or even less emphasized. Far from being a tired claim that the President would devolve into some kind of Hamiltonian dictator, Jefferson says, “Reason and experience tells us, that the first magistrate will always be re-elected if he may be re-elected. He is then an officer for life. This once observed, it becomes of so much consequence to certain nations, to have friend or foe at the head of our affairs, that they will interfere with money or arms.”5 In other words, the officeholder of President must be rotated often and without chance for re-election to prevent foreign Nations from being encouraged to interfere in elections; for, as Jefferson says, “No foreign power, nor domestic party, will waste their blood and money to elect a person, who must go out at the end of a short period.”6 Now, contrary to what might be presumed: Jefferson supported first, a seven-year tenure for the office of President, and later, an eight-year term with the option for the people to remove the Executive from office after four-years; in both cases, he maintained that after completion of this term, the former President would be ineligible for reelection.7 This term limit for office ensured that the President would be able to execute his duties and implement his plans, while preventing the stagnation common under perpetual Executives while also disinclining foreign interests to involve themselves in the election of American Presidents.

Now, there are obvious flaws in this system which we could point out; but human nature must always be accounted for in any system, and human nature has an undeniable tendency abuse what political power it can. Thomas Jefferson would have been the first to affirm this eternal truth, as he did when he said of himself, “I may have erred at times. No doubt I have erred. For this is the law of human nature.”8 But, even accepting all of the errors present, I do believe it is, obviously, worth seriously considering how foreign influence is best mitigated in the political life of a Nation.

Perhaps the solution Jefferson presented here was incorrect; but it is undeniable that he spoke with the clairvoyance of a political prophet when he said, “The election of a President of America, some years hence, will be much more interesting to certain nations of Europe, than ever the election of a King of Poland was.”9 Not only has Europe found American elections important, but the whole world has also long since taken an active interest in who holds the authority of the Oval Office. Domestically we have seen decades of turmoil from sects who support Presidents based solely on the nation(s) he supports or is descended from, and we have established systems of bribery which foreign nations use to control the outcome of American elections; none of which would be acceptable by the likes of Jefferson and the Anti-Federalists.

Together with Jefferson we may say, “I do not pretend to decide, what would be the best method of procuring the establishment of the manifold good things in this constitution, and of getting rid of the bad.”10 It suffices for my purpose here to bring forth this little known prophecy of Jefferson, and show that the Anti-Federalists were not merely uncritical opponents of a strong Federal Government out of Libertarian aversion to the smallest whiff of despotism; but rather, they were highly intelligent and forward-thinking men who recognized that, there was, baked into the Constitution of the United States the leaven of despotism and tyranny, but also the leaven which would make the United States into a perpetual warzone where competing foreign interests meet on the field of battle to shed the blood of Native Americans.

Obviously, under the present Constitution, Presidential elections which occur every four-years, with a hard limit that no President can serve more than two terms in office. This system, Jefferson very likely would support; and yet, we are plagued with the sickness of foreign influence, nonetheless. The advent of the party system could be found to be the source: Rather than electing one perpetual ruler, a single system of beliefs and policies can be elected perpetually, thus, AIPAC can continue to maintain and expand its ever-extending influence through the Republican Party which simply represents one spirit animating different bodies. Jefferson’s solution to securing peace and prosperity to the Nation is having a population animated by a spirit of virtue and education, and willing to use violence against political leaders. He exhorts us to:

“Compare… whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government, or information to the people. This last is most certain, and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of people. Enable them to see that it is their best interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty… This reliance cannot deceive us, as long as we remain virtuous; and I think we shall be so, as long as agriculture is our principal object, which will be the case, while there remains vacant lands in any part of America. When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become corrupt as in Europe, and go to eating one another as they do there.”11

The prophecy, as history has proven, was correct. America is an occupied Nation lacking any semblance of sovereignty. “I hold it,” says Jefferson, “that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”12 Undoubtedly, if Thomas Jefferson were to stand in our midst today, he would exhort us to educate our children; become rooted in the soil; and rebel, and ensure that when we do, we are successful in rebellion; for the people are the only bulwark against a government which exists contrary to the interests of the people.

The history of the United States since the Constitution was ratified has vindicated the Anti-Federalists in almost every conceivable way; and now, unfortunately, we are left to pick up the pieces of a failed system which has seemingly aimed to bury everything good in the course of its collapse. The politicians don’t even pretend to care about the rights of the people; they don’t hide the bribes they have taken; they don’t even make an effort to portray themselves as virtuous dictators. This isn’t much in way of a practical solution; but considering I am restricting myself to the writings of Thomas Jefferson on the topic, it’s pretty damn good when we consider he gave us this foundation for a grassroots movement in answer to an issue he prophesied over two-hundred years ago while living in Paris with little immediate knowledge of the nuances of the debate happening back in the United States.

Thank you for reading. All of my posts are free, and will continue to be; if you enjoy my content, please consider donating or becoming a paid subscriber! Today is August 8, 2026, tomorrow on the ninth, Jason McGinty and I will be live on Charley Horse Radio at 5pm (EST) with Frank Kidd, y’all should drop by and say hi.

Thank you for reading,

John, Son of Dick

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