El republicanismo agrario en Estados Unidos, 1785-1824

This article examines the evolution of American agrarian republicanism in the period between the publication of Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia in 1785, and the speech on tariffs given by Henry Clay in 1824, when the economic plan known as American System was promoted -which meant the end of the ascendancy of Jeffersonian agrarian republicanism. The text analyses the intellectual roots of American agrarian republicanism, its key theoretical features, and the political economy of the early republic. The clash, which started at the end of the eighteenth century between two opposite models of state —the financial model promoted by Alexander Hamilton and the agrarian model led by Jefferson and James Madison— is integrated into a secular trend of thought that discussed the relationship between liberty, power, agriculture, and commerce. The article also highlights the way in which classical republican agrarism was combined with the economic theory of free trade. The article finishes with some comparative reflections and a historical contextualization of Jeffersonian agrarian republicanism.