Acton Line

E520 - John Pinheiro Interrogates Thomas Jefferson on Limited Government

Published: October 29, 2025

Duration: 57:49

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with John Pinheiro, director of research at the Acton Institute, about his feature essay in the latest issue of Religion & Liberty: “Thomas Jefferson ant the Virtue of Limited Government.” What is Jefferson’s status today relative to the other Founding Fathers? What was Jefferson’s agrarian republican vision for America? How did that vision clash with those of the other Founders? What is Jefferson’s fundamental anthropology, and what are its underlying assumptions? What does Jefferson make of the commercial society? Where does Jefferson root his case for limited government? What is his conception o...