Jeffersonian democracy is a term used for the political ideals of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), the third U.S. president, and his followers from the 1790s until the presidency of Andrew Jackson in the 1830s. Jefferson advocated a political system that favored public education, free voting, free press, limited government and agrarian democracy and shied away from aristocratic rule. Although these were his personal beliefs, his presidency (1801-1809) often veered from these values.