Edmund Burke's and Thomas Jefferson's views of the revolutionary violence in France

This thesis compares Thomas Jefferson's and Edmund Burke's reaction to the violence in Revolutionary France between 1789 and 1794. Their respective views of revolutionary violence and popular sovereignty, which were integral components of the French Revolution, seem on the surface to be diametrically opposed. However, when comparing their correspondence and their pamphlets written during the American and French Revolutions, their respective views of revolutionary violence appear to converge. They both ultimately expressed their abhorrence for the violence and agreed that popular sovereignty was one of the components that brought down the French monarchy. When juxtaposing Burke, Whig politician and outspoken opponent of the French Revolution, against Jefferson, a proponent of the Revolution, what emerges is the latter's Whig views of political developments in France while he served there as minister, and after the Terror. Both had recommended a constitutional monarchy for France, specifically based on the English model; however, where Burke maintained this position, Jefferson retreated to support the French republican government installed in 1792 due to his fear that the Federalists would reinstall a monarchical government in America. Jefferson resumed his original views for France after he became aware of the bloodshed during the Terror