Perhaps they were, but Ransom's characterization of Jefferson as a "neocon" directing this process is dubious at best. As he readily admits, the process of westward expansion by Europeans was inexorable. Jefferson wasn't some neocon concocting pretexts for insinuating the US into the western territories, he was a pragmatic realist riding the waves of history. And viewed within the context of his times, Jefferson's views towards the Indian nations was fairly enlightened and humane. Jefferson is one of the forefathers of the noninterventionist and realist schools of foreign policy. He was the exact opposite of a neocon.