While Jefferson displayed an overwhelming desire to avoid war, he did not suppose that it could be eliminated. He considered it a part of nature, occasionally both just and necessary. He emphasized defence and deterrance, but he did not hesitate to use or threaten war to preserve national integrity and promote national interests during his presidency. Politically and philosophically, he was a pragmatist rather than a pacifist, ready to engage in limited war for limited objectives and as a last resort, but opposed to war as a crusade. Throughout, Stuart's analysis of Jefferson's thinking on matters military shows a sensitive awareness of the tensions in western thought which arose in the transition from the ideas of the Enlightenment to those of the modern era.