I | INTRODUCTION |
Thomas
Jefferson (1743-1826), third president of the United States (1801-1809)
and author of the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the most brilliant
individuals in history. His interests were boundless, and his accomplishments
were great and varied. He was a philosopher, educator, naturalist, politician,
scientist, architect, inventor, pioneer in scientific farming, musician, and
writer, and he was the foremost spokesman for democracy of his day.
As president, Jefferson strengthened the powers
of the executive branch of government. He was the first president to lead a
political party, and through it he exercised control over the Congress of the
United States. He had great faith in popular rule, and it is this optimism that
is the essence of what came to be called Jeffersonian democracy.
Jefferson swore his hostility, he said, to
“every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” During his lifetime he sought to
develop a government that would best assure the freedom and well-being of the
individual.
II | EARLY LIFE |
Thomas Jefferson's father, Peter Jefferson,
was a prosperous Virginia planter. His mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, was a
member of the old and distinguished Randolph family of Virginia. In 1743 the
Jeffersons moved to western Goochland County, where Peter Jefferson had acquired
162 hectares (400 acres) of undeveloped land. He named his estate Shadwell. At
first the family lived in a simple wood-frame house.
Thomas Jefferson was born in this house on
April 13, 1743. A year after his birth, Albemarle County was formed from the
western portion of Goochland County. Peter Jefferson soon became a leader in the
new county. He was a justice of the peace, a magistrate, and commander of the
county militia. Although young Jefferson was accepted into the Virginia
aristocracy through his mother's family, it was his father, a self-made man,
whom he especially admired.
In 1745, William Randolph, a cousin of Mrs.
Jefferson and a close friend of the family, died. His will requested that Peter
Jefferson move to his estate, manage the house and land, and supervise the
education of Randolph's four children. The Jeffersons remained at Randolph's
estate, known as Tuckahoe, for seven years.
A | Education |
Thomas was five years old when he began
his education under the family tutor at Tuckahoe. In 1752 the Jeffersons
returned to Shadwell and again started work on a plantation home. Thomas,
however, spent little time at Shadwell. Almost immediately he was sent to
Northam in St. James Parish, Virginia, where he studied Latin with the Reverend
William Douglas until 1757, when his father died. He was then sent to the school
of the Reverend James Maury in Fredericksville Parish, Virginia, and spent two
years studying Greek and Latin classics, history, literature, geography, and
natural science.
Jefferson was a tall, slender boy with
sandy hair of a reddish cast and fair skin that freckled and sunburned easily. A
serious student, he also enjoyed the lighter aspects of the education of a
Virginia gentleman. He learned to dance and play the violin and became an
excellent horseman. Weekends and holidays he spent either at Shadwell
entertaining guests or at his friends' plantations.
In March 1760 Jefferson entered the
College of William and Mary in Virginia's capital city, Williamsburg, and soon
came under the influence of Dr. William Small. Jefferson became a favorite of
the doctor, who taught mathematics, natural history, metaphysics, and moral
philosophy. Jefferson also continued his study of classical literature.
B | Lawyer |
After two years at William and Mary,
Jefferson left to study law with Dr. Small's friend George Wythe, the most
learned lawyer in Virginia. Jefferson was very fond of Wythe and called him “my
second father.” Even while reading law, Jefferson had many other interests. He
studied French, Italian, and English history and literature. He was keenly
interested in the new scientific theory of inoculation and traveled to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to have himself inoculated against smallpox.
In 1767, after five years of work and
study under Wythe, Jefferson was admitted to the practice of law in Virginia. He
was reasonably successful as a lawyer, but he did not earn enough to support a
Virginia gentleman. Jefferson's main source of income, like that of most other
Virginia lawyers, was his land.
Throughout his years of law practice,
Jefferson spent much time supervising the Shadwell plantation. In this
occupation, as in his studies, he was most methodical. He observed the growth of
his plants and trees, keeping records of them in a special garden book. A
careful observer of his environment, he kept a lifelong record of such things as
temperature, weather, expenses, recipes, and anything else that struck him as
noteworthy. “There is,” he once wrote, “not a sprig of grass that shoots
uninteresting to me.”
The year of his admission to practice
law, Jefferson began work on his mountaintop estate, Monticello, near what is
now Charlottesville, Virginia. Jefferson designed the mansion himself in the
classical style of architecture.
C | Marriage |
On New Year's Day, 1772, Jefferson
married Martha Wayles Skelton, a 24-year-old widow. Patty, as Jefferson called
her, shared her husband's love of music and played the harpsichord and piano.
The marriage was a happy one despite Mrs. Jefferson's ill health. Of their six
children, only two, both of them girls, lived to maturity. Martha Jefferson died
in 1782. The death of his wife had a profound effect on Jefferson and probably
influenced his return to politics, which he had considered abandoning.
III | EARLY CAREER |
A | Virginia Burgess |
By the time of his marriage, Jefferson
had for several years been a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. This was
the lower chamber of the Virginia legislature, which was called the General
Assembly. He was elected in 1768 and took his seat at Williamsburg in the spring
of 1769. As a burgess, Jefferson took an active part in the events that led to
the American Revolution (1775-1783). He belonged to the so-called radical group
that was in opposition to the conservative planters of the Tidewater region.
Many of his democratic views came from his experience as a resident of the
western part of the colony, near the frontier, where he saw the colonists carve
a civilization out of the wilderness. This strengthened his lifelong belief that
people could and should govern themselves.
Jefferson was a poor speaker, but his
literary talents made him a highly valued member of committees when resolutions
and other public papers were drafted. He emerged as the recognized author of the
patriot cause in Virginia and indeed in the whole of the colonies. Jefferson's
first public paper, however, was considered too stiff and formal, and it was
rewritten. The paper was a response to the greeting of the new governor, Lord
Botetourt, to the General Assembly. Jefferson, who never took criticism
graciously, remembered the incident with annoyance for many years.
A1 | Townshend Acts |
In 1769 Jefferson joined his fellow
burgesses in opposing the Townshend Acts. These laws passed by the British
Parliament required the colonies to pay duties on paint, lead, paper, and tea.
They also made changes in colonial administration that disturbed the colonists.
The Massachusetts legislature appealed to the other colonies for concerted
action against the laws. Virginia responded with resolutions protesting the
acts. Governor Botetourt, learning of the resolutions, dissolved the General
Assembly. However, the burgesses moved their meeting to the Raleigh Tavern in
Williamsburg, where Jefferson and the others signed an association, or pledge of
action. Drafted by Burgess George Mason and introduced by Burgess George
Washington, the document went far beyond any previous protest. It bound its
signers not to buy a number of imported goods until the Townshend duties were
abolished.
Faced with the prospect of a boycott,
Great Britain lifted most of the offensive duties. Thus the colonists were
quieted so effectively, Jefferson said, that they “seemed to fall into a state
of insensibility to our situation.” He, however, was not deceived. He noted that
the tea tax still held and that Parliament still claimed the right “to bind us
by their laws in all cases whatsoever.”
A2 | Committee of Correspondence |
In 1773, in retaliation for the
burning of the British ship Gaspée near Providence, Rhode Island, the
British government ordered a special court of inquiry and threatened to send the
perpetrators to Britain for trial. Jefferson and his brother-in-law Dabney Carr
were among the burgesses who protested the British threats. They met secretly
with burgesses Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee and a few others to consider
a plan of action. Carr drew up a set of resolutions proposing a committee of
correspondence for Virginia. The committee was to keep in touch with other
colonies on matters of common interest. Other resolutions challenged the
legality of the court of inquiry and protested the threat “to transmit persons
accused of offenses committed in America to places beyond the seas to be tried.”
The resolutions were passed by the General Assembly. Although the committee of
correspondence did not include Jefferson or other so-called radicals, the first
step had been taken toward communication and joint action on grievances by all
the colonies.
A3 | Jefferson's Resolutions |
Early in 1774 the colonies were
angered by the passage of what were called the Intolerable Acts. One of these,
the Boston Port Act, closed Boston Harbor in retaliation for a protest incident,
the so-called Boston Tea Party, where angry colonists dumped British tea into
Boston Harbor. Virginia protested the Boston Port Act, and Jefferson was one of
the burgesses who suggested that the day the act went into effect should be
declared “a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer.” Because of this
resolution, the General Assembly was again dismissed, this time by Lord Dunmore,
who had replaced Botetourt as governor.
Virginians immediately elected their
dismissed burgesses as delegates to a convention to consider the grievances of
the colonies. As delegate from Albemarle County, Jefferson wrote a series of
resolutions later titled A Summary View of the Rights of British America.
In defining the grievances with Great Britain, Jefferson denied that Parliament
had any authority over the colonies, and he attacked the restrictive acts passed
by Parliament as a deliberate plan to destroy colonial freedom. Jefferson also
accused the king of rejecting the best laws passed by colonial legislatures, of
preventing the outlawing of slavery in the colonies, of permitting his governors
to dissolve colonial assemblies, and of sending in armed forces without having
the right to do so. Jefferson said the colonists were “a free people claiming
their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their
Chief Magistrate.”
On his way to Williamsburg, where the
convention was to meet, Jefferson became ill. He was unable to go on but sent
his Summary View to be presented by fellow Burgess Peyton Randolph. The
younger delegates applauded Jefferson's work, but for the time being “tamer
sentiments were preferred,” as Jefferson put it. The Summary View was set
aside in favor of a more tactfully phrased remonstrance to Parliament. However,
Jefferson's work was published in Philadelphia and England, and Jefferson's
talents as a writer and political thinker came to the attention of American
patriots outside of Virginia.
A4 | Richmond Convention |
In March 1775 Jefferson was a delegate
to a Virginia convention held at Richmond to approve the decisions made at the
First Continental Congress, an assembly of representatives from the different
colonies that had met the previous fall to organize resistance to Britain. At
Richmond it was decided that the colonies must resort to arms against England.
Patrick Henry on this occasion made his stirring “give me liberty or give me
death” speech. Jefferson supported Henry's call to arms with his first public
address. The convention then chose him as an alternate delegate to the Second
Continental Congress to serve if the elected delegate, Peyton Randolph, should
be unable to attend.
A5 | Burgesses' Last Session |
Before the Second Continental Congress
convened, events in Virginia reached a crisis. Lord Dunmore, the governor, had
angered Virginians by his high-handed conduct. They were further aroused when
word came of the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, when
Massachusetts militias first took up arms against the British troops. The
American Revolution had begun. (See Lexington, Battle of; Concord, Battle
of.) Dunmore was frightened and called a meeting of the General Assembly, which
both Jefferson and Randolph attended.
At first, Dunmore tried to calm the
assembly with assurances that no more taxes would be levied. Instead, he said,
they would return to the old system whereby the colonies voluntarily contributed
money to Great Britain. However, these assurances came too late to appease the
Virginians. Dunmore felt his life was endangered and fled to a British warship.
He never returned to Virginia.
The assembly continued to work without
him. Jefferson's written reply to the assurances made by Dunmore stated that
“the British Parliament has no right to intermeddle with the support of civil
Government in the Colonies.” Virginia, Jefferson declared, was now represented
in the Continental Congress and would go along with the decisions of the other
colonies. His reply, slightly amended, was adopted by the assembly, and
Jefferson left for Philadelphia and the meeting of the Continental Congress.
Randolph remained in Williamsburg to preside over the assembly.
B | Declaration of Independence |
On June 21, 1775, Jefferson took his
seat in Congress. A few days later, John Rutledge of South Carolina was
appointed to write a statement explaining the colonists' reasons for making war
on Britain. Rutledge's paper was not approved, and Jefferson, who by now had
earned wide acclaim as a writer, was asked to write a new draft. His version
contained many of the ideas expressed in the Summary View, and it brought
forth the same cry of radicalism from the conservatives. John Dickinson of
Pennsylvania rewrote Jefferson's paper, and Congress approved it on July 6,
1775.
The following summer, Jefferson sat in
Congress as an elected delegate, not as an alternate. It was at this session
that he wrote his most famous document, the Declaration of Independence.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, who
was also a congressman from Virginia, proposed a resolution stating “that these
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.”
Jefferson was one of a committee of five appointed to draft a declaration “to
the effect of the said ... resolution.” The committee asked Jefferson to draft
the paper, and according to committee member John Adams, Jefferson replied,
“Well, if you are decided, I will do as well as I can.” When his draft was
completed, Adams, committee member Benjamin Franklin, and Jefferson himself made
corrections.
On July 2, 1776, Lee's resolution for
independence was passed by Congress. Technically, this was the actual day of
American independence. Then the declaration was debated, several changes were
made, and some parts were dropped entirely. Jefferson regretted especially the
deletion of a long paragraph denouncing the slave trade and the whole
institution of slavery as a “cruel war against human nature itself.”
The objective of the declaration, in
Jefferson's own words, was to justify American independence “in terms so plain
and full as to command their assent.” As an expression of the philosophy of the
natural rights of people in an age when absolute monarchs ruled throughout the
world, it had an immense impact in America and in Europe as well. Jefferson did
not originate the concept of government by consent and the belief that all
people are endowed with certain rights that government cannot infringe upon.
These ideas came from European philosophers, most notably 17th century British
philosopher John Locke. However, in the declaration they were given a practical
application for the first time. Furthermore, in Jefferson's words they achieved
their most eloquent expression.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of
Independence was formally adopted. The bands that had connected America with
Great Britain were broken. Within a few days the declaration was being read to
people throughout the colonies, and it was received with great rejoicing. The
declaration held the essence of Jefferson's ideals, and he spent the rest of his
life applying its principles to the new American government.
C | Virginia Legislator |
While Jefferson was writing the
declaration, a convention of the General Assembly in Virginia was drafting laws
suitable for the state's new republican form of government. Eager to take part
in this enterprise, Jefferson resigned from Congress and, in September 1776,
returned to Virginia. A congressional appointment as minister to France followed
him home. However, he declined the appointment in order to serve in the Virginia
convention.
C1 | Legislation |
Jefferson was opposed to all forms of
tyranny. He also had great faith in the ability to rule by reason. Therefore, in
helping to make laws for Virginia, his guiding principle was to place as few
restrictions as possible upon the people of the state. Jefferson was a strong
advocate of land reform. A few families owned most of the land in Virginia and,
because ownership of land was a prerequisite for voting, these same families
also controlled the government. By his efforts the old hereditary property laws
were modified to enable more people to own land, which led to greater democracy
in the state.
Jefferson's most noteworthy
achievement at the convention was his bill to establish religious freedom and to
ensure the separation of church and state. The bill guaranteed, in Jefferson's
own words, “that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious
worship, place or ministry whatsoever.” It guaranteed, too, that no one should
suffer in any way for his “religious opinions or belief.” Introduced in 1779,
the bill did not become law until 1786, when, through the leadership of
Legislator James Madison, it was enacted by the General Assembly.
Jefferson was less successful with his
educational program. His “bill for the more general diffusion of knowledge”
would have provided schooling for children whose parents could not afford
private schools. The bill as written never passed the General Assembly. However,
it set forth a philosophy that was eventually embodied in the national
institution of the free public school.
C2 | Monticello |
During this period, Jefferson managed
to spend considerable time with his family. Even in leisure he was never idle.
He once more took up building projects at Monticello and continued to develop
his land, attempting such exotic plantings as olive and orange trees. Jefferson
was a philosopher and at the same time an architect and an inventor. He invented
the dumbwaiter, a swivel chair, a lamp-heater, and an improved plow for which
the French gave him a medal. He tinkered with clocks, steam engines, and
metronomes. He collected plans of large cities and later helped in the planning
of Washington, D.C. Scientific subjects always interested him. He entered into a
transatlantic correspondence with Giovanni Fabbroni, an Italian naturalist, in
order to compare climate and plant life in Virginia and southern Europe.
Jefferson also added to his valuable collection of books and bought instruments
for making astronomical observations.
By 1779, most Virginians believed that
the war was near its end. British General John Burgoyne had surrendered, and
4000 British and German prisoners of war from Burgoyne's command were sent to
Virginia. However, General George Washington, the Virginian who commanded the
Continental Army, knew that much fighting lay ahead and that the country needed
the efforts of its able people. He deplored the retirement to private life of
such people as Jefferson. Edmund Pendleton, a Virginia patriot, was more
specific. He told Jefferson, “You are too young to ask that happy quietus from
the public, and should ... at least postpone it til you have taught the rising
Generation the forms as well as the substantial principles of legislation.”
Jefferson therefore returned to politics, and in 1779 he was elected governor of
Virginia, succeeding Patrick Henry.
D | Governor of Virginia |
The Virginia constitution strictly
limited the power of the executive branch of government in order to deny that
branch the dictatorial powers previously held by the colonial governors.
Jefferson had agreed that the executive office should be merely a tool for
carrying out the mandates of the legislature. As governor, however, he found
that constitutional restrictions of his power prevented his taking action, and
in time of war quick action was needed.
Furthermore, Jefferson was
temperamentally unsuited to deal with military matters. He wished only for the
immediate end of the war, declaring, “It would surely be better to carry on a
ten years' war some time hence than to continue the present [one] an unnecessary
moment.” He found it hard to give orders. When generals Nathanael Greene and
Horatio Gates urgently begged him for reinforcements to beat back a British
attack in the Carolinas, Jefferson agreed to send some soldiers only if they
would go “willingly.” He felt that their previous service gave them a right to
be consulted.
D1 | Invasion of Virginia |
During Jefferson's administration the
war was fought almost entirely in the South. Although Jefferson was warned by
Washington that the British were sending a large force to Virginia, he did not
take measures to meet the invasion.
In early January 1781 the British
attacked Richmond, the new capital of Virginia, and Jefferson, his council, and
the General Assembly fled the city.
On June 2, 1781, Jefferson quit the
governorship. It was the end of his term, but because of chaotic wartime
circumstances no successor had been named. Later in the year, Jefferson was
reelected governor by the General Assembly. He declined, recommending instead
the election of someone with military experience. Jefferson's administration had
not been a success. A committee of the legislature investigated his conduct in
office during the British invasion. Although he was exonerated, his reputation
was badly tarnished in his home state.
Two days after Jefferson resigned his
office, Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his British dragoons made a surprise raid
on Monticello and very nearly captured Jefferson, his entire family, and several
guests. Although Jefferson's escape was orderly and dignified, his opponents
spread a story that he fled on horseback just as the dragoons came into sight.
To Jefferson's indignation, the story was told and retold, embroidered in such a
way as to make him appear a coward.
D2 | Notes on Virginia |
Jefferson spent the next two years in
retirement at Monticello, concerning himself with agricultural matters and with
building his estate. As usual, he continued to make notes on his surroundings.
One winter, he put in book form all the information on Virginia that he had been
collecting for many years. The work was published in 1785 as Notes on the
State of Virginia. It became one of the most famous and respected scientific
books of its time and was acclaimed in Europe and America. Jefferson had
described and reflected on the natural history, geography, climate, economics,
Native Americans, religion, manners, agriculture, politics, and many other
aspects of his native state. He discussed also many other subjects. A chapter on
politics and government fervently defended the concepts of freedom and equality.
Favoring a balance of power among all branches of government, Jefferson
criticized the excessive power given the Virginia legislature. He wrote, “173
despots would surely be as oppressive as one.” He also condemned the institution
of slavery, describing it as “this great political and moral evil.”
Jefferson's retirement from public
life was marred by tragedy. On September 6, 1782, he noted in his account book
that “my dear wife died this day at 11-45 am.” After spending the next few months
in almost total seclusion, he returned to politics.
E | Confederation Congressman |
In November 1782 Jefferson accepted a
congressional appointment as a diplomat with broad authority to Europe. He was
to sail to France to take part in peace negotiations with Great Britain.
However, his sailing was delayed, and by April 1783 the peace settlement was so
nearly concluded that Congress decided not to send him at all. In June,
Jefferson was elected as a Virginia delegate to Congress. His skill in drafting
public papers was called on again and again, and he contributed to the work of
many committees.
Among his most important actions was a
proposal for the political organization of the Northwest Territory. This
proposal was adopted by Congress in 1784 but was never put into effect. However,
the governmental plan called the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was based in large
part on his proposal. The Land Ordinance of 1785 was also Jefferson's work. It
established the public land policy of the United States for more than 75 years.
Jefferson suggested that the United States adopt the decimal system of currency,
based on the silver Spanish dollar, using the silver dime and copper cent.
F | Diplomatic Representative to France |
In May 1784 Congress again appointed
Jefferson a diplomat. His duties were to take him to France. There he was to
help the other ministers, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, in arranging
commercial treaties with various European countries. When Franklin retired in
1785, Jefferson replaced him as the U.S. diplomatic representative to
France.
One of Jefferson's most important
functions in France was to report home how “the vaunted scene of Europe ...
struck a savage of the mountains of America.” He was not well impressed. He
urged his friend, Congressman James Monroe, to come and see for himself what
France was like. “It will make you adore your own country,” he said. “How little
do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and
which no other people enjoy.”
F1 | French Revolution |
The France to which Jefferson referred
was on the threshold of revolution. Jefferson hailed the idea of revolution in
France but hoped it would be peaceful and orderly. When King Louis XVI agreed to
convene a national representative body, the Estates-General, Jefferson thought
the revolution had accomplished its end. From the opening of the Estates-General
on May 5, 1789, he attended every day to observe its deliberations. He suggested
to the Marquis de Lafayette, French military leader who fought in the American
Revolution, that the king should give the people a charter of rights, and he
even drafted a sample ten-point charter. The violence and cruelty of later
developments in France distressed him greatly, but he never lost faith in the
principles of the French Revolution.
F2 | Bill of Rights |
During Jefferson's stay abroad he was
frequently consulted on significant developments at home. The most important of
these was the Constitution of the United States, drawn up in 1787. To James
Madison, who sent him a copy of the proposed Constitution, Jefferson wrote, “A
bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on
earth.” Such a bill would clearly state the right of the people to “freedom of
religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction
of monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and
trial by jury ....” Based on Jefferson's suggestions, Madison proposed a Bill of
Rights, consisting of the first ten amendments, which was added to the
Constitution in 1791.
While abroad, Jefferson toured much of
Europe, taking note of its architecture and studying its scientific
achievements. However, he longed to return to the United States, and permission
finally came in September 1789.
G | Secretary of State |
When Jefferson returned to the United
States, President Washington asked him to become secretary of state. Although
Jefferson was anxious to return to private life, he accepted at the president's
urging.
G1 | Quarrels with Hamilton |
What was to be Jefferson's chief
problem for many years soon became apparent. He and Secretary of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton were completely at odds in their thinking. Jefferson, with
his faith in the rational mind and his optimistic view of popular government,
placed his trust in the land and the people who farmed it. He believed that the
purpose of government was to assure the freedom of its individual citizens. With
his fear of tyranny, he distrusted centralization of power and favored instead
the spread of power among the federal, state, and local levels of
government.
Hamilton, on the other hand,
distrusted popular rule. “The people!” he once exclaimed, “the people is a great
beast!” Whereas Jefferson favored an economy based on agriculture that stressed
individual freedom, Hamilton worked to promote commerce, industry, and a strong
central government, under which, he believed, the economy would flourish. He
believed that to preserve order and the alliance between business and
government, the moneyed class and the wealthy aristocracy should hold all
political power. Jefferson retorted, “I have never observed men's honesty to
increase with their riches.” The conflict between Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian
thought has continued down to the present day. Generally, the American
capitalist economy has grown along Hamiltonian lines, while American political
institutions and social aims are Jeffersonian in nature.
Soon after Jefferson became secretary
of state, he and Hamilton had a disagreement over the debts incurred by the
states during the revolution. Hamilton, a New Yorker, wanted the federal
government to pay these debts. He believed that this would greatly strengthen
the central government. Jefferson objected. Virginia and most of the Southern
states had already paid a considerable portion of their war debts and had no
wish to pay those of the North. A political compromise resolved the issue. To
satisfy Southerners, it was agreed to move the future national capital from
Philadelphia to a Southern location on the Potomac River at what is now
Washington, D.C. In exchange, Jefferson influenced Southern legislators to vote
in favor of Hamilton's proposal that the federal government assume the war debts
of the states.
G2 | Strict Construction |
Another matter on which the two men
disagreed intensely was the establishment of a national bank. Hamilton advocated
such a bank as a means of forging a bond of common interest between business and
the federal government. Jefferson felt that a national bank would encourage
people to desert agriculture for speculation and give the commercial interests
too much power in the federal government.
Jefferson supported his views by a
“strict construction” of the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution, which
specified that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people.” Jefferson argued that since the Constitution
did not specifically empower the federal government to establish a national
bank, it could not do so. Hamilton, however, argued for a “loose construction”
of the Constitution. Relying on the implied-powers clause, which states that
Congress can make all laws “necessary and proper” for the execution of its
powers, Hamilton argued that the federal government could establish a bank.
Jefferson's views were rejected when President Washington signed a bill
establishing a national bank.
G3 | Political Parties |
Out of the divergent political
philosophies of Jefferson and Hamilton emerged the first clearly defined
political parties in the United States. Hamilton's followers called themselves
Federalists, later known as the Federalist Party, and Jefferson's were
Republicans, later known as the Democratic-Republican Party. Feelings ran high
between the two parties. Jefferson was assailed as an atheist and a demagogue.
The Federalists were accused of planning to establish a monarchy along British
lines.
G4 | Foreign Affairs |
Since its defeat in the revolution,
Great Britain had refused to sign a trade treaty with the United States. To
force Britain to give the United States favorable commercial terms, Jefferson
advocated an embargo (suspension of trade) against that country. He also wanted
Britain to relinquish the forts in the Northwest Territory, which were held in
violation of the peace treaty of 1783. Hamilton opposed an embargo, claiming
that the United States would lose so much in customs duties that its finances
would crumble. Jefferson did not get his embargo until much later, when he was
president.
G5 | Citizen Genêt |
In 1793 England and France were at
war. Jefferson favored France, while Hamilton and the Federalists were committed
to England. Both agreed, however, that the United States should stay out of the
European war. Hamilton pressed President Washington to make an open declaration
of neutrality. Jefferson felt that it would be neither wise nor constitutional
for the president to make such a proclamation. However, Jefferson yielded to
Hamilton in order to attain a goal he considered more important: the recognition
of the republican government of France. This was achieved by accrediting the
French diplomatic representative to the United States, Citizen Genêt (see
Genêt, Edmond Charles Édouard).
Unfortunately, Genêt repeatedly
violated the neutrality of the United States and finally threatened to make a
direct appeal for the support of the American people. Jefferson eventually was
forced to agree that Genêt should be recalled.
The Genêt incident was one of many
frustrations that Jefferson encountered as secretary of state. Late in 1793,
despite President Washington's pleas, he resigned. In January 1794 he returned
to his beloved Monticello, believing that he was leaving public life for
good.
G6 | Break With Washington |
Even in retirement, Jefferson kept a
close watch on political affairs. Federalist victories were a source of great
concern to him, and his Republican allies in Congress looked to him for
leadership. Jefferson was greatly distressed with Jay's Treaty, negotiated with
Great Britain in 1794 by John Jay, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States. The treaty was intended to resolve remaining differences with
Britain, including trade restrictions in the West Indies. However, the treaty
had failed to win all the desired concessions for the United States, and the
section dealing with West Indian trade was humiliating. Angry with Washington
for having supported the treaty, Jefferson wrote his friend Philip Mazzei:
In place of that noble love of liberty, and republican government which carried
us triumphantly thro' the war, an Anglican, monarchical, and aristocratical party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the substance as they have already done the forms of the British government.
In place of that noble love of liberty, and republican government which carried
us triumphantly thro' the war, an Anglican, monarchical, and aristocratical party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the substance as they have already done the forms of the British government.
He added a barely concealed indictment
of President Washington, calling him a Samson who let his head be shorn by
England. Mazzei was so indiscreet as to publish the letter, and Washington never
again regarded Jefferson as his friend.
H | Election of 1796 |
In the election year of 1796, Washington
announced that he would not seek a third term. Jefferson was prevailed upon to
accept the Republican nomination for president. John Adams, nominated by the
Federalists, polled three more electoral votes than Jefferson. According to the
system of election then prevailing, Adams became president of the United States
and Jefferson vice president.
I | Vice President of the United States |
Jefferson was 54 years old when he
became vice president. His duties were not clearly set forth in the
Constitution, and to Jefferson it appeared that he had only to preside over the
Senate. This he did ably. He also wrote the Manual of Parliamentary
Practice, a book of parliamentary rules (published in 1801), many of which
still apply to both houses of Congress. In other matters, Jefferson had little
to do with the Federalist administration of President Adams.
I1 | XYZ Affair |
Party friction was increased by the
XYZ Affair in 1797 and 1798. Jay's Treaty, so unpopular at home, had also had
repercussions abroad. The French government considered it a sellout to the
British, despite the American declaration of neutrality, and therefore felt
justified in interfering with United States-British trade. By the summer of
1797, France had seized 300 American ships and broken off diplomatic relations.
There was talk of war, especially among the pro-British Federalists.
President Adams sent a three-man
diplomatic team to France in an effort to negotiate a solution. The French
government did not receive the diplomats. Instead they were approached by agents
of Charles Talleyrand, the French foreign minister. The agents proposed that the
United States could make reparations for its alleged injuries to France by
paying Talleyrand a huge bribe and financing a large loan to the French
government. These terms were so exorbitant and dishonorable that the American
diplomats rejected them. When Adams, who had been waiting anxiously for news,
got their report, he tried to keep it secret. But Jefferson's pro-French
Republicans raised a great outcry. They accused Adams of suppressing information
that was favorable to France and thereby driving America into war with that
country.
Adams finally let the report be
published. The names of the French agents were changed to X, Y, and Z, but the
details were left unchanged. Jefferson now found himself on the defensive as
anti-French feeling rose over the corrupt proposal. He argued that there was no
reason to believe that the agents were actually speaking for the French
government. But the antagonism toward France continued to grow and was exploited
by the Federalists to the damage of the Republican Party.
Through his control of the Federalist
Party, Hamilton rallied the United States to take action against France.
Congress renounced all the treaties it had made with France during the American
Revolution. It ordered an expansion of the army, created the Department of the
Navy, and commissioned the building of naval fighting ships. George Washington
was called out of retirement to lead the army, with Hamilton as his second in
command. By the end of 1798 more than a dozen American men-of-war had been put
to sea and an undeclared naval war with France had begun.
I2 | Alien and Sedition Acts |
During this period of war fever in the
United States, the Federalists passed a number of bills for national defense and
for the suspension of trade between the United States and France. They also
passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. These acts placed many restrictions on
noncitizens and prohibited criticism of the president or the government of the
United States. They effectively muzzled the Republican press, which had been
critical of President Adams and the Federalist-dominated Congress. Even Hamilton
thought the provisions of these bills excessive. Republicans were enraged.
Indeed, Republican leaders Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe believed that the XYZ
Affair had been invented by the Federalists to whip up anti-French feeling and
to assure the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
I3 | Kentucky Resolutions |
In June 1798, while the Alien and
Sedition Acts were still being considered by Congress, Jefferson left
Philadelphia. He felt that there was no effective action he could take in
Adams's Federalist administration.
At Monticello, Jefferson secretly
drafted what were to be called the Kentucky Resolutions, in which he declared
that the federal government was not “the exclusive or final judge of the extent
of the powers delegated to itself.” On the contrary, Congress was merely a
creation of the states and was subject to the “final judgment” of the states. He
concluded that “whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers,
its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.” Here was the first
statement of the doctrine of nullification. Jefferson's primary purpose was to
defend human rights and civil liberties, which he believed were violated by the
Alien and Sedition Acts. The Kentucky legislature adopted the Kentucky
Resolutions, and similar resolutions were passed in Virginia. They were not
acted upon, the Alien and Sedition Acts expired in 1801, and the furor died
away. Later, however, the nullification doctrine was used by supporters of
states' rights to deny what the Federalists thought the Constitution had
settled: that the federal government was the primary government of the land.
Opponents of nullification argued that it would break up the federal Union.
Southern politicians invoked nullification in their 19th-century rivalry with
the Northern states, an antagonism that finally reached its climax in the
American Civil War (1861-1865).
I4 | Election of 1800 |
The Republicans again nominated
Jefferson for president in 1800. For vice president they nominated Aaron Burr,
who had built up a strong Republican following in New York state. President
Adams and Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina were the Federalist
candidates.
The Federalists campaigned against
Jefferson as an infidel who would destroy religion and set up the Goddess of
Reason in its place, as extremists in the French Revolution had attempted to do.
However, the political tide in the United States was swinging away from the
aristocratic Federalists to those advocating a more democratic form of
government, and the Republicans won a clear victory. Jefferson and Burr each
polled 73 electoral votes. Adams, hampered by the opposition of Hamilton, came
next with 65 votes.
The tie in the electoral vote caused
one of the gravest crises in American constitutional history. The electors, in
voting for Jefferson or Burr, had not specified whether their vote was for
president or vice president. Therefore, despite his being his party's vice
presidential candidate, Burr had as many votes for the office of president as
Jefferson had.
The Constitution provides that in case
no candidate in a presidential election wins a majority of the electoral votes,
the election must go to the House of Representatives, where each state has one
vote. To win, Jefferson or Burr had to have the support of a majority of the 16
states. To further complicate matters, this was a lame-duck Congress, meaning
that many of its members had been defeated in the recent election and were in
office only because their terms had not expired. Congress was dominated by
Federalists who had to choose between two Republican candidates. From February
11, when the voting began, to February 16, neither Jefferson nor Burr could win
the required nine states. Because he disliked Burr even more than he did
Jefferson, Hamilton favored Jefferson, but most Federalists abhorred Jefferson.
The crisis was resolved when a group of Federalists, led by James A. Bayard of
Delaware, came to the realization that if an orderly transfer of government
power was to be achieved, the majority party must have its choice as president.
Therefore, on February 17 the deadlock was broken. On the 36th ballot, Jefferson
won the support of ten states and was elected president. Burr, who had the
support of only four states, became vice president.
As a result of this election, the 12th
Amendment was added to the Constitution. This amendment specified that electors
were to “name in their ballots the person voted for as president, and in
distinct ballots the person voted for as vice president.”
IV | PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES |
Jefferson was inaugurated on March 4, 1801,
the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. Dressed in plain, dark
clothes, he walked from his boarding house to the chambers of the Senate of the
United States in the still-uncompleted Capitol building, where he was to give
his inaugural address. Jefferson was accompanied by a small crowd of people and
a company of artillery. The outgoing president, John Adams, considered Jefferson
a dangerous radical and did not attend the inauguration.
Jefferson's inaugural address, one of a
small number of truly memorable addresses by presidents of the United States,
attempted to dispel the notion held by many conservatives that democracy would
lead to mob rule and anarchy. “The will of the majority in all cases is to
prevail,” Jefferson said. However, “the minority possess their equal rights
which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” Jefferson
sought also to unite the country. “We are all Republicans, we are all
Federalists,” he proclaimed. Furthermore, his program was moderate enough to win
the support of both parties.
A | New Domestic Policies |
Nevertheless, President Jefferson did
reverse some Federalist programs. Both he and his secretary of the treasury,
Albert Gallatin, felt that a national debt was undesirable. By cutting certain
appropriations, especially for the army and navy, they balanced the budget and
reduced the debt. Jefferson also made good a Republican campaign promise to
repeal internal duties. This was greeted with approval in the West, where in
1794, Washington had had to use force to collect a hated excise tax on
whiskey.
B | Marbury v. Madison |
During his last days in office President
John Adams was determined to ensure Federalist control of the judiciary. The
lame-duck Congress had obliged by creating 16 new circuit courts and permitting
Adams to appoint as many justices of the peace for the District of Columbia as
he felt necessary. In all, about 200 offices were created and filled by loyal
Federalists. In addition, Adams appointed his secretary of state, John Marshall,
a Federalist from Virginia, to be chief justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States.
Jefferson, terming these “midnight
appointments” an “outrage in decency,” succeeded in having the circuit
judgeships abolished. He also reduced the number of justices of the peace from
42 to 30. Furthermore, Jefferson ordered his secretary of state, James Madison,
to withhold those commissions that had not yet been delivered. One of Adams's
appointees, William Marbury, brought a suit in the Supreme Court for a writ to
compel Madison to deliver his commission. In 1803 Chief Justice Marshall ruled
that the section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that authorized the Court to issue
such a writ was unconstitutional and that, although Marbury was entitled to his
commission, the Supreme Court could not force Madison to give it to him. Thus
Marshall established the doctrine of judicial review, whereby the Supreme Court
has the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.
C | Assault on Judiciary |
During his first term as president,
Jefferson attempted to replace Federalist officeholders with Republicans. He
especially wanted to end the Federalists' control of the judiciary. In 1804 John
Pickering, a district judge from New Hampshire, was impeached and removed from
office because of insanity. A more formidable opponent was Supreme Court Justice
Samuel Chase. An outspoken Federalist, Chase often made scathing attacks from
the bench on Jefferson and the Republican Party. In 1805 he was impeached and
tried before the Senate. Just before Jefferson began his second term, Chase was
acquitted. Thereafter, Jefferson resigned himself to an unelected and
independent judiciary controlled by the Federalists.
D | War with Tripoli |
Jefferson had long opposed paying tribute
to protect American shipping from the pirates who operated from the Barbary
states on the coast of northern Africa. As diplomatic representative to France
he had tried but failed to persuade European countries to join with the United
States in an attack on the pirate bases.
In 1801 the pasha (ruler) of
Tripoli, one of the Barbary states (in what is now Libya), demanded tribute
money beyond the amount fixed by treaty. When Jefferson refused the demand, war
ensued. Jefferson sent warships to blockade Tripoli, and Stephen Decatur, a
young naval officer, distinguished himself in several daring actions. However,
the war with Tripoli did not end until 1805, when Captain William Eaton captured
the Tripolitan town of Darnah and the pasha agreed to make peace. The payment of
tribute to Tripoli came to an end. However, the United States continued to have
trouble with pirates from other Barbary states.
E | Louisiana Purchase |
Jefferson's chief accomplishment as
president was the Louisiana Purchase. The huge territory of Louisiane (in
English, Louisiana), stretching from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico
and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, was claimed as a
possession by France in 1682. Because Louisiana was so large, its
resources—although as yet mostly undiscovered—were thought to be of great
value.
In the early years of the United States,
Louisiana was of concern chiefly because it bordered the Mississippi River,
which was vital to U.S. trade. In 1762 France had ceded Louisiana to Spain,
which was too weak to offer a serious threat to American commerce. In 1800,
however, rumors spread that Spain was about to cede Louisiana back to France.
Jefferson was alarmed. Relations between the United States and France were still
unfriendly, and France had the power to cut off American shipping at Louisiana's
capital, New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi. There was, said
Jefferson, “one single spot” on the globe, “the possessor of which is our
natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans through which the produce of
three-eighths of our territory must pass to market.”
In 1802 the rumored cession was
confirmed. Jefferson called the resulting crisis “the most important the United
States have ever met since independence.” He sent James Monroe to help Robert R.
Livingston, the American diplomatic representative to France, negotiate the
purchase of New Orleans. Congress appropriated $2 million for the purchase.
In April 1803, one day before Monroe
arrived in Paris, Talleyrand made Livingston a startling offer. The French
emperor, Napoleon I, was willing to sell not only New Orleans, he said, but the
whole of Louisiana as well. A treaty dated April 30, 1803, set the terms of the
purchase: $15 million, which included $3.75 million to pay for American claims
against France.
At the end of June, news of the treaty
reached the United States. Jefferson was very eager to acquire the entire
territory, but, viewing it from his strict-construction point of view, he
questioned whether the Constitution permitted such a purchase. He wanted to
amend the Constitution to make the transaction clearly legal.
Very soon, however, Jefferson changed his
mind about waiting for an amendment. His envoys in France wrote that Napoleon
already regretted his offer and might back out if given time. Furthermore, many
Federalists opposed the purchase and were ready to seize on Jefferson's own
doubts about its constitutionality to prevent its ratification. Jefferson
therefore asked the Senate to ratify the treaty at once. The Senate did so on
October 20, although every Federalist voted against it.
It then appeared that Spain, which had
not yet actually turned over Louisiana to France, might challenge the purchase.
Jefferson proceeded swiftly and firmly to establish American rights. He ordered
out troops from the Mississippi Territory, Tennessee, and Kentucky. This show of
force discouraged Spanish resistance, and Spain formally ceded Louisiana to
France. On December 20, 1803, the flag of the United States flew over New
Orleans.
F | Lewis and Clark Expedition |
Jefferson had dreamed of the exploration
of the West from the time he was secretary of state. As a scientist he wanted to
know about the land and its inhabitants. He realized the importance of such
exploration for the future expansion of the United States.
In January 1803, half a year before the
Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson proposed his idea to Congress. In order to conceal
its expansionist aims from England, France, and Spain, he suggested that the
journey be presented as a “literary pursuit.” Congress gave its approval.
Jefferson chose his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead the expedition, and
Lewis selected William Clark, a frontiersman, as his coleader. Jefferson
instructed them to observe and note down the physical features, topography,
soil, climate, and wildlife of the land and the language and customs of its
inhabitants. In 1806 Lewis and Clark returned with their valuable journals. They
had successfully breached the mountain barrier of the West, built a fort on the
Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River, and mapped and explored much
of the American Northwest. Moreover, they had secured the friendship of a number
of Native American peoples and given the United States a claim to the Oregon
country.
Jefferson's interest in the new Western
territory did not end with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 1804 and 1806 he
sent out expeditions to explore the Red River to its source. When these met with
Spanish resistance, he shifted his interest to the north. In 1805 he sent
Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike to discover the source of the Mississippi River, and
in 1806, Pike was sent out to explore the Arkansas River to its source.
G | Merry Affair |
Jefferson believed that the president's
dress and manners should reflect the republican simplicity and informality of
the country. Pomp and show reminded him too much of the European courts. In
fact, Jefferson worked so hard to avoid ostentation that he began to dress not
merely plainly, but sloppily. As for manners, he refused to observe the rules of
protocol in seating his dinner guests. First come, first served was the rule in
the presidential mansion, the White House. Jefferson explained:
In social circles, all are equal, whether in, or out, of office, foreign or domestic; and the same equality exists among ladies and gentlemen ... “pell mell” and “next the door” form the basis of etiquette in the societies of this country.
In social circles, all are equal, whether in, or out, of office, foreign or domestic; and the same equality exists among ladies and gentlemen ... “pell mell” and “next the door” form the basis of etiquette in the societies of this country.
The new British diplomatic
representative to the United States, Anthony Merry, and his wife were shocked
and insulted when the president received them in worn clothing and slippers. In
December 1803 at a formal dinner in the White House, no one offered to escort
Mrs. Merry to dinner. In the dining room, Merry and his wife had to scramble for
places at the table in competition with the other guests. The Marquis d'Yrujo,
the Spanish diplomat, had the same experience. He and Merry agreed that this
treatment was an insult to them and to their countries. The two diplomats and
their wives sought to retaliate. At their parties, for instance, no one escorted
the wives of the Cabinet members to the dinner table. This social war greatly
enlivened the atmosphere of Washington, D.C. The president refused to retreat
from his pell mell rule, and Merry and Yrujo became increasingly angry and
receptive to the plottings of Jefferson's opponents, the Federalists and Aaron
Burr.
H | Native American Policy |
Jefferson's policy toward Native
Americans reflected less his humanitarian instincts than it did his
understanding of the needs of the settlers on the expanding western frontier.
When, in 1803, the Choctaw nation was persuaded to sell its lands on the
Mississippi, Jefferson wrote to General Henry Dearborn, his secretary of war,
that the Choctaw “are poor and will probably sell ... so as to be entitled to an
annual pension, which is one of the best holds we can have on them.” Through
Jefferson's efforts, 20 million hectares (50 million acres) of land were bought
from the Native Americans for $142,000. As a result of this land grabbing, the
Native Americans who remained east of the Mississippi River began to rally
behind the Shawnee chief Tecumseh. Tecumseh, with his brother Tenskwatawa, who
was known as the Shawnee Prophet, promised to rid the Native Americans of the
white people forever.
I | Election of 1804 |
Jefferson was renominated for the
presidency by a caucus (political meeting) of Republican senators and
congressmen. However, Vice President Burr was dropped from the ticket in favor
of George Clinton, who had served a record six terms as governor of New York.
The Federalists chose Charles C. Pinckney to oppose Jefferson. This election was
very different from the election of 1800, when many Federalists were convinced
that Jefferson was the candidate of anarchy, atheism, and revolution. In the
landslide of 1804, Jefferson polled 162 electoral votes to Pinckney's 14 and won
every state but Connecticut and Delaware.
V | SECOND TERM AS PRESIDENT |
On March 4, 1805, Jefferson again walked to
the yet unfinished Capitol building for his second inaugural address, which was
to be far different from his first. As he himself noted in the margin of the
text:
The former one was an exposition of the principles on which I thought it my duty to administer the government. The second then should naturally be ... a statement of facts showing that I have conformed to those principles. The former was promise: this is performance.
The former one was an exposition of the principles on which I thought it my duty to administer the government. The second then should naturally be ... a statement of facts showing that I have conformed to those principles. The former was promise: this is performance.
A | Randolph's Rebellion |
The accomplishments of Jefferson's first
term in office and the resounding Republican victory in the election of 1804
greatly weakened the Federalist Party. During his second term, opposition within
his own party, led by Congressman John Randolph of Roanoke, proved to be
Jefferson's major problem.
Randolph first split with the
administration over its handling of the Yazoo fraud. In 1795 a group of land
speculators, many of them from the North, bribed the Georgia legislature into
selling them the greater part of its western land claims, in what is now Alabama
and Mississippi, for only $500,000. The area was called the Yazoo tract because
the Yazoo River runs through it. The next year the citizens of Georgia elected a
new legislature, which promptly invalidated the sale. In 1802 Georgia
relinquished its western land claims to the federal government. In 1804 and
again in 1805 Jefferson recommended that Congress pass a law to reimburse the
original speculators out of receipts from land sales on the Yazoo tract. Both
times, Randolph, who felt Jefferson was unduly considerate of the corrupt land
speculators, successfully led the opposition against the bill.
Randolph's complete break with the
administration came in the winter of 1805 and 1806, when Jefferson asked
Congress to appropriate $2 million for an unspecified diplomatic purpose. This
purpose, as Randolph construed it from a private conversation with Jefferson,
was to bribe Napoleon into forcing Spain to sell Florida to the United States.
Randolph did not approve of secret diplomacy and denounced these “backstairs”
negotiations to acquire Florida. Randolph was unable to block the appropriation,
although nothing ever came of the proposed deal with Napoleon. However, Randolph
gathered around him a group of Federalists and dissident Republicans, called
Quids. This group was able to prevent Jefferson from accomplishing much of his
legislative program during his second term.
B | Burr Conspiracy |
In 1804 Aaron Burr was defeated for the
governorship of New York. His failure was due primarily to the opposition of
Alexander Hamilton. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, killed him, and was
forced to flee to the frontier. His political career was ruined.
Burr next became involved in a plot, the
purpose of which is still unclear. He seems to have intended either to separate
the Louisiana Territory from the United States or to seize Mexico from Spain.
Indeed, his story seems to have varied with his audience. However, his plan was
betrayed by his accomplice, General James Wilkinson. In a letter to Jefferson,
Wilkinson revealed Burr's “deep, dark, wicked” plot to seize Louisiana. Burr was
captured and brought to Richmond for trial in 1807. Jefferson, who had long
distrusted his former vice president, was anxious to see him convicted of
treason. However, he was again thwarted by Chief Justice Marshall, who presided
at the trial. Marshall, intent on establishing the independence of the
judiciary, excluded much of the evidence that did not meet the constitutional
definition of treason, and to Jefferson's disgust Burr was acquitted.
C | Chesapeake Affair |
As the European war continued, the United
States found it increasingly difficult to maintain its neutrality. Napoleon
blockaded Britain, trying to stop its sea trade, and Britain issued orders that
prohibited trade with the rest of Europe. Also, the British, badly in need of
sailors, stopped American vessels and removed sailors they claimed were British
deserters. Often the sailors were British, but occasionally Americans were also
forcibly enlisted, or impressed, into the British service (see
Impressment and Search).
In June 1807 the United States frigate
Chesapeake was stopped by the British ship Leopard. When the
Chesapeake refused to permit a search, the Leopard fired upon it.
The helpless American ship was thereupon forced to surrender four of its men.
One was a British deserter, but three were Americans. Many Americans wanted to
go to war against Britain over this incident. However, Jefferson was determined
to avoid war, feeling he could bring Britain to terms by applying economic
pressure.
D | Embargo |
In December 1807 the Embargo Act was put
into effect. American ships were forbidden to sail from American ports to any
European port. Jefferson believed that England and France could not survive
without American trade. However, he had greatly underestimated the effect of the
embargo on the United States itself. All parts of the country were affected,
especially the industrial and commercial North. Shipbuilders, sailors,
manufacturers, and merchants denounced the embargo. The Southern planters also
suffered financially. Exports stopped, and produce prices fell. U.S. revenue at
the time was derived almost entirely from customs duties. With the stoppage of
international trade the national income dropped from $16 million in 1807 to a
little more than $7 million in 1809. Indeed, the embargo did more damage to the
American economy than to England's or France's.
Americans did their best to evade the
embargo. Smuggling flourished along the Atlantic coast and over the Canadian
border in the Northeast. The harassed president wrote to Secretary of the
Treasury Gallatin:
This embargo law is certainly the most embarrassing one we have ever had to execute. I did not expect a crop of so sudden and rank growth of fraud and open opposition by force could have grown up in the United States.
This embargo law is certainly the most embarrassing one we have ever had to execute. I did not expect a crop of so sudden and rank growth of fraud and open opposition by force could have grown up in the United States.
The Federalists assailed the Embargo Act
as not only ruinous, but unconstitutional as well. According to Jefferson's own
strict interpretation of the Constitution, the federal government did not have
the power to impose such a restriction on commerce during peacetime. However,
Jefferson ignored the constitutional aspects of the embargo and sought, instead,
means to enforce it. Opposition continued to grow, even in his own Cabinet.
Therefore, in March 1809, a few days before he left office, Jefferson had the
Embargo Act repealed. The less stringent Non-Intercourse Act, pertaining only to
England and France, was adopted in its place.
E | Election of 1808 |
Jefferson was again offered the Republican
presidential nomination in 1808. Unwilling to see the presidency become “an
inheritance,” he declined. He wanted, he said, to follow “the sound precedent
set by an illustrious predecessor,” George Washington. The Republicans thereupon
chose Jefferson's political protégé James Madison, who went on to win the
presidential election of 1808. As Jefferson's term drew near its end, he wrote
his old friend, French economist Pierre du Pont de Nemours:
Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to ... commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions. I thank God for the opportunity of retiring from them without censure, and carrying with me the most consoling proofs of public approbation.
Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to ... commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions. I thank God for the opportunity of retiring from them without censure, and carrying with me the most consoling proofs of public approbation.
VI | LATER LIFE |
At the age of 65, Jefferson was at last
free to return to his beloved mountaintop estate in Virginia. He devoted much of
his energy to repairing and rebuilding his estate, but he yet found time to
design houses for his friends. He furnished Monticello with rare and beautiful
objects and with his own remarkable inventions, so that the estate was much
talked about and frequently visited. He also worked to advance agricultural
science, and he filled his account books with observations of all kinds.
Jefferson's leisure time was spent in
reading. Ancient history especially interested him, but he also continued his
study of philosophy, religion, and law. In 1815 he sold his 6500-volume
collection to the federal government as the nucleus of the restored Library of
Congress, which was being built up again after its destruction in the British
burning of Washington in the War of 1812. However, immediately afterward,
Jefferson set about buying a new collection.
Political differences had long ago broken
up the friendship between Jefferson and John Adams. Now, a mutual friend, Dr.
Benjamin Rush, brought about a reconciliation. Jefferson and Adams began a
lively correspondence that touched on many subjects. “I cannot write volumes on
a single sheet,” Adams wrote plaintively, “but these letters of yours require
volumes from me.”
A | University of Virginia |
The founding of the University of
Virginia was probably the most important work of Jefferson's later years.
Architecturally designed by Jefferson and based on his plans and
recommendations, the university opened its doors in 1825. It accepted not only
wealthy students, but also capable students too poor to pay. Free public
education had always been one of Jefferson's dreams, and he managed to
accomplish it on the university level, although not on lower levels.
B | Missouri Compromise |
Occupied as he was with private projects,
Jefferson always remained interested in national affairs. Many years before, as
a congressman, he had tried to outlaw slavery in new states. He failed, as did
others who came after him, and the issue eventually became the main grievance
between the slaveholding South and the antislavery North. In 1820 Congress tried
to reconcile the opposing sides with the Missouri Compromise, which allowed
slavery only in new states created south of a line at 36°30' north latitude.
Jefferson’s correspondence about the Missouri question clearly shows that he
believed a terrible struggle over slavery still lay ahead.
C | Death of Jefferson |
Jefferson and his friend Adams, both of
whom had played such great parts in the winning of independence, died on
Independence Day, July 4, 1826. Jefferson left detailed instructions for his
burial in the graveyard of his estate. A simple monument was to mark his resting
place. He specified that the monument was to be made of coarse stone so that “no
one might be tempted hereafter to destroy it for the value of the materials.” He
wrote his own epitaph:
Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom
And Father of the University of Virginia
Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom
And Father of the University of Virginia
These achievements were to be inscribed
on the monument, and “not a word more ... because by these, as testimonials that
I have lived, I wish most to be remembered.”
Jefferson's wishes were carried out, but
vandals later overturned and broke the stone. A careful reproduction now marks
Jefferson's grave.
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