Dbq #3 Thomas Jefferson and Philosophical Consistency Essay

In “When the Ends Justify the Means,” Barry J. Balleck debates that President Jefferson did not abandon his political ethics by purchasing the Louisiana Territory (P. 14). Balleck states that the Louisiana Purchase was “the greatest achievement of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency” (P. 14). With the addition of the new territory to the United States, President Jefferson secured the nation “for generations, if not centuries to come” (P. 14). Jefferson was confident that purchasing the Louisiana Territory would encourage the development of an upright Republican populace (P. 14). Surprisingly, he had many reservations about his authority to purchase Louisiana, but that did not stop him from laying the treaty before Congress (P. 19). He also knew that, by purchasing Louisiana, the Federalists power might be lost, but he still pushed forward with the treaty (P. 19). Although many historians criticize President Jefferson for giving up his most visible political convictions by purchasing Louisiana, he knew that it would double the size of the United States and ensure much land expansion for the country (P. 20). He strongly believed that the new territory was “essential to national security” (P. 21). In President Jefferson’s mind, purchasing Louisiana secured the “virtues of Republicanism in an ‘Empire of Liberty’” (P. 22). “The Louisiana

Thomas Jefferson focuses instead on the life and political career of Jefferson, his personal ideologies, and his actions while in office. Appleby seems especially interested in how his views were alike and divergent from the opinions of his contemporaries. Though many historians dismiss the claim, she regards Jefferson’s description of his election as “real a revolution in

Even though Jefferson was very opposed to loose interpretation of the constitution and judicial expansion under John Marshal, he did discard his strict principles from time to time when it became necessary. “Self-preservation—the first law of nature and nations—took precedence over the constitutional limitations that he scrupulously observed in peacetime.” This is especially true in the case of the Louisiana Purchase. Americans were expanding westward and needed a port for transport on the Mississippi, so Spain allowed them to use New Orleans. In 1801 Louisiana was ceded to France by Spain. France was not as cooperative as Spain and closed the port of New Orleans to the U.S. Therefore, a sudden disruption in trade was a legitimate cause for tension between the U.S. and France, and many people believed that a war would break out if the Americans did not buy New Orleans. Thomas Jefferson himself thought troubles were

As his presidency continued Jefferson began drifting further away from the original ideals of the Republican Party. His decisions no longer reflected a strict interpretation of the Constitution, but resembled the loose construction of the Constitution employed by the Federalists. When he made the decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory in 1803, effectively doubling the territory of the USA, he loosely interpreted the Constitution like that of a federalist by working around the Constitution. No where did the Constitution state that the president had the power to make such a purchase, but by using the “necessary and proper” clause as a loop pole he made the purchase. He went against his party doctrine of strict interpretation in order to expand American domain and to protect the US from the threat of a resurgent France. Another show of Republican movement away from being strict constructionist was when Jefferson passed The Embargo Act of 1807, which banned all foreign exports. Supported by Document C, the Embargo Act was extremely unpopular with the American public. No where in the listing of the presidential powers did it state that a law such as the Embargo Act could be passed. When Jefferson passed this Act,

Some of the abuses he describes are shutting off trade with other parts of the world, quartering troops within the colonies, and forcing colonists to be tried in England. Jefferson and others saw these as a violation the people’s right to choose. It was his dream that men should be able to appoint their own government and vote on all decisions that would affect them.

If you lived as an educated American in the early nineteenth century, being rated for competence in office at such an early point in the history of the nation of America must have looked very different from how it does today. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States of America, served from 1801-1809. Being the virtual founder of the Democratic-Republican party that he was, he vehemently opposed the popular Federalists of his time, and vice versa. There were reasons for why he opposed the Federalists- not only being a major contributor to the basic fibers of America as one of it 's Founding Fathers, Jefferson was a man and a President who truly understood democracy 's goal and spirit, and ultimately he believed that the Federalists did not. His love of democracy and liberty holds true, even in spite of his choice to own slaves, a practice that went directly against the grain of the words he wrote with his own hand, that "...all men are created equal." Often the lives of great men contain deeds of theirs that do not measure up to their overall character. This could definitely be said of Thomas Jefferson, who was indeed a great President, in spite of being a man with some conflicted principles.

I identify with Jefferson because he works for the people. He focused on states’ rights because what may benefit New York might hurt Georgia. Our country has many different industries with the southern states being predominately agriculture and the northern states primarily manufacturing. An example of economic division would be the tariff of 1789. The tariff supported high duties on trade which protected the northern states manufacturing economy but cost the southern planters. The cargo that transported agricultural goods was taxed which became a burden on southern planters. Hamilton pushed for this tariff because he wanted to jump start the small industry in the north. Jefferson disagreed with Hamilton pointing out that tariffs should only be used to raise money for the government and not to create a private sector such as manufacturing. This relates to Jefferson believing in the “invisible hand” theory. That a free

Jefferson wanted a separation of powers within the government in order to prevent one person or group having a tyrannical hold over the nation. He believed

Thomas Jefferson had mixed emotions about the Louisiana Purchase. On one hand, he knew it would be a grand opportunity, and the United States would be assured free navigation of the Mississippi River. Also, it would double our nation in size and be considered one of the largest, if not the largest, land transaction in history. On the other hand, he was conflicted whether or not to buy the Louisiana Territory because of guidelines set forth in the Constitution. The Constitution did not specifically

Before he was elected Thomas Jefferson did not like the idea of a large military, because of his principles of Republicanism.

One reason why Jefferson upheld his belief in less government is because in document 7, the text clearly states ,"Jefferson tried to shrink the government and cut costs wherever possible.He reduced the size of the army, halted a planned expansion of the navy,and lowered expenses for government social functions."This means that he started cutting government funding, without this funding the government couldn't perform all of it functions which lead to less government.

Both parties were seen doing this, but Daniel Webster, in his speech to the House of Representatives in regards to a conscription bill on December 9, 1914, got the Federalists caught in the act. Webster put himself in the shoes of the Jeffersonians for the purpose of ridiculing their viewpoint. The Madison Administration wanted to construct a draft, but this area was not directly addressed by the Constitution. In this specific situation, the two parties directly changed places. The Republicans did so to try to gain position on the Federalists in order to pass the bill. The Federalists countered by analyzing the Constitution strictly (Doc D). In this way it is ironic how each position is wrong in their own eyes yet they attempt to prove a point this way. John Randolph, a Democratic Republican, renounced Madison’s administration in his speech to the House about a proposed tariff. He stated that they had taken up the ways of John Adams over time. He said that they did this for their own gains and not for the country (Doc F). These two documents show how changing views of the Constitution for a party caused conflict during the time of the Jefferson and Madison

Jefferson accomplished a lot while he was president that affected everyone at this time and even us today. While Jefferson was president, he wrote the Declaration of Independence. It was written to declare the independence the colonies had from Great Britain. He also stated that all men should be created equally and stated that slavery is against our most important rights, life and liberty itself. Jefferson wrote a bill establishing that all virginia schools were to give all children male or female, get three years of teaching in writing, reading arithmetic and history. He also came up with the Louisiana Purchase. It was land deal between the U.S. and France. In order to buy all this land he used Hamilton 's finacial plan, which was a good plan until it provoked the

Thomas Jefferson had a major impact on the United States while he was in office. He wanted a weak central government and a strong state government. Jefferson did not want the same type of government that Britain had. Thomas Jefferson also valued education. He recommended that the state governments push further into free education for all white males. Thomas Jefferson also cut national debt from $83 million to $45 million, despite paying $15 million for the Louisiana Territory, before his presidency came to a close. He majorly cut government spending in his administration as well as on the military. During Jefferson's presidency, he banned all European trade from American ports in response to violations of United States neutrality by Britain

“Jefferson’s ideals came from a hypothetical yeoman farmer, whose hard labour on the land will offer the best judgment on the rights of people.” (Sturgis, pg 7) At times, Jefferson had made uncomfortable decisions that opposed his ideals and beliefs, such as the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon. This forced a removal of the