Thomas Jefferson's Paper on the Age of Experiments in Government

Between the years of 1789 – 1800, there were two people given the job of being the President of these United States of America, George Washington, the first president, and John Adams, the second president. Between the years of 1789 – 1800, the United States of America was a very young country who was searching for its identity, a leader, and an economic basis on which to run the country. Before, 1789, when George Washington took office, the Constitution of the United States was a very new document. It had just been ratified 1 year earlier, which meant that the Articles of Confederation, which ruled the country between the years 1783 – 1788, was thrown

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson is arguably one of the most influential people to Virginia and the United States before and during the American Revolution. Jefferson had been a governor for Virginia during the American Revolution, he had wrote the Declaration of Independence along with four other notable American politicians, and served as a minister to France in 1785-1789. Without Jefferson the American Revolution most likely would have played out completely different and we could possibly be living a different life today.

On July 3rd, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously declared the independence of the thirteen United States of America from Great Britain. Determined to unify the thirteen colonies, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. Although the articles did not prevent the United States from winning independence, the innate flaws of the articles became apparent in the years following the revolution. The problems of the weak, purely legislative national government became too prevalent for agents of the revolution, such as James Madison and George Washington. Madison and Washington were strong supporters of a federal, or national, constitution, and on June 21, 1788, congress ratified the Constitution of the United States. And in doing so, violated the “Revolutionary Ideology” and the will of the American people.

Thomas Jefferson was the third American President. Due to the fact that he was such an early President, he influenced our political system greatly, both in the short and long term with his seemingly quiet approach to congressional matters. During his presidency, many things happened that changed the United States as we know it. He coordinated the Louisiana Purchase, assisted in implementing the twelfth amendment, formed the character of the modern American President, and cut the U.S.’s war debt by a third.

Works Cited Sadosky, L. J. (2016). Jefferson, Thomas. Worldbookonline.com. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar286800&st=thomas+jefferson#tab=homepage Thomas Jefferson. (2009).

Thomas Jefferson's ideals and beliefs were derived from a deep regard for life, liberty, and freedom. His concept of individual freedoms strongly disagreed with the notion of a "guided republic" which he believed concentrated a great deal unchecked power among a few people. This could have the potential of tyrannical government that might suppress personal freedoms of any kind especially those of religion, which Jefferson feels very strongly felt should be protected. After fighting hard to rid America of British domination, Jefferson was determined to create a government that was responsible to, and derived its powers from, a free people. As the writer of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for

After so many years of imposing taxes, differing views, and bloodshed the United States Constitution was finally able to make its way in 1788. The U.S Constitution called for a revision of the Articles of Confederation, establishing a new form government. In the end, it completely threw out the out the Articles of Confederation. The ratification of the U.S Constitution caused much criticism and separated Americans into two groups Federalists and Ant-Federalists. Although there was much objection, with George Washington as the leading figure behind this new central government, more people were less hesitant towards it.

After America gained their independence from the British, the founding fathers would create a new form of government named the Articles of Confederation. They had met in Philadelphia to adopt this first official constitution in September of 1777, however, it was not ratified until March of 1781. There were two main purposes of the Articles of Confederation. The first one had been to create unity amongst the colonies, while the second purpose was to prove to the French, along with other foreign countries, that America had a structured government. They needed to win over allies and set their borders. The Articles of Confederation were effective in solving some of the new nation’s problems to an extent. It had been effective in securing American independence and settling disputes over land.

The time between the American Revolution and the presidency of George Washington was one of learning, experimentation, and confusion. No patterns existed to model the new government being established for the thirteen American states. Although it would be incorrect to say that the government of the Articles of Confederation was a complete failure, it would be logical to advance the idea that the more powerful national government established under the constitution of 1787 was essential to the survival of the American Union. Between the two documents there were some drastic differences of opinion on governing tactics as mentioned in the Articles of Confederation compared to the Constitution of 1787 (Doc. C). Major differences were composited

Between 1775 and 1791, evolving American attitudes toward the form and powers of a national government created a unique fabric of emerging ideas that called for fundamental reforms. At first, many Americans opposed a strong central government and instead wanted strong state governments, afraid of a tyrannical central government like the one they had fought so hard against in the Revolution. However, over time, many Americans began to realize that a strong central government was imperative to upholding the rights of the people, a changing attitude that paralleled the events of the time period. This evolution and interplay of Federalist and Anti-Federalist views led to the development of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, and the

Even though the delegates present at the Constitutional Convention were considered federalists, by the end of the eighteenth century two political parties arose with polar beliefs on interpreting the Constitution. The Federalists believed in a broad interpretation of the Constitution while the Democratic Republicans believed in a literal one. Around that time most of Europe was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, which presented Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the Democratic Republican presidents from 1801 to 1817, situations that provoked them to sidestep their strict claims. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, although they promoted a strict interpretation, utilized loose interpretations to achieve their goals while the Federalists resorted to literal interpretation to counter them.

The Americans fought long and hard in their Revolution and deservingly so defeated the British and won their independence in 1783. From there, the US transferred to a government set by the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation did not turn out to provide a much better life than the Americans had under the British, with the states not able to work with each other. The lack of state's collaboration brought about this idea of too much Democracy. After the disaster that the AofC was, there was a new Constitution being drafted; however, many Americans were divided upon which path the new Constitution should take, one with or without a strong central government. This distinction in ideology put the country's elite at odds. The

Before Thomas Jefferson ever entered the presidency, he believed in the “Empire of Liberty.” He wrote in a letter to a friend that “Our confederacy must be viewed as the nest from which all America, North or South, is to be peopled.” His motives for the intense eye on American expansion were greatness for his country, as well as for himself. He was disgusted with the idea of North America being divided into nation-states like Europe. His goal was for the ideals of the American Revolution to spread over the whole continent. He passed and helped pass some of the legislation that helped early America expand. He co-authored the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which allowed for states to be made from the territory east of the Mississippi and

America’s Revolution gave birth to real applications of Enlightenment ideals, and in doing so spurred movements of independence and democracy around the world during the same time period and into the future. “Three major events of the American Revolution had great influence on Europe: Signing the Declaration of Independence, Implementing the ideas of Enlightenment, Forming the U.S constitution” (ADD SOURCE). In the years following the American Revolution, France fell into their own revolution, which Thomas Jefferson said “[The French Revolution] has been awakened by our [American] revolution” (Strayer 784). On the dawning of the French Revolution, a Paris newspaper announced that the United States was “the hope and model of the human race” (Dunn). Because the French were our allies in our revolution against Britain, many of their leaders had a very intimate experience with our ideals of freedom and political representation. They brought back the ideas they heard and witnessed and used them to shape their own revolution against King Louis XVI, and they were the most important parts of the revolution the French people built. “The French

In his book, A Brilliant Solution, Berkin wrote about the American constitutional congress that was challenged by the financial crisis due to repayment burdens on loans incurred during the wartime loans. After the world war in 1784, Congress had no money to fund the Federal treasury. The consequences of the war and the moves the country make to ensure the country survived the waves had tremendous effects on the stability of the country. The European countries installed various conditions to make a treaty with the United States. This paper will analyse the constitutional convention and ratification of the American Constitution as outline in the book "A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution"