Thomas Jefferson
Not only was he one of our founding
fathers, he was also the third
president of the U.S. and the chairman of the
Declaration of Independence
committee. Thomas Jefferson was born at Shadwell
in Albemarle County, Va. on the
thirteenth of April in 1743. His father,
Peter Jefferson, was a wealthy land
owner, but not really high up. He married
Jane Randolph Jefferson who was from
one of the first families in Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson had a house named
Monticello, which was built on his
father’s land,in which he put a great deal
of time. In 1772 he brought Martha
Unyles Skelton, his wife, there. He had only
two children who lived through
infancy, but he had six altogether. When his wife
died after ten years of
marriage he went to Paris to get away from it all. Some
say that in Paris he
fell in love with another women and that’s why he always
supported the
French, even through the bloody revolution. Jefferson was
elected
President in a very close match with Aaron Burr. When the votes
were counted
each had seventy-three votes so it had to be decided by the
House of
Representatives. Jefferson was obviously declared the winner. He
was not a very
outspoken man like his predecessors had been. In fact, he
dressed rather casual,
never wore a wig, and disliked public speaking which
is probably why he didn’t
address congress in person. He loved Paris and all
facets about it. He enjoyed
fine cuisine and wine. Jefferson did not believe
in slavery, but did not free
his slaves as had Washington. In his inaugural
address, he said they were "all
Republicans, all Federalists in their
devotion to the union," in an attempt to
bury the differences between his
opponents and him. Jefferson, in his inaugural
address, promised: 1. "equal
and exact justice to all men" of every shade of
political and religious
opinion; 2. friendship with all nations, but no
alliances; 3. respect for the
rights of all states while still presenting the"constitutional vigor" of the
national government; 4. encouragement of
agriculture and commerce; 2 5.
freedom of speech, press, and elections 6.
economy and honesty in the
management of the country’s finances. Jefferson was
not a dumb man, he knew
he had to have a bigger support base. In order to do
this, he followed a
moderate course of action to win some Federalists over to
the Republicans
side. He wanted to reduce the national debt by reducing the army
and navy. He
hand picked only the most brilliant people for his cabinet. His
cabinet
included: 1. Secretary of State: The architect of the constitution,
James
Madison and; 2. Secretary of the Treasury: A financier from
Pennsylvania,
Swiss-born Albert Gallatin. Gallatin, following Jefferson’s
ideas, came up
with a budget that made about seventy percent go to paying off
the debt which
meant that defense money was cut in half. He also came up with
a new five year
naturalization act. The Alien and Sedition Acts and the
excise tax, which had
started the Whiskey Rebellion, were repealed. The Bank
and tariff were allowed
to continue, though. While Jefferson was in office he
was hassled by the Barbary
pirates like every other country. He decided to do
something about it. The
Barbary pirates were asking for more and more
"presents," so Jefferson sent
some warships to tell the pirates off. They got
the message, but at a lower
rate. The problem wasn’t really solved until the
French captured Algiers in
1830. Jefferson also saw the Mississippi was a
very, very important river. He
thought that he would have to deal with Spain,
but Napoleon, from France, bought
the Louisiana Territory for his own plans.
When Jefferson heard about this, he
sent Monroe and Livingston to just buy
the area around the mouth of the
Mississippi, but, when they got there,
Napoleon’s plans for invading Haiti
were foiled so he was willing to sell 3
the WHOLE Louisiana area!! Monroe and
Livingston snatched up the deal for
$15 million before Napoleon could change his
mind. They could only hope they
were supported when they got back. Jefferson
asked Congress to approve the
money and showed the strength to go against
everything he’s preached and went
for "broad" construction instead of his
usual "strict" construction. Congress
approved the money and, since they
were already planning an expedition behind
Spain’s back, they sent an
expedition to go exploring. Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark were chosen for
this. They started out in 1804 with about 40
men and hired a guide and
interpreter. They made it to the Pacific and then
claimed the land. Pike was
also exploring around this time. When Jefferson
came to office he found some
commissions for new judges which Adams had
literally signed the night before he
left office. Jefferson refused to give
them out and a man named Mar bury, who
was one of the appointees, took them
to court. When the supreme court came back
with its decision, it set a
precedent that was followed ever since. The supreme
court decided that the
law that says that a gov’t official has to hand out the
commissions was
unconstitutional. The constitution said nowhere in it that the
supreme court
could call something unconstitutional, but Jefferson was happy he
didn’t have
to appoint them so he shut his mouth. So, as you can see Jefferson
did a lot
of great things as President of the United States. His popularity
didn’t
start there though. He was on the committee of the Declaration
of
Independence. He wrote several essays on the constitution. So as you
can see,
Jefferson was a great
man.