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1. Thomas Jefferson Born: april 13, 1743 Died: july 4, 1826

2. Political party: Democratic Republic

3. Term 1: 1801-1805, Term 2: 1805-1809

4. Vice President: (term 1) Aaron Burr (term 2) George Clinton

Jefferson led a very successful presidency over his two terms as president. He ordered the purchase of the Louisiana territory, and also ordered an expedition to go out west to discover the wild countryside of America. The only drawback of his two terms where the conflicts of oversea trading with the French and British. The overall actions of Jefferson earn him a B for his presidential terms. Jefferson wanted to achieve peace with all nations to ensure security within his country, create the rights of the states, and also a limited federal government. One of the ways he achieved the goal of a limited federal government was the establishment of judicial overrule in the Supreme Court. This allowed the court system the ability to declare any act passed by Congress unconstitutional. The ability for the court systems to control a part of the laws passed helped spread the power of the government. This process of judiciary control effected many presidents following Jefferson's time in office, eventually leading to today's government. One act that didn't survive too well in the government system was the Embargo Act (1807). This act halted any trade with any foreign nation and banned any American ship from to sail into foreign ports. This act was established to help the conflict between America, France, and Britain. British naval ships were ordered to seize any U.S. ship that was suspected of carrying British runaways. This allowed the British navy to interfere with U.S. trading to other foreign countries such as Spain and France. The Embargo Act was meant to stop the interference (which it did), but it also ultimately benefited the British more (giving them less competition); it also created a huge smuggling system. With illegal American ships continually sailing into foreign ports, the France assumed that these ships must be British under disguise. They would then seize the ship and confiscate any cargo on board (costing the U.S. millions). Needless to say, the Embargo Act wasn't very popular with the rest of the country and only lasted 14 months. Jefferson did have some brilliant actions while he was in government too. In 1803 he ordered minister, James Monroe, to negotiate the cost for the purchasing of the Louisiana territory. It ended up costing only $2 million compared to the budgeted $10 million; this was later known as the Louisiana Purchase. With the addition of this new land, the size of the United States doubled. The same month, Jefferson ordered an expedition to be lead to explore the unknown western countryside. It was led by Louis and Clark who took a group of 40 people across the country until they came to the west coast. This expedition into the unknown land led the way for future generations to follow in their footsteps. Jefferson was fortunate in his two terms to have a Congress who agreed with his ideas and views. In both terms, the Democratic-republicans out-numbered the Federalists in both the House and the Senate; this allowed him to conduct his work more freely. Overall, Jefferson did a good job as president, yes he did have conflicts with trading overseas, but he also succeeded at helping our country expand and grow into a more powerful nation. The land he purchased will be of great use to the future presidents as well as the future generations of citizens. Jefferson receives a B for his slightly above average accomplishments.

Bibliography

Smith, Carter. __Presidents, All You Need To Know__. New York: Hylas Publishing, 2005.