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=Thomas Jefferson=

A Presidential Analysis By: Jessica Freeze
President's Name: Thomas Jefferson Born: April 13th, 1943 Died: July 4th, 1826 at Monticello Political Party: Republican Term(s): Term 1 (1801-1805) Term 2 (1805-1809) Vice-President: Term 1- Aaron Burr Term 2- George Clinton

= = =Theme: Environment= A big theme throughout Thomas Jefferson's presidency was environment. With the ever growing population of America, and its citizens want for adventure and possible profit, new stretches of territory were crucial. The Louisiana Territory, owned by the French, stretched from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. Most of this land was unexplored by whites, and this only added more fervor to the American's longing to explore it. American leaders feared the newly appointed, and very ambitious, Napoleon Bonaparte and the possibility that a French New Orleans along the border of the Mississippi River could pose a threat. In order to prevent this threat, President Jefferson, in 1803, sent James Monroe to Paris to try to persuade Napoleon to sell America New Orleans for $10 million dollars. At this point in Napoleon's reign; however, he was desperate for money and; therefore, sold the entire Louisiana Territory of more than one million square miles to America for $15 million. The gain of so much exotic and unexplored land excited Thomas Jefferson, and thrilled the American people. As was said by Jefferson upon doubling the size of the U.S., the new addition was added to "the empire of liberty," and was a 'widespread field for the blessings of liberty." The Americans were so happy that celebrations of Jefferson's achievement were held all around the country.

With the addition of the new, unexplored wild environment, many became excited and curious, most of all, the President himself. To pique his curiosity, Jefferson sent out Captain Merriweather Lewis, whom he had personally trained in the skills of map making, surveying, and identifying plants, along with another skilled soldier, Captain William Clark. Their mission was to explore the environment of the Mississippi River up to where it met the Missouri River, and then explore the land to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. During their adventure they were instructed to survey the land and keep, in a scientific manner, a log of the plants, fauna, bodies of water, and mountains they encountered. Lewis and Clark, along with forty-six others traveled up the Missouri until they were forced to stop 1,400 miles later due to the harsh winter. Despite hardships such as this, and not finding a watershed to the pacific, when Lewis and Clark returned home they were welcomed as heroes, for they had mapped the future course for American settlers to the west. Their accounts proved invaluable to the future settlers, and undoubtedly saved many lives.

=Analysis:= It's not every day that the United States doubles in size. But when it does, it's done by Jefferson. Despite the failure of the Embargo Act in Thomas Jefferson's second term, Jefferson was a man truly for the people in his presidency. Due to this fact, Thomas Jefferson deserves an A. Even with the slight failures of part of Jefferson's terms, the overwhelming majority of his time as president was exemplary.

A lot can be learned about the goals of presidency as well as what type of person Thomas Jefferson was from his first Inauguration address. Jefferson came out without any introduction and in a plain shirt to give his speech, showing from the start that he was part of the people of the United States and had their best interests at heart. As clearly set forth in his address, Jefferson wanted a frugal and limited government. He proved to be a very frugal president by slashing government expenditures, repealing taxes on houses and slaves, as well as whiskey whose tax had started the rebellion in Pennsylvania under Washington's administration. He also fired all tax collectors and reduced military expenses as will be explained shortly. With these measures in place, Jefferson's goal to create a frugal and limited government was achieved. Within this, he met his goal of reducing public debts by dropping them from $80 million dollars from the start of his term to $40 million by the end. Another goal was to encourage agriculture. Jefferson persuaded Congress to cut the price of public lands and extend credit to purchasers, thereby encouraging expansion that would lead to more agricultural growth. A fourth goal successfully completed was to have peace unless conflict could not be avoided. Alongside Jefferson's reduction of troops to 3,000 and officers to 172, Jefferson followed this policy despite his personal beliefs in the War of Tripoli. The Barbary states were attacking American merchant ships until Jefferson agreed to pay them not to against his principles so that he would follow his goal. Until such time as the Tripolian state ordered Jefferson pay them more money the conflict could be avoided. After the order however, Jefferson sent warships to fight Tripoli. Jefferson's naval troops ended up winning and forcing Tripoli to agree to never again attack American ships. The final goal of Thomas Jefferson's presidency was to secure the people fair rights. In this goal he was successful by lowering the citizenship requirement from 14 years to five years of living in the country. He also had a publication printed of all the workers of the federal government, showing that the people had a right to a transparent government. Owing to the fact that all of the goals set by Thomas Jefferson were completed within his terms of service, this evidence contributes greatly to his grade being as high as an A.

Thomas Jefferson wholly believed that the president, as one man, should not impose on the wishes of Congress. He therefore neither introduced nor vetoed any legislature to or by Congress on policy grounds. Due to this he raised no hand against the Abolition of Slave Trade to the U.S. on March 3, 1807, despite owned hundreds of slaves himself. Thomas Jefferson thought that Washington and Adams were like monarchs when they presented legislation personally to Congress. He therefore, wrote them messages instead. This did not; however, mean he was ineffectual. One such example was when he persuaded Congress to cut the price of public lands and give credit to purchasers as mentioned before. Part of the reason Congress was so successful in his first term may have been his inaugural address calling for them to but partisan differences aside and realize that, " every difference in opinion is not a difference in principle." Congress during his first term was kept so that Republicans did not have an overwhelming majority. This bipartisan checks and balances system may have caused Jefferson's first term to be such a success. During Jefferson's second term; however, the Congress was almost all Republican and therefore did not have much of a check before sending off the bill which most likely would not be vetoed by Jefferson. Such an occurrence happened in 1807 when Jefferson and Madison came up with the Embargo Act which, because it was passed, would end up failing and partially causing the War of 1812. Due to the above mentioned abilities of Jefferson having such a good repertoire with Congress Jefferson's grade is raised but then lowered slightly because his administration, not being diverse enough to provide a balance permitted the passing of the Embargo Act which would fail and be a factor leading up to the War of 1812.

Though Thomas Jefferson's terms as president were mostly positive, two points, one positive, and one negative stand out from the rest. On the positive side of the spectrum, Jefferson's greatest victory was by far the Louisiana Purchase. As referenced to in the beginning statement of this analysis, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of America. The icing on the top of the cake is that Jefferson also managed to reduce the public debt, one of his goals, while seizing the correct opportunity to buy not just New Orleans, but the entire stretch of land from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. By doing so he made it possible for the United States to expand tremendously. Such an accomplishment truly makes it not only his but one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of America.

On the flip side, Jefferson's second term did not turn out nearly as well as his first, despite winning the second term by a landslide. The biggest negative of Jefferson's eight year presidency was the Embargo Act co-created by himself and James Madison. The Embargo Act was supposed to pressure Britain into respecting America, especially when it came to its navy. The British had captured 6,000 soldiers off of American trade ships, and forced them to join the British Navy. The Embargo Act stopped all trade to Britain, but instead of hurting the British, it hurt the American merchants. American merchants turned against the President and many people posted comics against his Embargo Act. Eventually, seeing it as the failure it was, he repealed it. Truly the Embargo Act the the most negative part of Jefferson's presidency, and left him relieved when his term had finished. The most positive and the most negative points of Thomas Jefferson's terms may seem to cancel each other out, but because of the far reaching and future benefits of the Louisiana Purchase, the good weighs out the bad keeping the President's rating at an A.

Though it is clear that the Louisiana Purchase had a huge impact on the future generations of America, it is also important to note that Jefferson left more than one lasting mark on future generations. One such mark was Jefferson's policy of not addressing the Congress publicly. This became the policy of presidents following Thomas Jefferson for many years. It was not until Woodrow Wilson that a president again addressed Congress personally.

It can easily be seen by the people of today and Jefferson's day, that despite some stumbles at the end of his term, America was much better off at the end of his terms. From few to no taxes, to a much lower public debt. From a country twice the size of when Jefferson started, to a great growth of agriculture and expansion of the American people. When looking at the facts, Thomas Jefferson clearly deserves an A for an **A**-stounding job.

Bibliography:

"Act of Prohibiting Importation of Slaves." //Wikipedia//. N.p., 20 May 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. .

Behrman, Carol. //Thomas Jefferson//. Minneapolis : Lerner Publications, 2004. Print.

Mintz, S.. "Digital History." //Digital History//. N.p., 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. .

Office of the Clerk. "Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Art & History - Party Divisions." //Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Art & History - Art & History Home//. House of Representatives, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. .

"U.S. Senate: Art & History Home > Origins & Development > Party Division." //U.S. Senate//. Senate, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. .