CUSH Morgan Statt

Thomas Jefferson Essay 11/21/10

After the American Revolution and the creation of the United States of America, a

successful form of government was established in the U.S. Constitution. The constitution

called for a three branch governing system with no one branch being more powerful than

the other. One of the branches was the executive branch, which was made up of the

president of the United States. After the successful term of George Washington, the first

U.S. president, different views as to how the country should be run came about and this

caused political parties to be formed. Two prominent political parties were the Federalists

and the Republicans, each party expressing opposite views when it came to running the

country. According to Carol Berkin in the textbook, Making America: A History of the

United States, Federalists supported a strong, centralized government and geared towards

commercial and manufacturing growth. Republicans, on the other hand, preferred a

limited government and an agrarian lifestyle when it came to the national economy.

When John Adams was elected the second president of the United States in 1796,

he began to increase the power of the national government and instilled Federalist

principles into his decisions as well. One way in which he increased the power of the

national government was to pass the Judiciary Act of 1801. As stated in the textbook,

Making America: A History of the United States, this act “increased the number of federal

courts and judicial positions” so that there would be Federalist dominance in the judicial

branch once Adams left office. Other decisions were made by Adams that would continue

to increase the power of the Federalists, but this would all change when Thomas
Jefferson would be elected the third president of the United States.

On February 17, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected president after winning the

majority of votes in the House of Representatives. Due to a tie in the number of electoral

votes, this brought the election to the house, which named Jefferson the winner after the

36th ballot. Once Jefferson was elected, he began to reverse the tendency of the

Federalists to increase the power of the national government. With his many decisions

that he made throughout his term, Jefferson was able to allow Republican views to be

present in the United States government.

One of the first things Jefferson did to counteract the Federalist views was to

propose the Judiciary Act of 1802, which explained how “circuit courts were expensive

and unnecessary”. This act would reverse the Federalist control in the judicial system and

eventually Congress passed the act and replaced the Judiciary Act of 1801. Another

decision Jefferson made to reverse Federalist control in the government was to bring

about changes in the economy. Jefferson’s Treasury Secretary, Albert Gallatin, was given

the task to put into the economy a Republican influence and with Jefferson’s approval, he

did just that. Many cuts were made in the budget of the United States, such as closing

American embassies overseas and reducing administrative staff. Also, social events and

other gatherings were put to an end to save money and even the military was cut down.

Both the army and the navy were reduced in size to save money. The decision to cut costs

on various aspects of the economy were able to reduce the overall federal presence in the

United States and transfer more power to the state governments, a principle strongly held

by Republicans.

Gallatin also eliminated all internal taxes, which put major emphasis on the sale
of western lands and foreign trade. Jefferson’s commitment to this foreign trade was

threatened by pirates who controlled the Mediterranean Sea, as stated by the textbook

Making America: A History of the United States. For years, the United States had been

bribing these pirates to not attack American ships and this took up a 1/5 of the American

budget. Wanting to see this cost eliminated, Jefferson chose to go to war, going against

his Republican ideals of staying a neutral country. But, although he chose to do this, the

impact of his decision to go to war would eliminate this cost in the budget, thus further

supporting his Republican ideals of limiting the federal government.

As Jefferson’s presidency continued, he was faced with the decision to purchase

the Louisiana territory from France, who became focused on territory in Europe and

money for a continental war instead of worrying about holdings in North America. The

decision to purchase this territory from France would eliminate a European nation from

America and promote the Republican ideals of westward expansion. It would also allow

for the complete use of the Mississippi River, something that France still controlled

because of Louisiana. With the use of the river, trade would become much easier for the

United States and taxes put on by France would be eliminated. For $15 million, Jefferson

approved the “Louisiana Purchase” and its benefits strongly supported and upheld its

Republican ideals.

Many people supported the Louisiana Purchase but Federalists were quick to

point out that there was no approval in the U.S. Constitution for the gaining of new

territory. Jefferson chose to submit the ratification of the land to Congress and it was

approved in 1803. In this way, Jefferson went against his Republican ideals of strictly

sticking to what was written in the U.S. Constitution. For this decision, he decided to
vaguely interpret the constitution, something that Republicans were against doing. But

because the Louisiana territory would allow for Jefferson to uphold some of his more

important ideals such as westward expansion, he decided to approve for the betterment of

the country.

One last way in which Jefferson was able to reduce the Federalist influence in

government and instill Republican ideals was with the Embargo Act of 1807. Because of

warfare going on in Europe, many European countries relied heavily on American goods.

The United States remained neutral in the trading with Europe but this diplomatic policy

was challenged when certain countries began to “care for their own military victories, not

American prosperity”. In 1805, a military deadlock occurred between France and Britain.

This deadlock caused the passage of different laws to come about which eventually

prohibited neutral ships from trading without conflict. Then in June 1807, a British

frigate fired broadsides at an American ship, killing three sailors and injuring 18 others.

To pressure American neutrality even more, France passed the Milan Decree, which

would capture any neutral ship trading with England. In response to the many things

threatening the Republican ideal of neutrality, Jefferson decided to not go to war with the

countries but pass the Embargo Act in 1807. This act ended all foreign trade with

European countries until the U.S. was recognized as a neutral country. This elimination

of foreign trade went against the Republican ideal of promoting such a thing but because

Jefferson did not want to risk going against the other ideal of diplomatic neutrality, it can

be said that he chose the lesser of two evils when it came to running the government in a

Republican way. Neutrality was protected at the price of eliminating foreign trade for a

short period of time.

 Although some of Thomas Jefferson’s decisions went against his Republican

ideals, overall he was able to reverse the tendency of Federalists to increase the power of

the national government. Jefferson was able to maintain a sense of Republicanism in his

government when it came to ruling the country and supported the expansion and creation

of the modern United States of America by doing so. Although Jefferson’s principles

were questioned at times, he was able to stay true to the Republican party and propel his

ideals, allowing for the success of America in times of difficulty and struggle.