Angela Brown
Jefferson had a straightforward agenda, or list of
things that he wanted to accomplish upon
entering office.
 His goal was to reduce the influence of the
national government in the lives of Americans.
 Jefferson reversed much of what the Federalists
had done.
 He refused to deliver speeches to Congress,
claiming it was too much like the act of a king.
 He asked to be addressed simply as “Mr.
President” resolving a question that had troubled
Congress for years.

 He
reduced the amount of taxes paid.
 He cut the size of the Federal bureaucracy –
the departments and workers that make up
the federal government.
 He slashed the size of the army from 12,000
soldiers to 3,000.
 He did not intend to destroy the government
or undo all the acts of the federalists.
 He let the Bank of the United States continue
to function knowing that its 20-year term
would end in 1811.
 Jefferson’s
program made him an extremely
popular President during his first term.
 In 1804, when he easily won reelection, he
even received the electoral votes of
Massachusetts, a state dominated by
Federalists.
 Jefferson’s
greatest rivals were his ambitious
Vice President, Aaron Burr, and Alexander
Hamilton, now a lawyer in New York.
 In the summer of 1804, Burr killed Hamilton
in a duel.
 With one shot, Burr removed the leader of
the Federalists and wrecked his own political
future.
 Although he was never tried, and even
continued to preside over the Senate after
the duel, Burr was never again a serious
challenge to Jefferson.
 The
Constitution had not fully explained the
organization or the role of the judicial
branch.
 With the Judiciary Act of 1789, Congress
filled in the missing details.
 The act created a national court system with
three circuit courts and thirteen district
courts, all headed by the Supreme Court.
 It also stated the Supreme Court would settle
differences between state and federal laws.
This act increased the number of Supreme Court
justices and increased the number of federal judges.
 Outgoing members of Congress, along with President
Adams, were trying to limit Jefferson’s opportunity
to appoint judges to the Supreme Court and leave
behind a powerful group of Federalist Judges whose
terms were made for life.
 Adams filled the new judicial posts just before
leaving office.
 These last-minute appointments, known as the
Midnight judges angered Jefferson, who believed
that he had a right to appoint judges from his own
party.

 One
of Adams’s judicial appointees and a
long-time Federalist had been serving as
Secretary of State…
 Marshall became Chief Justice (the leading
judge) on Jan. 31, 1801.
 He held that post for 34 years, until his
death in 1835.
 John Marshall helped establish many
important principles of constitutional law.
 He also helped build the prestige and
authority of the Supreme Court in such
historic cases as Marbury v. Madison.
 Just
before he left office, President Adams
had appointed William Marbury as justice of
the peace for the District of Columbia.
 Secretary of State James Madison, under
orders from President Jefferson, never
delivered the official papers.
 Marbury sued Madison, demanding that the
Supreme Court order him to let him take his
office.
 According to the Judiciary Act of 1789, the
Court had the power to give such an order.
 Chief
Justice John Marshall ruled against
Marbury, declaring that it was against the
Constitution for the Supreme Court to give an
order to the executive branch.
 Marshall declared part of the Judiciary Act of
1789 unconstitutional – the first time a federal
court had been so bold.
 This was a victory for the Jefferson Admin and
the Supreme Court.
 passed by Congress for constitutionality.
 It
established the power of Judicial Review
which enables federal courts to review state
laws, court decisions and laws.
 Judicial review is not clearly stated
anywhere in the Constitution but it remains a
vital power of the judicial branch today.
 As
a strict constructionist, Jefferson opposed
the development of a strong central
government.
 In issues concerning American expansion west
of the Appalachians, Jefferson and his
supporters used the power and money of the
national government as boldly as the
Federalists ever dared.
 The
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established a
process by which territories as lands in the West
were called, could become states.
 The Jeffersonians sped the development of the
frontier – which now extended only as far west
as the Mississippi – through a new federal land
policy.
 Under the land Act of 1800 Americans were able
to buy land in small parcels and on credit.
 Federal land offices appeared across the West,
making easier the transfer of land from
government to its citizens.
 American
farmers in the West depended on
the Mississippi River to transport their crops
to foreign markets.
 When the French ruler Napoleon took over
much of the Spanish land in the West, he
gained control of the mouth of the Mississippi
at New Orleans.
 The French used this control to extract large
sums on money from American traders who
had no choice but to travel the Mississippi.
 Jefferson
sent James Monroe to Paris to buy
the city of New Orleans in 1803.
 Congress instructed Monroe along with the
American minister in Paris, Robert Livingston,
that they could pay up to $10 million for the
land.
 Napoleon did have ambitions to create a new
French Empire in the America’s.
 Napoleon
refused to sell New Orleans to the
United States but offered instead to sell ALL
of the French claims known as Louisiana.
 Monroe and Livingston offered Napoleon $15
million for the Louisiana Purchase hoping
Congress and the President would support
their decision.
 When Jefferson heard of the agreement with
the French, he was troubled.
 The Constitution did not mention the
purchase of foreign lands.
 He
was also wary of spending large amounts
of public money.
 Jefferson overcame his doubts and urged
Congress to approve the sale.
 The purchase dramatically increased both
the national debt and the size of the U.S.
 Congress
agreed to finance Jefferson’s call
for an expedition to explore the purchased
land.
 Jefferson chose his private secretary,
Meriwether Lewis, to lead the expedition.
 Lewis chose William Clark as his companion
officer.
 Beginning in 1804, their goals were to search
for river routes to the western ocean, make
contact with the Native Americans living in
the territory, and gather information about
the region’s natural resources.
 They
hired a French-Canadian fur trapper
and his wife Sacajawea, a Shoshone Indian as
interpreters.
 They reached the Pacific Ocean in late 1805
and returned east by September 1806.
 The 2 year, 4 month expedition filled in
details about the land to the west.
 More info was gathered by Zebulon Pike
between 1806 and 1807,
 Jay’s
Treaty, which maintained peace with
Britain, expired in 1805.
 The Europeans were back at war.
 French warships began harassing American ships
trading with Britain, and the British ships
interfered with American ships trading with
France.
 The British also kidnapped American sailors to
serve in their navy.
 In 1807 a British ship, the Leopard, attacked the
U.S.S. Chesapeake, inflicted 21 casualties, and
boarded it to search for deserters for His
Majesty’s navy.
 Jefferson
was outraged by these acts and
believed they should not go unpunished.
 Yet he rejected the use of force, in part
because of the small size of the U.S. navy.
 At his insistence, Congress passed the
Embargo Act of 1807 which outlawed almost
all trade with foreign countries.
 An embargo is a restriction of trade.
 Britain’s trade had grown too strong to be
affected as had the French.
 New
Englanders who made their living
through trade especially hated the embargo.
 They smuggled goods to Great Britain in
defiance of the President and Congress.
 Jefferson had no alternative but to use his
small navy and federal agents to enforce the
law to preserve government authority.
 The embargo ruined Jefferson’s second term.
 Many Americans despised the government
interference in the economy.
 Federalist exploited the anger and enjoyed a
revival.
 Jefferson
saw his Secretary of State, James
Madison, elected President in 1808.
 Then he retired to his home Monticello as an
unpopular figure.
 Describe
the changes Jefferson tried to make
in the relationship between government and
the people.
 Create an outline of Jefferson’s major
accomplishments as President.
 How do each of the events of 1803 conflict
with Jefferson’s principles?
 How was the enforcement of the Embargo
Act of 1807 like the suppression of the
Whiskey Rebellion?