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The Constitution (1781–1815)
Jefferson's
Agrarian Republic: 1800–1808
Events
1800
Thomas Jefferson is elected president
1803
Louisiana Purchase is finalized
Supreme Court issues Marbury v. Madison ruling
1804
Jefferson is reelected
Louis and Clark begin exploration of Louisiana
Territory
1807
British warship seizes USS Chesapeake
Congress passes Embargo Act
Key People
John Adams - Second
U.S. president; made controversial last-minute judicial appointments
Thomas Jefferson -
Third U.S. president; promoted agrarian interests
and wanted to limit federal government power
John Marshall - Supreme
Court chief justice; issued landmark Marbury v. Madison ruling
The Contested Election of 1800
The fallout from the Alien and Sedition Acts dealt a serious
blow to John Adams and the Federalists. Despite the Sedition Act's
attempt to suppress free speech, Democratic-Republicans rallied
around the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. Also damaging to the
Federalists was the internal power struggle between the president
and Alexander Hamilton. The two had been opponents within the Federalist Party
for years but cut all ties with each other when Adams chose to negotiate
peace with the French in 1800.
The ideological rift split the party in two and ruined Adams's chances
for reelection.
In the election of 1800,
Thomas Jefferson and New Yorker Aaron Burr—both Democratic-Republicans—received
the same number of Electoral College votes. The Federalist Congress
therefore had to determine which of their hated rivals would become
the next president. After much debate, Congress chose Thomas
Jefferson.
The “Revolution of 1800”
Despite the viciousness of the campaign, there were no
revolts or riots when the Democratic-Republicans took office. Such
a peaceful transition of power from one party to another was almost
unprecedented in history. Indeed, many historians call the election
of 1800 the “Revolution
of 1800”—a
crucial moment that confirmed that the new nation would survive.
Contemporary Europeans who had believed that the “American experiment”
would ultimately fail were also temporarily quieted.
Jefferson's Small Government
As a strict constructionist, Jefferson believed in limited
federal government and, as a result, worked immediately to
decrease the size of the government after taking office. He made
cuts to the army and navy, reduced the number of federal employees,
and strove to eliminate the national debt. He felt that most powers
should be reserved for the individual states. These policies ran
contrary to all Federalist beliefs in a strong centralized government.
Jefferson the Agrarian
Jefferson received most of his support in the election
from the South and from the western frontier, undoubtedly because
the Virginian portrayed himself as an advocate of the farmer and
common man. Indeed, approximately eighty percent of Americans at
this time were farmers. Although some farmed cash crops to
resell, the vast majority lived on family farms and grew food for
their own subsistence. They built their own houses,
raised their own animals, grew their own food, and made their own
clothes.
Jefferson firmly believed that these men and women were
the heart of American republicanism and that the future of the nation rested
upon their shoulders. He abhorred the squalor and gross inequality
he saw in the developing factory cities in Europe and wanted to
avoid the same inequality in the United States.
Adams's Midnight Justices
Nevertheless, Adams did attempt to seek revenge. During
his last days as president, he created several new judiciary positions
and filled the posts with Federalist supporters. Jefferson and his
secretary of state, James Madison, refused to honor the appointments
of these “midnight justices.”
Marbury v. Madison
One of the justices, William Marbury, sued
Madison for his appointment, and the case eventually reached the
Supreme Court in 1803. Chief
Justice John Marshall, a die-hard Federalist, sympathized
with Marbury but believed that Jefferson would never adhere to a
ruling against Madison. Therefore, Marshall ruled in Marbury
v. Madison that although Marbury was
entitled to the judgeship, the Supreme Court could not force the
president to give it to him.
Although the Judiciary Act of 1789 had
given the Supreme Court this power, Marshall's ruling effectively
declared that act unconstitutional. Marshall thus simultaneously
gave Jefferson his victory and strengthened the Supreme Court with
the power of judicial review—the right to declare Congress's
laws unconstitutional.
The Louisiana Purchase
Despite his belief in limited government, Jefferson seized
the opportunity in 1803 to
buy the vast expanse of the Louisiana Territory from France.
France had reacquired the territory from Spain in 1801,
but Napoleon's costly war in Europe forced him to consider selling
the land. Jefferson, fearing that the French would revoke U.S. access
to the major Mississippi River port of New Orleans, sent James
Monroe to Paris to offer $10 million
for New Orleans alone. Napoleon, however, in need of money, offered
the entire Louisiana Territory for $15 million,
and Monroe agreed.
Although the Constitution said nothing about the purchase
of new lands, Jefferson swallowed his pride and accepted the Louisiana Purchase.
The new territories included present-day Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri,
Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, as
well as parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Oklahoma—all for
a mere $15 million. Not only was the purchase
the best real estate deal in history by far, it also established
a precedent for purchasing lands to expand the United States farther
westward.
Lewis and Clark's Expedition
In 1804,
Jefferson dispatched his secretary Meriwether Lewis and army
captain William Clark to explore the Louisiana Territory. Lewis
and Clark's famous two-year expedition to the Pacific helped publicize
the bountiful new lands. In addition to finding countless natural
wonders in the West, the pair traversed the fertile Mississippi
Valley, which Jefferson hoped would become the heartland of an agrarian
United States.
Anglo-American Tensions
Relations with Britain soured during Jefferson's years
in office. When war broke out between Britain and Napoleonic France
after the turn of the century, neutral American merchants made huge profits
shipping food, supplies, and natural resources to both countries.
The British Royal Navy, still the dominant world naval power, began
to seize American ships and cargos bound for France in 1805.
Moreover, the British navy also began impressing U.S.
sailors for forced servitude on British war ships. Though Britain
claimed that they impressed only deserters from the Royal Navy,
it is estimated that Britain actually took more than 5,000 Americans
illegally.
The Embargo Act
When the British warship HMS Leopard entered
American territorial waters and impressed several Americans from
the merchant ship USS Chesapeake in 1807,
Jefferson was outraged. Fed up with Britain's and France's refusal
to accept U.S. sovereignty, Jefferson convinced Congress to pass
the Embargo Act that same year to punish both nations.
The Embargo Act forbade American ships from
sailing to all foreign ports until Britain and France agreed to
respect American shipping rights. Jefferson's plan backfired,
however, for he failed to realize that American merchants needed
trade with Europe more than European merchants needed trade with
America. Economic depression struck the United States
very hard, but Jefferson refused to rescind the Embargo Act even
when it became evident that it was failing. The act was repealed
only in 1809, two
days before Jefferson left office.
Jefferson's Legacy
All in all, Jefferson was much more successful as a statesman
during the American Revolution and as Washington's secretary of
state than as president. On one hand, he established several key
precedents, such as the purchase of new lands to expand the United States.
On the other hand, his Embargo Act and his repeal of Hamilton's
excise tax ran the country into the ground economically.
Fortunately for Jefferson's reputation, the long-term
benefits of the Louisiana Purchase far outweighed the disastrous
effects of the economic depression. Also important was the foundation
he laid for democracy and agrarianism that
the Jacksonian Democrats would later build upon to expand democracy.
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