THOMAS JEFFERSON
Biography
Thomas Jefferson is best known as the author of the Declaration of Independence and as third President of the United States. But he was also a diplomat, an architect, a musician, a scientist and inventor, a strong supporter of religious freedom, and an early advocate of public education. He was the founder of the University of Virginia and the greatest patron of learning and the arts in his generation. Although he lived 83 years, he never ceased to be young in spirit. He was always learning something new, always trying to contribute to human progress. In his range of interests, perhaps no other American except Benjamin Franklin ever matched him.
Revolutionary Patriot
Jefferson said many times that he never liked public life, and he might have remained quietly at home in Virginia if the conflict between the American colonies and Britain had not become critical. One of the sparks that helped ignite American feeling against the British government was the severe measures it imposed against the colony of Massachusetts after the so-called Boston Tea Party in 1773. As a protest against taxes and other grievances, the colonists had dumped a cargo of British tea into Boston Harbor.
The issue, as Jefferson saw it, was between freedom and tyranny. When he became a member of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1775, after the outbreak of the Revolution, he was already known as an ardent patriot. Because of his writing ability and because, as a Virginian, he was a representative of the largest colony, he was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence. This document, adopted in 1776, proclaimed to the world that the 13 American colonies were now independent of Britain. Seven more years of war were to follow, however, before Britain accepted the idea of American independence.
Minister to France
Jefferson now had to turn his eyes eastward, for in 1784 he was sent to Paris to help negotiate treaties of commerce between the new United States and the countries of Europe. The American mission had only limited success, but the next year Jefferson was appointed minister to France, succeeding the popular Benjamin Franklin.
Jefferson formed a low opinion of European kings. He especially disliked the French monarchy. But France had shown friendship to the United States and had helped it financially and militarily during the American Revolution, and Jefferson was determined to strengthen this tie at a time when the young republic had hardly any other friends.
Jefferson saw the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, his last year in Paris. He feared that it would get out of hand, as it did later, but he approved of this revolt against what he considered royal tyranny.
Secretary of State
Jefferson returned home that same year. Rather reluctantly he accepted the invitation of President George Washington to become the first secretary of state (then called secretary of foreign affairs) under the new constitution. He took office in 1790 and served until the end of 1793.
During this time occurred his historic conflict with Alexander Hamilton, the young and brilliant secretary of the treasury. In foreign affairs Jefferson, who believed that Britain was still an enemy, tried to keep the United States friendly to France and the cause of liberty it now represented. Hamilton favored the British and preferred the rule of a monarch to that of the French revolutionaries. But when war broke out between France and Britain in 1793, both men agreed that the United States should stay out of it.
Jefferson objected to certain of Hamilton's policies as favoring merchants and financiers rather than farmers. Most of the people in the United States were then farmers, and Jefferson always thought of himself as one. He believed in individual liberty more than Hamilton did and trusted the people more. He thought that Hamilton was trying to increase the power of the national government beyond what was permitted by the Constitution. Jefferson favored the strict interpretation of the Constitution, believing that this would prevent tyranny.
Vice President
In the presidential election of 1796, John Adams, who was Washington's Vice President, was the candidate of the Federalists, who supported a strong national, or federal, government. Jefferson was the choice of the Republicans (also known as Democratic-Republicans), who opposed the policies of the Federalists. Adams won election by a majority of three electoral votes. According to the electoral system then in effect, Jefferson became the vice president. There has never been another situation quite like this in U.S. history, in which the president was also the recognized leader of the party opposed to the government.
This was the time of what Adams called the “half-war” with France. Diplomatic relations between the United States and France were broken, and there was fighting between their two navies. Jefferson was charged with favoring the French in the dispute, although in fact he did not do so. The wartime mood also led to the passage in 1798, by a Federalist-controlled Congress, of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Under their provisions, foreigners could be deported from the country if they were thought dangerous, and journalists and others who criticized the government could be sent to jail.
The Election of 1800
The presidential election of 1800 was also marked by confusion. Jefferson and Adams were again the candidates of their parties. Adams, whose popularity, along with that of the Federalists, had fallen drastically, lost his bid for re-election. But the election resulted in a tie between Jefferson and his own vice-presidential candidate, Aaron Burr. For months it was uncertain who would be president. The outcome was finally determined when the House of Representatives elected Jefferson, as the majority of the voters had intended. (The manner in which presidents were elected was clarified by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1804.)
President
Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801 was the first transfer of power in the United States from one political group to another. That it was accomplished peacefully made it especially noteworthy. Jefferson served two terms in office, winning re-election in 1804 by a wide margin. He reduced taxes, abolished offices that he thought unnecessary, and generally governed in a spirit of toleration and humanity. The hated Alien and Sedition Acts were repealed or allowed to expire. He also worked well with Congress, respecting the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of the government.
But he also had to endure personal attacks on his character by his enemies, perhaps more than any other president. Among the false accusations was that Jefferson was an atheist (that he did not believe in God) and that he was immoral. In spite of this, for nearly all of his administration, he enjoyed enormous popularity among the American people.
The New Capital
Jefferson was nearly 58 when he became president. He was the first chief executive to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C., which had become the seat of government during the last year of the Adams administration. Although it was called a city, Washington was then really just a village in the wilderness. Only one wing of the original Capitol had been built, and the president's residence (it officially became known as the White House much later) looked like a big bare box. The columns that now adorn the entrance were not yet in place.
Nevertheless, Jefferson had the place furnished handsomely and gave delicious dinners there. He did not like formality or ceremony, however, preferring the relaxed atmosphere he was used to at Monticello. The duties of hostess were occasionally shared by his daughters, Martha and Mary, now married and with their own families. Mary’s death in 1804 would be a severe blow to Jefferson.
Louisiana Purchase
The most notable achievement of Jefferson's presidency was his purchase from France in 1803 of the Louisiana Territory. The acquisition of this vast territory, lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, doubled the area of the United States at a stroke. Jefferson had already prepared the Lewis and Clark expedition, which explored the virtually unknown region and eventually reached the Pacific Ocean. The purchase aroused alarm among New Englanders, who feared that their small states would become unimportant, but it delighted most Americans. Actually, Jefferson himself had wondered if the purchase was constitutional but was persuaded of its legality
The Tripolitan War
In 1801 war broke out between the United States and Tripoli, one of the Barbary States situated along the coast of North Africa. The Barbary States lived by piracy, and the United States and other countries paid them tribute, in the form of yearly sums of money, to allow their merchant ships to cross the Mediterranean Sea unmolested. The immediate cause of the conflict was the demand by Tripoli for additional tribute, which the United States refused. Fought mainly at sea, the war ended in 1805 with the capture of the Tripolitan fortress of Derna by U.S. land and sea forces.
The Burr Conspiracy
Soon after his inauguration for a second term in 1805, Jefferson was caught up in the strange events involving his former vice president, Aaron Burr. (George Clinton had succeeded Burr in that office.) Already notorious for having killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804, Burr was suspected of conspiring to set up an independent empire in the Southwest. He was tried for treason but acquitted by a court presided over by Chief Justice John Marshall.
Last Retirement
After his friend James Madison, who had served as his secretary of state, succeeded to the presidency in 1809, Jefferson returned to Monticello. There he spent the last 17 years of his life. He was often surrounded by his grandchildren, whom he adored, but he had so many other visitors as well that he fled for part of each year to another place of his, Poplar Forest, near Lynchburg, Virginia. He spent much of his time writing letters. Many of them were to his old opponent John Adams, with whom he discussed books, government, religion, and almost everything else. Jefferson was in financial difficulties during his last years and was practically bankrupt at his death.
Jefferson's last great public service was the founding of the University of Virginia in 1819. It was the only accomplishment that he valued as much as his authorship of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Bill for Religious Freedom. He designed the university's buildings himself, selected the first professors, and laid down the first course of study.
Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; John Adams died the same day. He was buried at Monticello, beside his wife. Two centuries after his birth, in 1943, a memorial to Jefferson was dedicated in Washington, D.C., establishing his place alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln among great Americans.
Dumas Malone
University of Virginia, Author, Jefferson and His Time