An article concerning the controversy surrounding Thomas Jefferson's life.
When Thomas Jefferson submitted his draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress about ¼ of the document was cut and what was left stands today as the Declaration of Independence. Within in the pieces the congress had cut was a paragraph vehemently opposing slavery, the owning of human life. Yet Jefferson’s own mansion was ran by slaves, and on death he only freed five of his two hundred slaves.
You would think that someone with such a strong opinion against slavery would try to spearhead a movement against slavery, yet Jefferson did nothing except say that he was opposed to slavery. He owned and bred slaves, yet maintained a strong opinion against slavery, saying in the Declaration of Independence that “We hold these truths to be self-evident,—that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Despite this he only allowed five of his slaves their natural rights, life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness when out of two hundred slaves he freed only five.
It is hard to find a reason for his attitude towards slavery, maybe he was trying to inspire others to release their slaves first then he would release his. This doesn’t explain how he only released five slaves on death. It seems if he were trying to inspire others to free their slaves he could have set an example by releasing his own.
Thomas Jefferson had many good qualities, which is why today he remembered as a good president. His political party the Republicans greatly represented the Democrats today. He favored a smaller government system giving power to the people. He greatly admired the French revolution, which was very similar to the American Revolution. When the revolution turned bloody and the French started to ruthlessly execute supposed anti revolutionists, most Americans began to oppose the revolution. Jefferson however never seemed, to be affected but his and kept supporting the revolution. Hamilton used this against Jefferson, to raise the opinion of his party.
As president Thomas Jefferson secretly asked congress for funds to send Lewis and Clark on an expedition to the west to establish trade with the Indians. This opened up a huge amount of opportunities for Americans, and led eventually to the Louisiana Purchase.
The Louisiana Purchase was probably one of his acts as president most controversial to Jefferson himself. He often disagreed with Alexander Hamilton on the interpretation of the constitution; he favored a very strict interpretation of the constitution, while Hamilton thought the constitution could be interpreted loosely using the elastic clause. However when Thomas Jefferson decided to buy the Louisiana, territory he had to use the elastic clause since the power to gain land was not given to the federal government in the constitution. This however benefited the states greatly and increased the size of the United States by two million square kilometers.
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton-
Alexander Hamilton was Thomas Jefferson’s political rival he headed the Federalist Party. The federalists greatly opposed a small government system, and frequently used the elastic clause to create laws against the republicans. He introduced the Alien and Sedition acts which made it very hard for immigrants or (Aliens) to vote, since the usually voted Republican. In Hamilton’s ideal government, the power would go the wealthy and the educated since he thought they were the only people informed enough to make government decisions. Jefferson is one of the main reasons we enjoy the democratic government we have today, since if Hamilton had been able to become president we would probably have a very different system.
Despite his hypocritical attitude towards slavery, you cannot say that Jefferson was a bad president. He kept the United States out of the Napoleonic wars, which would have engaged our country in a sixteen year war, and he added 1 million twenty five thousand square miles to our territory.
Bibliography-
Unknown Author. "Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1776. 1999. April 6, 2008 < http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jefferson.htm>
Cody, David. “French Revolution.” Created in 1987, last updated on August 10, 2007. April 6, 2008 http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist7.html
M.S. Staum. “Napoleonic Wars Timeline.” Unknown Date. April 6, 2008
< http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~mstaum/hist329/napwars1.html>
Kelly, Martin. “Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase.” Unknown Date. April 6, 2008.
< http://americanhistory.about.com/od/thomasjefferson/a/tj_lapurchase.htm>
Unknown Author. “Louisiana Purchase.” 1994. April 6, 2008.
< http://www.gatewayno.com/history/LaPurchase.html>
Dunn, Susan. “Doubting Thomas.” March 6, 2005. April 6, 2008.
< http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5627-2005Mar3.html>
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