Thomas Jefferson Presidency

1. PRESIDENCY OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON
1801-1809

2. 1. Incumbent – currently in office
2. Judicial review – the right of the Supreme Court to determine if a law violates
the Constitution
3. Customs duties – taxes on foreign imported goods
4. Frontiersman - a man living in the region between settled and unsettled
country
5. Embargo – an order that prohibits trade with another country
6. Impressment – the practice of forcing people to serve in the army or navy

3. • The election of 1800 was full of contention (heated disagreement)
• The Federalist candidates were John Adams (incumbent) and Charles Pinckney
• The Democratic-Republican candidates were Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr
• The election ended in a tie, with Jefferson and Burr each receiving 73 electoral
votes
• After days of voting in the House of Representatives, Thomas Jefferson
became the third president of the U. S., with Aaron Burr as his vice president

4. • After the problems with the election of 1800, Congress passed the
12th Amendment, creating a separate ballot for president and vice
president

6. • Jefferson was a strong supporter of states’ rights, and believed in reducing the
power of the federal gov’t.
• Jefferson’s cabinet included:
- James Madison – Secretary of State
- Albert Gallatin – Secretary of the Treasury
• Jefferson’s administration allowed the Alien & Sedition Acts to expire, and
repealed the Naturalization Act, which had required aliens to live in the U.S. for
14 years (instead of 5) before being eligible for citizenship.
• These Acts were seen by the Dem-Rep Party as signs that the federal
government threatened individual liberties

7. • To reduce the national debt, Jefferson reduced the size of the army and navy.
He also persuaded Congress to repeal the whiskey tax.
• Gov’t funds would now come only from customs duties, and from sale of
western lands

8. • Before Jefferson took office,
the Federalists passed the
Judiciary Act of 1801, which
created 16 judgeships that
John Adams had promised
to Federalists before leaving
office
• This ensured that
Federalists would control
the courts

9. • One of the judges Adams
appointed was William
Marbury, but his commission
was not delivered before
Jefferson took office.
• Jefferson told Secretary of State
James Madison NOT to deliver
the commission
• Marbury sued, asking the
Supreme Court to order
Madison to deliver his
appointment papers

10. • Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the Court’s opinion in the case of Marbury
v. Madison
- The Supreme Court ruled that the law Marbury based his claim on was
unconstitutional; Marbury’s request was denied
• The case of Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court’s power of
Judicial Review

12. • President Jefferson wanted to expand the borders of the U. S.
• He feared that France would close New Orleans, part of the Louisiana Territory,
to American trade
• Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to
try to buy New Orleans. The French offered
to sell ALL of the Louisiana Territory to the
U. S. for $15 million.
• The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States

14. • To learn more about the land
acquired in the Louisiana
Purchase, Jefferson asked his
secretary, Meriwether Lewis,
and experienced frontiersman
William Clark to lead an
expedition
• In May 1804, Lewis and Clark
led 30 soldiers up the Missouri
River. The group was called
the Corps of Discovery.

15. • A Shoshone woman named
Sacagawea joined the group
as a guide when they
reached land near the Rocky
Mountains
• After 18 months, Lewis and
Clark reached the Pacific
Ocean
• Reports of their journey
inspired the American
people to travel westward

17. FYI:
- Jefferson also sent
explored Zebulon Pike to
check out the Western
Wilderness
- He found a mountain in
Colorado that later
became known as Pike’s
Peak.

18. FYI:
- Many Federalists opposed the
Louisiana Purchase, fearing that
the new territory would become
Republican and weaken their
party’s power
- Some Federalists in Massachusetts
planned to secede (withdraw) from
the Union and form a “Northern
Confederacy”
- They wanted to include all of New
England as well as New York; they
turned to Aaron Burr for support of
their plan

19. FYI:
- Alexander Hamilton had never trusted Aaron Burr. Hamilton became
concerned about rumors of Burr agreeing to lead New York out of the Union.
- Hamilton accused Burr of plotting treason
- Burr lost the 1804 election for governor of NY, and blamed Hamilton
- Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. They met, armed with guns, in New Jersey
- Burr shot and killed Hamilton.
- He stepped down as VP, and fled to avoid arrest

21. • Great Britain and France were still at war; each country wanted to stop the
other from trading with the U.S.
• In 1808, Jefferson urged Congress to pass the Embargo Act. This law banned
trade with all foreign countries
• The Embargo Act was the U.S. response to Britain’s practice of impressment of
U.S. citizens after they stopped and searched American ships
• Under the Embargo Act, American ships could not sail to foreign ports, and
American ports were closed to British and French ships
• By passing the Act, Congress hoped to punish Britain and France and protect
American merchant ships from capture

22. • The law was a disaster. American
merchants lost a lot of money,
and the British simply traded
with Latin America instead.
• In March 1809, Congress
repealed the Embargo Act and
replaced it with the Non-
Intercourse Act, which banned
trade only with Britain and
France.
• This law was just as unpopular
and ineffective, further damaging
the U. S. economy (and
contributing to the upcoming
War of 1812)

24. • Like Washington, Jefferson decided not to run for a third term
• He retired at his Virginia estate, Monticello
• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826 – the 50th
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence