Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), was one of main proponents of democracy in world history; he was a leading Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), the first Secretary of State (1789-1793), the founder of one of the world's two first political parties, the Republican Party (1793) in opposition to the Federalist Party of his arch-rival Alexander Hamilton.

Portrait by Rembrandt Peale

A friend of France and enemy of Britain, he soured on France after Napoleon came to power and ended democracy. As President (1801-1809) Jefferson purchased Louisiana in 1803, but relations with Britain soured after 1805, leading to the War of 1812. Jefferson is best known as political theorist who helped redefine republicanism and promoted democracy and equal rights, while fighting aristocracy and established religion.

Early Career

Jefferson was born to a well-connected planter family of moderate wealth in Virginia. He was well educated at William and Mary College (class of 1762), and studied law. He was a polymath who read voraciously in history, politics, philosophy, linguistics, architecture and natural science. He became a spokesman of the patriot cause by 1774, and as a delegate to the Continental Congress he took the lead in pushing for independence. He drafted the Declaration of Independence using ideas and suggestions from many sources. As governor of Virginia (1779-81) he had to flee the invading British army in 1781, until it was captured at Yorktown. He succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France (1785-89), and so was not present when the Constitution was written and ratified.

1790s

Jefferson returned from France in 1789 and became the first Secretary of State (1789-1793) in the cabinet of President George Washington. With his close ally James Madison (a member of the House) Jefferson opposed the Hamiltonian programs for national finance, especially assumnption of state wartime debts and the First National Bank. Jefferson and Madison and created a new party the Republicans, (called the Democratic-Republican Party by historians) to oppose Hamilton's Federalist party. These were the first two modern political parties in the world (that is the first to reach out to the voters for support). Jefferson and his Republicans supported the French Revolution (from 1793 to 1800), while the Federalists favored Britain. President Washington managed to maintain neutrality in the war between Britain and France. Hamilton had more influence than Jefferson, even in foreign policy, as shown by Hamilton's success in securing the Jay Treaty of 1795 that opened ten years of friendly trade with Britain. Jefferson was defeated for president in the election of 1796 by John Adams, but became Vice President. When the Quasi War (that is undeclared war) with France broke out in 1798 and Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition laws, Jefferson and Madison protested by secretly writing the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798. They argued the right of state governments to nullify federal laws considered unconstitutional; this was the start of the States Rights theory that played a role in the coming of the American Civil War in 1861 and still plays a role in Constitutional debates.

President 1801-1809

Jefferson defeated Adams and was elected President in 1800, in what his supporters called the Revolution of 1800. In his first term Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase with France. then sent Lewis and Clark to explore the vast new lands. He set up a territorial system for the Louisiana purchase. He promoted reservations for Indians to settle them on fixed parcels of land and teach them farming (instead of hunting and raiding).

Jefferson removed many Federalist office holders in order to balance the civil service between parties. Bitterly opposed to strong judges, he had Congress abolish the lower courts the Federalists had created, and tried to impeach and remove two Federalist judges. He succeeded in removing one incompetent figure but was defeated when he tried to remove Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. Jefferson never dared attack Chief Justice John Marshall, a Federalist who made the Supreme Court a bastion of nationalism, much to Jefferson's disgust.

Jefferson's second term was marked by escalating tensions with both Britain and France (which were at war with each other). Jefferson's use of economic warfare, especially the Embargo of 1807, failed, as he tried to crack down on New England merchants who defied laws that restricted their trade. Jefferson opposed building up the army or navy, insisting that the militia would suffice, aided by small gunboats. Most historians judge his military policies a major disaster, for they failed badly when War of 1812 with Britain came three years after he left office.

Jefferson and slavery

Jefferson believed tha, eventuqally, all Americans had to be free. His goals for unlimited national improvement were incompatible with slaves in America. Both slavery and the slave trade would have to be ended in favor of free commerce and free labor. The key word for Jefferson was "amelioration," and it included several stages of national and moral development. First, Americans would abolish the slave trade. "Citizens," President Jefferson declared in 1806, should "withdraw . . . from all further participation in those violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa" to promote "the morality, the reputation, and the best interests of our country." Second, the owners should raise up the moral and intellectual levels of their slaves. As masters established ties of reciprocal obligation and sympathy with their slaves, they would prepare themselves—and their slaves for the emancipation and repatriation of all Africans back to Africa. He in fact did secure the abolition by Congress of the international slave trade in 1808. He owned slaves--some 200 at one time or another--but despite his theoretical opposition to slavery he was always so much in debt he could never free them.

Retirement

In political retirement Jefferson helped create and design the University of Virginia, as well as his home of Monticello. Jefferson, a deist was keenly interested in religion, and worked to create a "wall of separation" between church and state, fearing that unifying the two would create tyranny over the free minds of people. The modern Democratic party claims direct descent from Jefferson (despite a gap in continuity). Jefferson has been commemorated in the names of many counties and schools. Conservative commentator George Will has called Jefferson the "Man of the Millennium"-- that is the most influential person in world history over the last 1000 years.

External Links

• Jefferson: Man of the Millennium, links by Richard Jensen, also short biography by Dumas Malone