The election of 1800, being the first election where both parties ran candidates and actually campaigned, featured Thomas Jefferson, the Republican, against John Adams, the Federalist. With Jefferson coming out victorious, his election into presidency showed that Americans wanted more democratic politics where common people were free to express their opinion. However, Jefferson’s campaign of liberty was a bit questionable because of its limitations. While Jefferson campaigned for liberty, only a fraction of the men were able to vote and absolutely no liberty was offered to the slaves. Though he wanted to foster freedom, Jefferson owned slaves of his own and took land from the Indians. Jefferson advocated for small government, but expanded federal …show more content…
An example of this would be the Lousiana Purchase. Jefferson worried that French control of that port city endangered American commerce on the Mississippi River. Shutting down American access to New Orleans would cause American settlers, west of the Appalachian Mountains, to lose all access to eastern markets. So when an unexpected offer arose offering not just the city of New Orleans but land stretching all the way from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains for $15 million, the American delegation jumped at the offer. Though they lacked confidence that a purchase of this sort was even constitutional, the offer was simply too good to refuse. Now doubling the size of the United States, Jefferson advanced his grand vision of a republican America. The purchase guaranteed America's agricultural future by providing the farmland necessary to ensure that America would remain a nation of farmers. The acquisition of this territory played to Jefferson's vision of an expanding "empire of liberty." When facing a dilemma of whether to stick with a strict interpretation of the Constitution or adopt a loose interpretation to expand the United States and gain access to the Mississippi River, Jefferson leaves the ideals of a Republican behind and goes for the