Thomas Jefferson Flaws

Thomas Jefferson, one of the most influential founding fathers in history, a Vice President alongside John Adams, and after that, a wonderful President himself. In his early political experience he was an illustrious Democratic-Republican, making him a front-runner for the consequent Presidential Election. When Jefferson became President, he considered it to be revolutionary for America to shift from a Federalist party, to a Democratic-Republic in office. As his presidency moved along, while controversial, Jefferson had a noticeable change-of-heart in the way he handled foreign and domestic issues, but only to the existential benefit of the people of America. Domestically, Jefferson faced a multitude of issues. First, was the financial

When the Presidency was passed to Jefferson by John Adams, a Federalist, the first step he took was to scrap the excise law/tax which caused manufactured goods to have a tax, for a goal to gain money for the government. This move was strongly Democratic-Republican, because he got rid of it to benefit the farmers living in America. Jefferson believed these taxes would also cause sectionalism in the states, so he took them out immediately. Democratic-Republicans had strong hate for the financial system as a whole, but while in office, Jefferson kept the rest of Hamilton's plan. He could have done this because he realized that the plan is in fact beneficial, but he most likely did this only to benefit the people of America, for the countries good as a whole (Document A). One of Jefferson's previous works, The Kentucky Resolutions, opposed established laws and acts by the Federal government. It favored stronger state government, something Democratic-Republicans strongly agreed with. It brought success, giving the right to states to declare laws and acts unconstitutional. This success was done by Jefferson himself, for helping create this resolution. Jefferson, in his

During Jefferson's presidency, Napoleon was also the leader of France at the time. Napoleon was going through a rough time with Haiti rebelling against the French, so that soured him on the idea of colonies. At the same time, Jefferson wanted land for farming in America. Jefferson asked Napoleon to buy a small area in upper Louisiana for $10M. Because Napoleon needed money, and Jefferson wanted land, he offered Jefferson the whole Midwest/Louisiana area for $15M. While that was a great deal, it goes against what Jefferson believes because it is not in the constitution. This caused people to act again because Jefferson was starting to become a hypocrite, going against what he originally thought about the constitution. He stood up for himself by explaining that he’s doing it for the interest of the people, which is highly believable considering his general morals (Document C). Around a similar time, North African Pirates called The Barbary Pirates because they’re from the Barbary states of Africa, were stirring up some trouble in the seas. They captured US ships and enslaved the crews of them, infuriating Americans. No official war was declared, but Jefferson sent out Navy troops as a response to deal with the Africans. This showed the power and control the Federal Government had over foreign affairs, exactly what Jefferson was opposed to before. He sent troops out and went against himself because if