Contributions of Thomas Jefferson

In the year 1800, Thomas Jefferson succeeded John Adams and became the next President of the United States. When coming into office he had numerous ideas of how he wanted to have the country run. Also, in being the front man to the Republican Party he had several people supporting those ideas. However, Jefferson soon realized that not all of his ideas would be able to be incorporated into the government as simply as he assumed and furthermore that some of his ideas were not as great as the assumed. Nevertheless, although Jefferson may not have lived up to all of his campaign promises and the expectations of his party, he did use his time as president efficiently and developed the new reputation of the United States.

Jefferson was called “The Man of the People” with his philosophy of government being to put more power into the hands of the people and limiting the power of government. He was concerned that high taxes, standing armies, and civic corruption could demolish American liberty by giving too much authority to the government. Moreover, Jefferson thought common liberty required a common good and to put this ahead of one’s personal wellbeing and make sure to keep the government from growing out of control. He thought the most honorable citizens were the knowledgeable farmers and that cities were a breeding ground for those who would pose a threat to liberty. This was because men who relied on merchants or factory proprietors for employment could manipulate their employees’ votes, as opposed to farmers who were their own bosses.

To a degree Thomas Jefferson was pragmatic when it came to foreign affairs. As an alternative to doing what his political party anticipated him to do he would make decisions based on the “common good” of the country. For instance, in 1803 when Jefferson was in the midst of his plan to rid America of its national debt, he bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon Bonaparte for $15 million, which was nearly the price of the national debt he was trying to dispose of. Being realistic Jefferson bought it because it was a bargain to pay for nearly doubling the size of the United States, made it so the U.S wasn’t sandwiched between Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars, and acquired New Orleans. However, most Federalists opposed the purchase and Americans didn’t get a chance to vote on whether or not to buy it.