Thomas Jefferson Pros And Cons

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States of America, and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He was governor of the state of Virginia between the years of 1779 and 1781. He was a founding father who believed in individual and estates rights. Many people admire him for having been a person who firmly believed in the ideals of democracy, equality and freedom. However, at the same time, he kept slaves, and made other contradictory decisions and this made other people to question his beliefs. Jefferson both, made good decisions for the country, but also made some bad decisions that were harmful to the US. As political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment, who met several of the

And in 1800, Thomas Jefferson was elected president of United States. As president he began cut spending and reduces the size of the government. With this decisions Jefferson made a significant progress in paying off Hamilton national debt. He defended that people should have more political power, he wanted strong state governments, encourage farming, and he supported strict interpretation of the constitution. He also intended to lower taxes, and implement free trade. The most important event of his first term was the Louisiana Purchase that belonged to France, which was one of his best achievements. With that, the US almost doubled its area. Jefferson maintained a continuous fight against the federalist tendencies of the Supreme Court. Reelected in 1804, Jefferson tried to keep the US away from the Napoleonic wars, but to respond to the British attacks against US ships, in 1807, he implemented the Embargo Act, and this act had the objective of close U.S. ports to foreign trade and also stop the export of all American goods, which caused a crisis in the country 's

He was the main author of the declaration of independence. Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, implemented free public education, served as the first Secretary of State of US, and made the Louisiana Purchase. However, some Jefferson´s actions as president were not consistent with some statements he made previously. In some situations his behavior was contradictory. Jefferson had democratic and elitist values. He defended limited government and a strict constitutionalism, but as president he extended central power without explicit authority. He insisted that freedom of the press was the best form of government control but was very sensitive to criticism and encouraged prosecution of journalists for publishing facts he said were falsehoods and insults. He proclaimed the natural rights of man but owned many slaves in his