At the time

Anytime we evaluate a leader, we must take into account the situation that leader faced. Our evaluation would be unrealistic and maybe even irresponsible if it ignored the circumstances of the time.

Thomas Jefferson, like all of the presidents before him and like most of the presidents after, never had to address concerns about climate change, nuclear energy or artificial intelligence. In his time, agriculture was the dominant business. And while some inventors were beginning to build automobiles powered by steam, and at least one inventor was developing an internal combustion engine using hydrogen for fuel (1), horses were the most common source of power for vehicles. While in Europe, Jefferson traveled by mule train to cross the Alps.

Communication across long distances depended on the transportation of letters and newspapers. The westernmost post office in the United States in 1801 was in Natchez, Mississippi. (2) News traveled as fast as it could, and it could take days or weeks or months to deliver the latest. The artificial lighting in shops and homes came from candles and oil lamps.

In Jefferson’s time, divorce was illegal, slavery was a thriving business, and bleeding was a common medical practice. Cocaine might relieve a toothache, opium might stop coughs or diarrhea. Lime, charcoal or sulfur might work as disinfectants. (3)

Right before Jefferson became president, there were only 16 States in the Union. Ohio became a State during his presidency which he held for two terms, between 1801 and 1809. The population of the U. S. in 1800 was about five and a half million—[5,509,879]. (10)

Jefferson was 14 years old when his father died, and at that time the family owned 34 slaves. Not long after Jefferson married Martha Wayles in 1772, her father, who had acquired an entire shipload of slaves, died. Thereby Thomas Jefferson became “the largest slave owner in Virginia”. (4, p. 95)

Declaring independence

In June 1776, to begin the process of forming in America a government independent from Britain, the Continental Congress called on a group of five people to write the declaration. Jefferson, one of the five, wrote the first draft. Then the other members of the committee determined that Jefferson's work, with some minor revisions, would be good enough to become the document that declared to the world the birth of a new nation.

The Declaration includes a long list of grievances against the government of Great Britain and in elegant prose tells the King to take a hike. In Jefferson’s words, “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”

Among the many grievances are these:

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:...
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:...
For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever….
He has excited domestic insurrections among us,...
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America established our nation on July 4, 1776.

Time out

Thomas Jefferson was the American ambassador to France from 1785 to 1789. His primary source of news about events in the United States came in correspondence principally with James Madison. But he gained firsthand knowledge of the events in France at the time. He was in Paris in the early stages of the French Revolution and witnessed the Storming of the Bastille. Troubled by the violence, he nevertheless favored the ideals of the Revolution and drew parallels with the American experience of winning freedom from oppression.

By the way, during his time in Europe he traveled by mule train over the Alps into Italy and stole some sacks of unmilled rice to bring a better grain back to the United States. (4, p. 99) He favored whatever sort of action benefited his country.

Life in the parties

The political parties of early America included the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists. In broad terms, the Democratic-Republicans led by Jefferson favored a small, decentralized, less muscular government for the United States, while the Federalists advocated a strong central government with a powerful military force and the will to use it for the benefit of the nation.

Jefferson was a member of the Democratic-Republican party, and he won the election of 1800 by defeating John Adams, a Federalist. In his First Inaugural Address, Jefferson said "... every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." (9)

Rounding them up

Both Adams and Jefferson used the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 or captured some of the spirit of them in their actions toward each other or the parties they represented. Adams saw these Acts as a way to limit the growth of Jefferson’s power. The Alien Act aimed to prevent French immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens. Those immigrants were likely to favor and be favored by the party of Jefferson. The Sedition Act made criticism of the president a crime punishable by fines and imprisonment. Adams had wanted to stop Jefferson from forming an opposition party. To that end, the government arrested and imprisoned some editors and writers who had sided with Jefferson. Jefferson went on to found the Democratic party anyway.

Jefferson for his part "shut down any criminal prosecutions that might have led to court testimony that was very unfavorable to him, so he did tamper with the courts....he went after key Federalist judges and replaced them with his own people, and where that didn’t work, cases all of a sudden dried up if they got too close to [him]." (4, pp. 100-01)

Chaos

The Constitution at the time allowed the candidate winning the most votes to become president and the candidate receiving the second highest number of votes to become vice president. This flaw in the Constitution, later to be corrected by the 12th amendment, enabled Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, to become vice president to serve with John Adams, a Federalist president. This setup would tend to bring discord to the national government. It certainly didn’t foster amity.

Enemies in the press

In his first year in office, the Connecticut Courant called for Jefferson to be impeached. Some of the opposition to the president came from Federalists but some also came from Republicans. As early as 1802, the allegation that Jefferson had sired a number of children with his slave Sally Hemings appeared in a newspaper—the Richmond Reporter. That claim has since been supported by the results of DNA testing. The public revelation in Jefferson’s time, according to the historian Joyce Appleby "sorely tested Jefferson's commitment to freedom of the press. In part the vicious abuse he suffered was mitigated by the fact that newspapers in the early nineteenth century were conspicuously partisan, and readership divided along party lines." (6, p. 44)

Privatizing national lands

Jefferson's administration implemented the sale of national land to private citizens. Congress set requirements for the minimum size and price of the portions to be bought, and the program was very successful. In about three years around four million acres were sold to citizens wanting to build their farms in the west. Native Americans—the Indians—were not welcomed to join in the progress of the United States as its boundary extended. Jefferson was the president who started the relegation of Indians to reservations. (6, p. 41)

Grabbing new territory

In 1802 Jefferson learned that France had acquired the Louisiana Territory from Spain. It turned out that Napoleon was interested in selling that land, a region that would, with the stroke of a pen, double the size of our country. Although Jefferson had been concerned about exceeding the powers allowed to the president when he arranged the acquisition of this great territory, the public was overwhelmingly supportive.

He tapped Meriwether Lewis and General William Clark to lead an expedition into the newly acquired land. The expedition lasted 28 months and reports of its findings were a source of fascination to many. They continue to be.

But Joseph Ellis offers this critical appraisal of the deal:

"...every aspect of the Louisiana Purchase defied Jefferson’s heartfelt convictions about limited federal government and a weak chief executive.... According to his own principles, as well as the principles of international law then in effect, what came to be known as the Lewis and Clark expedition was an illegal venture. In order to disguise its questionable character, Jefferson obtained authorization from Congress under the pretense that it was merely a scientific exploration and, as he also described it, 'a literary pursuit'.
"…[Jefferson’s] reading of the maps yielded the conclusion that the purchase included the entire Gulf Coast of modern Florida and all of present-day Texas. Spanish authorities protested vehemently, but Jefferson responded by observing that “to lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written laws would be to lose the law itself.” (7, p. 32)

Sharing the spoils

Jefferson developed the spoils system. Also called the ‘patronage system’, it is the "practice in which the political party winning an election rewards its campaign workers and other active supporters by appointment to government posts and with other favours. The spoils system involves political activity by public employees in support of their party and the employees’ removal from office if their party loses the election. A change in party control of government necessarily brings new officials to high positions carrying political responsibility, but the spoils system extends personnel turnover down to routine or subordinate governmental positions." (8)

Disrupting trade

During the war between France and Britain in 1805, the French tried to disrupt American trade with Britain, and the British tried to disrupt American trade with France. Jefferson pressed Congress to pass the Embargo Act. And it did. The Embargo Act of 1807 halted trade with Europe. And this led Americans to smuggle goods overseas to keep their businesses going. As another consequence, Jefferson lost a lot of support from American citizens. More outrage ensued after the president ordered gunboats and Federal agents to maintain the embargo.

In 1807, besides signing the Embargo Act, Jefferson asked Congress to ban the importation of slaves. Congress passed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in that year, and it took effect on January 1, 1808.

Arriving at peace

By 1812 John Adams, having left the Federalist party to join the Republicans, began corresponding again with Thomas Jefferson, resuming the friendship they had enjoyed earlier in their lives. Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same date: July 4,1826. The letters they wrote are a rich addition to our political and literary heritage.

Compromising principles

Every president—every human being—is faced with the challenge of reconciling the tension between principles and practice. We want to achieve goals, make decisions and solve problems, but at the same time we hold ideals, thoughts of how we should act, what we are permitted to do, what is right and good.

Like all drugs, all policies have both beneficial and adverse effects. Almost every action or program has both desirable and undesirable consequences. In most purchases, we have to consider not only the promises but also the price. Rarely if ever do we get the best product for the least price. Tradeoffs are common because they are necessary.

Leaders get pressures from all sides, hear opposing points of view, and they often have to choose among many unpleasant options. Principles often conflict with each other. A decision-maker often has to choose among principles—which to insist upon and which to compromise. Should a nation go to war and cause suffering and likely the loss of lives or avoid confrontation and suffer subjugation or even demise? Should a leader renege on a promise or violate some treaty and lose esteem and credibility when there is some greater good to gain? Leaders at the top get the toughest decisions.

Thomas Jefferson is renowned for his expression of the great ideals that inspire our nation. Yet at times, some of the principles he held in his mind he abandoned in practice. In some cases, he extended the power of the presidency beyond what he had thought acceptable. Yet some of those deviations from his ideals yielded results that warrant praise today. It’s like that. The messiness in politics and life sometimes works out for the better—and sometimes not.

References

1. “De Rivaz engine” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Rivaz_engine.
2. “1800-1860: Communications: Chronology” Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/1....
3. “What Medicines Were Used in the 1800s?” Medicine.net: https://www.medicinenet.com/what_medicines_were_used_in_the_1800s/articl....
4. Lamb, Brian, Susan Swain and C-SPAN. The Presidents: Noted Historians Rank America’s Best—and Worst—Executives. New York: Public Affairs, 2019.
5. Herring, George C. From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
6. Appleby, Joyce. “Thomas Jefferson”, pp. 33-47 in The American Presidency. Brinkley, Alan and Davis Dyer, eds. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.
7. Ellis, Joseph J. “Thomas Jefferson”, pp. 28-35 in To the Best of My Ability: The American Presidents. McPherson, James M. and David Rubel, eds. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2001.
8. “Spoils system” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/spoils-system.
9. Jefferson, Thomas. “First Inaugural Address”, pp. 316-317 in To the Best of My Ability: The American Presidents. McPherson, James M. and David Rubel, eds. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2001.
10. “List of countries by population in 1800” Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_in_1800.