...The First Party System: Why Thomas Jefferson was Responsible American History to 1877 Thomas Jefferson is responsible for dividing the Federalist party of the late 1700s and creating what is known today as the first party system. Thomas Jefferson, who supported a small national government and individual rights, changed American politics by advocating rights of small planters and western farmers to divide the nation once united behind Federalist ideals. By dividing the once united Federalist party into two separate groups, he was able to gain the support needed to take the office of the President away from the Federalist party. This feat was more than a challenge for Jefferson and would shape the structure of American political parties forever. (1) In 1788, George Washington was the first President of the United States and he chose two men with contrasting views on what the fate of the United States should be as part of his advisory board. Thomas Jefferson was chosen by Washington as the head of Department of State. Jefferson was a Virginian and diplomat, known for his views on small national government and representing the small planters and western farmers of America. George Washington then chose Alexander Hamilton as his secretary of the Treasury. Born and raised in the Caribbean, he worked for Washington as his aid during the revolutionary war and was a lawyer. Hamilton was known for his views on a strong national government. He favored merchants and financiers...
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...The Greatest And The Worst Founding Father Presidents The best founding father president of the United States was Thomas Jefferson. During Thomas Jefferson’s terms as president he removed taxes on whiskey and other internal taxes in order to lessen the eighty three million dollars of national debt. Jefferson lessened the national debt from eighty three million dollars to fifty seven million over the course of his two terms. He tried to keep the United States in a peaceful position by remaining out of the Napoleonic Wars. Thomas Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment was the doubling of United States territory by approving the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase gave us either part or all of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and Louisiana. Jefferson arranged for the exploration and mapping of the uncharted territory gained in the Louisiana Purchase. He employed his personal secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to be...
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...In the stronger of two arguments presented, Professor Morton Borden argues that despite President Thomas Jefferson’s personal affiliation with the Democratic Republican party, Jefferson was more concerned with the good of the country as a whole than his own petty sectionalist disputes, and for that reason was willing to compromise with members of the Federalist party and his own Republican beliefs to do that which he believed was in the best interest of the country as a whole. Borden argues that the nature in which Jefferson won the election was in and of itself a compromise, as his victory ultimately hinged on the support of Federalists like Alexander Hamilton. Borden argues that the Federalists’ faith in Jefferson indicates their assurance that Jefferson would compromise on his own personal beliefs if the result was ultimately beneficial to the country....
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...“Man of the People,” Thomas Jefferson, was born on April 13 in 1743.Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), author of the Declaration of Independence and the third U.S. president, was a leading figure in America’s early development. During the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Jefferson served in the Virginia legislature and the Continental Congress and was governor of Virginia. He later served as U.S. minister to France and U.S. secretary of state, and was vice president under John Adams (1735-1826). Jefferson, who thought the national government should have a limited role in citizens’ lives, was elected president in 1800. During his two terms in office (1801-1809), the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory and Lewis and Clark explored the vast new acquisition. Although Jefferson promoted individual liberty, he was also a slave-owner. After leaving office, he retired to his Virginia plantation, Monticello, and helped found the University of Virginia. Jefferson attacked this system by helping abolish primogeniture and entail, two long-standing traditions that directed inheritances to a single heir. Under the new system, a more equal distribution of lands was encouraged. Since only landowners were eligible to vote, an increase in the number of landowners would increase the number of eligible voters. Further, by making immigration a less complicated and exclusive process, new families arrived in droves and began to settle along the frontier. Eventually, Jefferson reasoned, these measures...
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...Preface: The Generation In the preface, Joseph Ellis takes his time in explaining the importance of the American Revolution. He starts off by stating that during the 1780’s everyone thought that it was only natural that America verge away from British rule. They all figured that it would be a gradual change; not a full blown revolution. Throughout the chapter, Ellis puts great emphasis on the many things that could have gone wrong during the revolution. He points all these negative events and set backs that he felt could easily have brought the developing America down to show just how great of an accomplishment the revolution was. The Founding Fathers were not completely oblivious to the severity of breaking away from Great Britain. Tom Pain states that, “it is only common sense that an island can not rule a continent (pg.3).” Many assumed that it was only natural that the thirteen colonies govern themselves. They figured that it would be a peaceful break such as the gaining of independence for Ghana or Canada. It was not until later on that the colonies realized that Britain would not easily hand over the land. What I find interesting is that only the Founding Fathers seemed to realize the great events taking place during their time. John Adams even instructed his wife to file and keep all of his records. It is as if he knew that hundreds of years from then, we the future Americans would look back at his notes and recognize his greatness. This makes me wonder why they...
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...reputations to wane. The duel was believed to bring back the reputation that these politicians once had. However, during the duel, Hamilton purposefully missed the mark, and aimed away from William Burr. Burr, however, persisted and shot Hamilton fatally. Due to his fading reputation, it was believed that William Burr murdered Hamilton and Burr was never again successful at getting the people on his side. .2. The Dinner: The second chapter, written by Ellis, details a dinner party, hosted by Thomas Jefferson. The cause of the dinner party stemmed from a series of debates between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison regarding the location of the nation’s capital, and methods of dealing with the country’s deficit. The central theme of the chapter is the ever increasing conflict between politicians as the country continued to grow. Debates began getting personal between politicians most likely as a result of pride and passion. Thomas Jefferson’s dinner was used as a method of creating compromise between both Madison and Hamilton. .3. The Silence: The third chapter shares the reality of slavery during the foundation of the country. It was a subject that was completely left alone as the Constitution was written, due to its divisive nature. For those reasons, slavery is the main theme of this chapter. Slavery as a topic was completely left alone until it was brought up by Benjamin Franklin, in which he signed a petition looking to have it abolished. Because of Franklin’s high stature...
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...his life. He meets Thomas Jefferson and began to learn law under him. This directly affects his political views and mindset which lead to his later life. From this, he takes up after Jefferson and becomes the governor of Virginia. Middle Life After the war Monroe focused...
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...Jefferson vs. Hamilton: Confrontations that shaped the Nation Thomas Jefferson was born in affluence to his father, Peter Jefferson, a rising young planter in the Virginia colony, and his mother, Jane Randolph, who held a high status within the colony as well. Due to his father’s prosperity Jefferson was afforded the absolute best in the ways of education, starting with private tutors at the age of five, then moving on to learn how to read Greek and Roman and finally taking his studies to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg which he would say is “…what probably fixed the destinies of my life…” (5). On the other side of the spectrum, Alexander Hamilton son of James Hamilton, a Scotsman of a well-known family but never flourished on his own, and his mother, Rachel Fawcett Lavien, who had left her husband to live with James Hamilton. Hamilton’s early life was just that his father “drifted away” and his mother passed in 1768. Lacking wealth, Hamilton’s educational opportunities in his young life were nonexistent; however this did not stop him from gaining a vast knowledge of business and finance that he would later on use in his services to President George Washington. In addition to these politically influential men’s different early lives, they have their differences in opinions. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were not just on different issues that shaped the nation, but they were at the head of those differences. Jefferson distrusted the federal government...
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...This meeting was intended for Jefferson to discuss about plans pertaining to the new government with James Monroe and the site of the capital. Monroe stopped Hamilton and his actions with the government already. This incident damages the relationship between the two. Another situation is that these men already had their own set ideologies and acts to pass within the government. While Hamilton did have allies, he and Jefferson founded their own group in secret. This was named as the Compromise of 1790. Chapter 3 was based on the topic of slavery. Thomas Scott and James Jackson supported slavery at the time. Slavery was discussed with its pros and cons such as the economic yield from it, but the morality against it. To remove all the negative emotion with this topic, the men agreed to make Congress not have the ability to remove slavery. Benjamin Franklin opposed this but had his hands tied because he feared of the southern states’ secession due to...
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...Scholar Gil Troy discusses America’s early leaders George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy who tried to forge compromises and maintain civility. Gil Troy characterizes our successful Presidents as “leading from the center” as said in the reading. Troy says “history suggests what might work and what will fail”. Gil Troy reminds us of the finest traditions of presidential leadership from our nation’s past. In Gil Troy eyes, these Presidents not only succeeded because of their political visions, but because of their moderation. He discusses partisanship in the presidency and its effect on the country. And George Washington who mediated between the competing visions of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton,...
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...The Reach of the Three-Fifths Clause (from Gary Wills, ''Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power) 1. The effect of the clause was that slave states always had more than one-third more seats in Congress than their free population warranted; hence-- 1793—47 instead of 33 1812—76 instead of 59 1833—98 instead 73 2. Between 1788 and the Compromise of 1850 slaveholders controlled: a. the presidency for 50 years b. the speaker’s chair in the House for 41 years c. the chairmanship of House Ways and Means Committee for 42 years 3. The only men to be reelected president—Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe—were all slaveholders 4. Eighteen of 31 Supreme Court justices were slaveholders 5. Southerners controlled the patronage in federal positions—e.g., 57% of the high civil service positions under Adams, 56% under Jefferson, 37% under Jackson 6. Many of Jefferson’s actions and concerns were specifically designed to maintain Southern numerical strength in the political system through the “slave power” (the power of south to control American politics through the 3/5 clause a. survey of the West b. Louisiana purchase c. fear of Burr’s detaching part of the Southwest from the Union d. University of Virginia—a place where southerners could send their best and brightest, rather than to Yale or Harvard where they might hear too much criticism of southern slavery 7. Slavery...
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...young years of America, two of the early presidents had to different take on democracy in America. Thomas Jefferson, a highly educated lawyer from Virginia that served as the second vice president, and Andrew Jackson, from South Carolina, orphaned as a child and later became a war general, the third and seventh presidents of America. Even though from different backgrounds, the men’s’ ideas on democracy share similar elements. At the same time each of them had his own interpretation of American Democracy. Thomas Jefferson worked to increase the power of the “citizens,” which by Jefferson’s philosophy meant any white male that was a farmer or land owner. In fact Jefferson said that a big advantage of the Louisiana Purchase was that farmers could have more land to farm so that they could...
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...something they had been born into since slavery was an anomaly and was something that would not last long term. Jefferson helped to pass legislation for Virginia to allow for the freedom of slaves. In 1782 Virginia legally allowed slave owners to free their slaves. At this time Jefferson was writing legislation to allow all African Americans born slaves born after 1800 to be free. This proposed bill also proposed that there be no more slavery in the western territories. This bill not passing could have been due to Jefferson’s earlier back door dinner deals, or that Jefferson did not have the authority or the leadership like Washington did. The power that Washington held shows his true leadership over...
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...Influences on the Constitution Marlene Monarrez HIS/301 December 3, 2012 Instructor: Andrew Van Ness Influences on the Constitution Table |Documents |Summary |What was its influence on the Constitution? | |Magna Carta | Issued by King John of England in 1215 when Englishmen went to the colonies they were | The Magna Carta gave Englishmen certain human rights, | | |given charters that guaranteed them and their heirs would “have and enjoy all liberties and |freedom of religion, reform of justice system and regulated | | |immunities of free and natural subjects.” The document clearly stated that no free man could|officials. The Magna Carta limited the king’s power and created | | |be prosecuted by any means other than the law of the land. |what we know today as parliament. | | |The Magna Carta had been the very first document which proclaimed personal liberties. The | | | |Magna Carta was forced upon an English Emperor by a team of barons. This had been the first |This was used as...
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...which are Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams and James Madison. Each of these six chapters tells a series of stories that are different but are connected to one another. Ellis wrote this book to let people know how these historically important figures impacted American history in a positive way. He talks about the hardships that they all went through to make what they believed possible. The organization of the book in my opinion...
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