Jefferson's America

Election of 1800

  • First major election with clearly defined political parties

    • Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans

  • Electors cast two votes for President rather than one of President and one for VP under the constitution

    • Before the 12th amendment

    • Jefferson and Burr tied in the Electoral College (73 votes)

  • Decision went to House, Jefferson won

Why Was the Election Important?

  • First peaceful transfer of power between parties in U.S. history

    • Set a precedent for future elections

  • Marked the decline of the Federalists and rise of Democratic-Republicans

  • Exposed flaws in the original electoral system

    • Led to the 12th amendment to prevent future ties like this

The Jefferson Administration

  • Aimed to reduce the size and power of the federal government

    • Cut military spending and reduced its size

    • Lowered national debt by reducing government expenses

    • Ended unpopular taxes like the whiskey tax

  • Kept the national bank despite opposing it

  • Louisiana Purchase strengthened nationalism + encouraged westward expansion

  • Barbary Wars ~1801-1805: Fought North African pirates attacking U.S. ships

    • Showed Jefferson would use force to protect trade

Louisiana Purchase

  • Spain secretly returned the Louisiana Territory to France under Napoleon Bonaparte ~1800

  • Jefferson worries that French control of New Orleans would threaten American trade on Mississippi River

  • Napoleon offered to sell the entire territory for $15 million

    • Needed money for wars in Europe + was facing rebellion in Haiti

    • $15 million → 3 cents per acre

Did Jefferson Have the Power?

  • Believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution

    • Only power explicitly stated

    • Constitution doesn’t say that the president could buy land, resulting in struggle of whether it was legal

    • Justified Louisiana Purchase as part of the president’s power to make treaties

  • This marked a looser interpretation of the constitution

    • Expanded presidential authority

  • Louisiana Purchase encouraged

    • Westward expansion and exploration

    • Boosted national unity and pride

    • Weakened the Federalist Party

      • Opposed the purchase as unconstitutional + feared it favored rural interests

Lewis & Clark

  • Jefferson ordered for:

    • The new territory to be explored

    • A water route to the Pacific to be found

    • A U.S. presence in the region to be established further west before Europeans could

  • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led about 40 men on the journey from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back

  • Sacagawea served as a guide and translator, helping the group communicate with Native tribes and find food

Marbury vs. Madison

  • John Adams appointed several “midnight judges” to keep Federalist influence in government ~Jefferson’s win in the Election of 1800

    • One was William Marbury and did not receive his commission before Jefferson took office

    • Jefferson’s Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver it

  • Marbury sues, asking the Supreme Court to force Madison to hand over the commission

Judicial Review

  • Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall had to decide if Court could issue such an order

  • Judiciary Act of 1789 gave the Court that power

    • Marshall ruled that part of the Act was unconstitutional

    • Court couldn’t force Madison to deliver the commission as a result

  • Marbury didn’t get his job, but Marshall declared that the Supreme Court has the power of judicial review

    • The authority to declare laws unconstitutional

    • Strengthened federal judiciary → gave them the power to check the powers of Congress and the President

Missouri Compromise

  • Tensions rising between North and South over spread of slavery into new western territories ~1820

  • Missouri’s application for statehood as a slave state threatened to upset balance of power in the Senate

  • Henry Clay proposed Missouri Compromise to resolve it

    • Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state, Maine would enter as a free state, and slavery was banned north of the 36°30 latitude in the rest of the Louisiana Territory

The Panic of 1819

  • The first major economic depression in U.S. history

  • Americans bought land and goods on credit and banks issued easy loans during the post-War of 1812 boom

  • European demand for American goods dropped → prices fell sharply and banks began calling in their loans

    • Many farmers and businesses couldn’t repay their debts, leading to foreclosures, bankruptcies, and widespread unemployment

  • Created widespread suspicion of banks and the national bank