“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson
Photo Courtesy Of Library Of Congress
We always hear about Thomas Jefferson in our history classes, as one of the most influential American politicians at the time of the nation’s birth. Though, we don’t always take the time to understand why this is the case. Looking at what he accomplished as president and politician seems mind boggling. In my blog, I will discuss Thomas Jefferson’s major accomplishments, his leadership lessons, and criticisms of his actions.
Before engaging the thesis, I want to discuss Jefferson’s background, before the late 1770’s. The reason being that his major accomplishments come during and after this time period. It is important to discover what his actions were at this early stage in his life, to understand how he came to be one of the most influential men in American history. The following information is taken from Jon Meacham’s Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. First off, Jefferson was born and raised in Virgina, to wealthy parents. His father owned a large plantation and, thus, was able to afford a great education for his son, that which many others could not afford. Jefferson went to the College of William and Mary. Two classes he took, which are important to note, were: literature and philosophy. After studying law, Jefferson, then, was admitted to the Virgina bar. He was a skilled lawyer and, afterwards, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1774, he wrote the”Summary View of the Rights of British America.” The Summary View opposed all the oppressive taxes and other acts Britain imposed on the 13 Colonies.
Major Accomplishments:
1. Human Right’s Advocate
Thomas Jefferson must be considered a champion of human rights. He believed that all men deserved these necessary human guarantees. He took this idea and influenced those of his generation and future generations, including ours, to make it a reality. This great amount of influence can be considered one of Thomas Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment.
One way, in which he influenced so many people, is through his writing of the Declaration of Independence. Now, before going further it is important to mention why he wrote the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration in order to inform the Brittish Monarchy that the 13 Colonies will no longer be under it’s rule. This is consistent with the idea of “a government needing the consent of the people.” The reason Jefferson, among many others, wanted independence is because the monarcy was becoming too oppressive. For instance, the Tea Act, set a tax on tea. Within it, he including words, such as: equality among all men. Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation can be traced back to these words. In “Jeffersonian Democracy and the Origins of Political Antislavery in the United States: The Missouri Crisis Revisited,” Sean Wilentz writes, “They believed that the institution was an affront to God, democracy, equality, and human progress- “the definitions and axioms of free society” that Lincoln traced back to Thomas Jefferson.” At this time, it is important to note that Thomas Jefferson wanted to go past these axioms. He wanted to write within the Declaration, that the slave trade was extremely immoral. Though, on page 105 of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Jon Meacham writes, “The denunciation of slavery was also eliminated.”
Thomas Jefferson demonstrated his abhorrence to slavery in other instances. Meacham writes about this on page 124 of his biography on Jefferson. For instance, he wanted to pass an amendment that would emancipate slaves born after a specified day and then deport them out of the country after an appropriate age. Jefferson wrote that, ““Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people are to be free.”” The problem is that he was not born in the right time period to free slaves.
Clearly, Thomas Jefferson failed in ending the institution of slavery, though, he did not fail in influencing a future generation to do so. First, this can be seen within his 1st presidential inaugural address. He said, “that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” It was always common for Jefferson to mention this and other inalienable rights. For instance, I have always learned in previous history classes that he greatly supported a Federal Bill of Rights. This is one of the reasons why he was a popular Anti-Federalist. It is also extremely important to realize that Jeffersonian Democrats, or politicians who attained Jefferson’s political outlook, fought for necessities that allowed Lincoln to emancipate slaves. For instance, Wilentz writes, “The founding fathers had excluded the words “slave” and “slavery” from the Constitution,” and ““by allowing for the abolition of the foreign slave trade and by prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory under the Northwest Ordinance.””
Map Courtesy Of Wikimedia
2. Louisiana Purchase
Another major accomplishment of Thomas Jefferson’s would have to be the Louisiana Purchase. This piece of land took up a large chunk of America, as can be seen from the map on the right. It’s incredible to imagine: how could a president hold so much power? This topic seems extremely interesting to me. It becomes more interesting, knowing that such power was completely against everything he stood for. In, “When the ends justify the means: Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase,” Barry J. Balleck writes, “Many critics have seen Jefferson’s purchase of Louisiana as a “sell out” of his most cherished political principles-state’ rights and strict constructionism.” State Constructionism is following the Constitution with great scrutiny. This basically means that he was against a big federal government. However, by buying the land, he clearly increased what the federal government was allowed to do. The Constitution clearly does not give a president this power. Nevertheless, he accomplished a great feat and had good reasons for going against his principles, which will be mentioned later on in this blog. For now, I want to focus on what Jefferson said about the Louisiana Purchase in his 2nd Inaugural Address.
“I have said, fellow-citizens, that the income reserved had enabled us to extend our limits, but that extension may possibly pay for itself before we are called on, and in the meantime may keep down the accruing interest; in all events, it will replace the advances we shall have made. I know that the acquisition of Louisiana had been disapproved by some from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union. But who can limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate effectively? The larger our association the less will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view is it not better that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children than by strangers of another family? With which should we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly intercourse?”
I quoted this paragraph straight out of his address for two significant reasons. First, it illistrates the importance of Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana territory at that time. Second, it will help me later on explain why he abandoned his most basic principles of state’ rights and strict constructionism for the large piece of land. He lists a couple of important reasons why the Louisiana Purchase is more of a positive than a negative. First, he mentions that a larger America will ensure that “local passions” will have a less of an effect on the country as a whole. What he is refering to are factions. Factions are made up of people with a shared strong desire. I’ve learned from previous history classes that people of his time period feared factions. The reason being that if one faction took over, many non-members would suffer. For instance, if a farming faction desired more income for crops, non-farmers would suffer. Second, he argues that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by Americans. He is, basically, saying that the Louisiana territory gave the Union important land that should be a part of the Union, since it is within the Union. This included the opposite bank of the Mississippi.
Photo Courtesy Of Wikimedia
3. University Of Virginia
What most people don’t know, is that Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia. The university opened in 1825 and was one of Thomas Jefferson’s favorite accomplishments. In,”Mr. Jefferson’s University: Women in the Village!.(Thomas Jefferson),” Phyllis Leffler writes, ““And it was one of three accomplishments for which he wished to be remembered on his tombstone.”” The fact that he became the father of his own university is extremely significant. It makes him a strong advocate of education. In his second inaugural address, he actually mentions education as a necessity.
Leadership Lessons:
1. One leadership lesson Thomas Jefferson greatly demonstrates, is that some actions you carry out can contradict others. This goes back to his decision to purchase the Louisiana territory. Why would he carry out this action when it goes against his main principles of state’s rights and strict constructionism. Jefferson briefly explains his reasons in his second inaugural address, which I quoted above. Though, there are greater reasons for why he bought the Louisiana territory. Balleck greatly explains this in When the ends justify the means: Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase. He does this by first explaining why state’s rights and strict constructionism was so important to Jefferson. Well, it kept a big federal government from forming and, thus, kept America a Republic. Balleck writes, “If at a certain time an unprecedented opportunity to extend the period of Republican stability presented itself- and could only be grasped by moving temporarily away from the generally appropriate means for protecting Republicanism- one would necessarily have to seize the opportunity.” He then writes that, “At the core of Republicanism stood two fundamental pillars: individualism and an agrarian way of life.” The two keep a big federal government from forming and, thus, the Republic from disforming. The two are interlocked. Individualism will do this by making it so that people don’t overly depend on the government. By buying so much land for people to work on or live an agrarian way of life, individualism will sustain. Individualism will all sustain through jobs, such as: carpenters and other hard laborers. An agrarian way of life will also have other great products, such as: freedom of manipulation by higher class citizens in cities, a prosperous industry, and freedom of population pressure. Population Pressure is when there are too many mouths to feed in the country; poverty results from this problem. There will be food to feed everyone and everyone will be happy. This whole idea of contradiction goes back to the theme of Nelson Mandela and critical reflection. Depending on the situation, different actions must be carried out to achieve the ultimate goal. In this case, it was to sustain Republicanism.
2. A second leadership lesson Thomas Jefferson greatly demonstrates, is that a leader can’t achieve everything he wants to. For instance, he could not end slavery. Too many people supported the institution, which made the feat, at that time, impossible. These people included southerners, who needed slaves to work on their farms. The skill to learn in this instance is collective leadership. One must learn to lead with the help of others. Even though he knew slavery was evil, he couldn’t fix the problem.
Criticisms:
1. Thomas Jefferson may have supported ending slavery, but, afterwards, he wanted to deport free blacks out of the country. He could not imagine living with them. The following quote is the continuation of another presented in the third paragraph of Jefferson’s 1st major accomplishment, on page 124 on Meacham’s book. Jefferson wote, “”nor it is less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, hait, opinion have drawn indelible lines of distinction between them.”‘ This quote illustrates Jefferson’s prejudice against African-Americans and even though it is less than others, still, it is unethical.
2. Thomas Jefferson not only had prejudice against African-Americans. He owned slaves. This is not only extremely unethical, but hypocritical of him. He supports ending slavery, but owns his own slaves.
3. He was prejudice against women within the university he founded. For instance, he only offered them classes that society saw fit for women, such as cooking. This is greatly detailed in Phyllis Leffler’s article.
Relevance To:
1. Author
I’ve always been interested in this concept of equality. Even though it does not exist, equality can still be seen before the law. Thomas Jefferson was a strong supporter of allowing all people: the common man, the wealthy, and even slaves to be treated equally. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, fought for a U.S. Bill of Rights, and advocated for an amendment to end slavery. The amendment, even though not passed, was fulfilled through the Emancipation Proclimation. All of these documents I appreciate, and can thank for the equality I, as well as, my peers enjoy today.
2. The American Dream
Without Thomas Jefferson to strengthen the foundation of human rights, such as the equality among all men, it is likely that to this day black Americans would not be able to achieve the American Dream. However, surely they are able to. The best example would be President Obama. He is the first black president and there are surely more to come.
Bigliography:
Balleck, Barry, “When the Ends Justify the Means: Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase”
Presidential Studies Quarterly , Vol. 22, No. 4, America’s Bill of Rights (Fall, 1992), 679-696.
Leffler, Phyllis K. “Mr. Jefferson’s University: Women in the Village!,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 115, No. 1 (2007), 56-107.
Meacham, Jon. Thomas Jefferson: the art of power. New York: Random House, 2012.