The 2 Faces of Thomas Jefferson

The Two Faces of Thomas Jefferson

*The Revolution of 1800 was when the power of the federalist president, John Adams, was peacefully passed on to the democratic republican, President Thomas Jefferson. During Jefferson’s two terms as president, you can say he developed “two faces” when it came to foreign affairs and domestic policies and actions. One of the foreign affairs he had to face was the undeclared war with the Barbary Pirates. The domestically he dealt with polices and actions such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Marbury vs. Madison case, Kentucky resolutions and the Alien and Sedition Acts.
*The Barbary Pirates were pirates with ships and crews who came from the Barbary Coast, capturing merchant ships and holding their crews for ransom. This provided the rulers of these nations with wealth and power. Many of the countries that the pirates encountered (including Britain) would just paid them off to avoid conflict. When America was still under Britain’s rule they were safe from this problem, but now since they were independent, the pirates expected them to pay. But Jefferson refused to pay the ransom. As a result to this, an undeclared war began, which America won. Therefore the U.S. did not have to pay the pirates any money. This was good on Jefferson’s part because it showed that he could make god decisions for the U.S., and save them money when it came to foreign affairs.
*Even though Jefferson saved money when dealing with the Barbary Pirates, he spent 15 million dollars on the Louisiana Purchase. Making decisions like this was in Jefferson’s nature, being that he was a democratic republican, and they were mainly farmers and common men. Making this purchase added a lot more land to America, which was a good thing. However, when it came to the Non-intercourse Act of 1809, Jefferson contradicted himself. This was when Jefferson said that all trade was okay except trade with Britain and France; yet he bought the Louisiana territory from France.
*Another one of Jefferson’s domestic affairs was the Marbury vs. Madison case. This was the case where William Marbury sued James Madison because he learned that Madison had shelved his commission. John Marshall (Jefferson’s cousin) was the judge for this case. Being torn between supporting a fellow federalist (Marbury) or doing what Jefferson’s followers wanted him to do. Marshall decided to leave it up to the Supreme Court. Marshall’s discussion made Jefferson upset. As a result he tried to have Supreme Court justice, Samuel Chase, impeached. Because Jefferson failed, we now have the separation of powers.
*The last domestic policy was the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Alien and Sedition Acts were four laws passed by the Federalist when John Adams was president. They were designed to protect the U.S. from foreign enemies and to stop seditious attacks from weakening the government. The Democratic republic later said that they were unconstitutional and designed to forcefully end criticism of the administration, and as infringing on the right of the states to act in these areas. They became a major political issue in the elections of 1798 and 1800. One act (the Alien Enemies Act) is still in force in 2007, and has frequently been enforced in wartime. The others expired or were repealed by 1802. Thomas Jefferson held them all to be unconstitutional and void, and ordered the release of all who had been convicted of violating them.
*During Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, he was involved in many foreign affairs such as the Barbary Pirate conflict. He was also involved in domestic polices and actions such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Marbury vs. Madison case, and the Alien and Sedition Acts. Even though, in some cases, it seemed like Jefferson had two different faces, by contradicting himself, he still manged to get the job done.
(This is the one that I would like you to grade. I have already posted another one earlier but my father went over it and told me to make corrections and repost it.)