Jefferson Pres.

Name __________________________________________
Period _________
The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson

Instructions: Read the summary of Jeffersons presidency and follow the prompts in the margins.
The presidential election of 1800 produced two significant results. Because of confusion over the elections results, the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution changed the manner in which presidents would be elected. When the eventual winner of the election took office in 1801, the United States experienced the first shift in power from one party to the other when the Federalist John Adams yielded to the Republican Thomas Jefferson.
1. Underline the two effects of the election of 1800. 2. Summarize the effect of Jeffersons changes on the government.
Thomas Jefferson made several changes to the government upon taking office. The Sedition Act was allowed to expire, and President Jefferson pardoned all of those who had been convicted under this law. The Naturalization Act imposed by the __________________ Federalists was repealed, as was the excise tax that had touched off the Whiskey Rebellion. Jefferson also shrunk the size of the army and navy and reduced the number __________________ of government officials. The new president simplified the presidency itself by making __________________ it less formal in terms of the clothing he wore and the types of dinners that he hosted. Though Jeffersons approach to simplifying the government derived from his belief that the Constitution strictly limited the governments powers, the greatest accomplishment of his presidency resulted from him ignoring his own reasoning on the subject. Jefferson had hoped to acquire the port city of New Orleans that Spain had recently transferred to France. The French offered the United States much more. A successful slave revolt against the French in the modern-day country of Haiti had made land in North America much less important to France. Consequently, the French offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. Jefferson feared that this might be unconstitutional since the Constitution did not explicitly state that the government could buy land. Despite the substantial opposition from many Americans, Jefferson authorized the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the United States doubled in size.
__________________ __________________ __________________
3. Underline the reason why Jefferson was reluctant to approve of the Louisiana Purchase.
U.S. Territory in 1783
Louisiana Purchase

During much of his presidency, Jefferson faced challenges in foreign affairs. The United States had been troubled by the Barbary pirates of North Africa since 1785. Over the years, they had enslaved over one hundred Americans and demanded bribes and ransom. In 1801 the leader of one of the Barbary states, the Bashaw of Tripoli, demanded an exceptionally large bribe that Jefferson refused to pay. Instead, the president enlarged the U.S. Navy and sent it to North Africa to protect American ships. By 1803, the Tripolitans had attacked an American ship. The U.S. Navy bombarded Tripoli before a group of soldiers and U.S. Marines forced the Bashaw from power. For the rst time, the United States won a war on foreign soil.
Jeffersons problems with Britain and France overshadowed issues with the Barbary pirates and the Tripolitan War. The two European powers were at war once again. The British navy blockaded France and began seizing American ships that were trying to trade with the French. The British also continued the impressment of American sailors that had gone on since the 1790s. After the British ship the Leopard attacked the American ship the Chesapeake, Jefferson tried to put economic pressure on the French and the British to get them to recognize American neutrality. The Embargo Act of 1807 forbid Americans from trading with any foreign country. Rather than changing British or French policy towards the United States, the embargo only hurt American business. Shortly before Jefferson left the presidency, the embargo was replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 which allowed Americans to do business with all foreign countries except for France and Britain. The law allowed for the president to unblock trade with either country if its navy stopped attacking American ships. Jeffersons diplomatic troubles with France and Britain allowed the rival Federalists to begin to regain some strength in the election of 1808.
6. How did the laws circled above affect the United States?
4. What was the signicance of the Tripolitan War? _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________
5. Circle the two laws that Jefferson supported to deal with Britain and France.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Compare Jeffersons goals for the government of the United States as summarized in #2 to his actions in regards to the Louisiana Purchase, the Tripolitan War, and the problems with Britain and France. _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
A political cartoon showing merchants dodging the "Ograbme," which is 'Embargo' spelled backwards. The embargo was also ridiculed in the New England press as Dambargo, Mob-Rage, or Go-bar-'em.

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Jefferson Pres.

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Name __________________________________________

The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson

U.S. Territory in 1783

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