Thomas Jefferson Essay, Research Paper

Essay on Jefferson

Jefferson had destroyed political traditions. From his

contradictions and defecting his priciples, Jefferson

destroyed the political precedent and is a exemplatory hypocrite,

which can be seen throughout his administration.

Jefferson was an admired statesman who was grappling

unsuccessfully with the moral issue of slavery. Thomas Jefferson,

the author of the Declaration of Independence, opposed slavery

his whole life, yet he never freed his own slaves. He championed

Enlightenment principles, yet never freed himself of the

prejudices of his soceity. Jefferson was extremely hypocritical

in the issue of slavery. Jefferson was a plantation owner early

in his life, and had slaves working for him throughout his life.

Jefferson had tolerated while he didn’t accept others who owned

slaves. Jefferson denounced the slave owners, while he was owning

and using slaves. Although Jefferson was supposedly a good slave

owner, his hypocritical nature made him accuse others not to own

slaves while he, himself was owning slaves. Another part of the

hypocrisy was that Jefferson believed that the slaves were

dependent upon the white man, while he, himself was dependent upon

the slaves. Jefferson also was hypocritcal in his acquisition of

the Loisiana territory. In Jeffersonian principles, large expansive

governments were bad, and small was good. This was a antithesis of

that principle. Jefferson knew that the acquisition of the Loisiana

territory was beneficial to the welfare of the U.S. According to

the constitution, nowhere in the constitution is the acquisition of

land a right of the government, Jeffersons’ predisposition was to

strictly go by the constitution (as seen with the national bank

controversy), this is another contradiction during his

administration. Since the appropriation of the Lousiana territory

was important for the expansion of the united states, he

temporarily dismissed his principles, therefore destroying

political traditions.

Another hypocritical event during Jeffersons’ administration

was his acceptance of the National Bank. Early in Jefferson’s

political career, Jefferson had debated with Hamilton on whether to

have the National Bank. “When this government was first

established, it was possible to have kept it going on true

principles, but the contracted, English, half-lettured ideas of

Hamilton destroyed that hope in the bud, We can pay off his debts

in 15 years.” Early in Jefferson’s Administration, Jefferson had

denounced the National Bank. At the end of his administration,

Jefferson realized that the National Bank was important and this is

hypocritical by disregarding his principles.

The Burr conspiracy depicted Jefferson as a ruthless, and a

individual who will do anything inorder to achieve his goal.

Jefferson championed civil liberties and unalienable rights. Yet,

Jefferson violated civil liberties by coercing witnesses, arrested

with out habeus corpus and prosecuting in a “court” of his own.

Jefferson and Jeffersonians are hypocrites from the start and they

destroyed political tradition as seen during Jeffersons’

administration.

Jeffersonians show an immense amount of hypocritism in their

policies. For example, Federalists had supported high tarriffs,

inorder to protect national manufacturers and american industry.

The tarriffs were a vital determinent, which kept the economy of

the United States viable. The Jeffersonians, not the Federalists

began the American system of protecting american industry which

initially was a major constituent of the federalist platform.