Thomas Jefferson - Architect of America Documentary

it is a 4th of July 1776 the Second Continental Congress meets at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to ratify the 13 colonies declaration of independence from Great Britain by signing one of the most important documents in history of the Western world composed by one of the founding fathers of the United States Thomas Jefferson in words which will echo through history we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness [Music] the man known to history as Thomas Jefferson was born on the 13th of April 17 43 in Shadwell Virginia close to present-day Charlottesville his mother Jane Randolph Jefferson was born in Shakespeare Walk Shadwell London into a wealthy family who were also prominent figures in the United States owning and operating a plantation in the state of Virginia whilst Thomas's father was Peter Jefferson who was a leading surveyor and cartographer and was born in present-day Chesterfield County also in Virginia Jefferson's family moved to the Tucker plantation near Richmond when he was very young where his formative years in education were spent in private tuition but upon moving back to Shadwell Virginia in 1752 he was taught at a Presbyterian school when he began learning Latin Greek and French from the age of nine Thomas's later ideas and observations were shaped over a long period of time through his endless pursuit of knowledge and from an early age Jefferson's intellect was apparent culminating in his family arranging for him to be mentored by James Maury a well respected Anglican minister who taught Jefferson's science history and classical philosophy amongst other subjects Thomas was the oldest surviving son of Jane and Peter Jefferson who also had six daughters but when Thomas was only 14 years old his father died leaving his Monticello plantation to him and his brother Randolph but as he was still an adolescent Jefferson was placed under the guardianship of his close family friends who ran his estate as Thomas prepared to go to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg Virginia in 1760 whilst at college Jefferson was a dust rias figure than was known for studying up to 15 hours per day but he was also a practicing musician who spent his evenings playing violin whilst during the day he studied science and mathematics as well as classical languages eventually becoming a close follower of Professor William small who was well versed in the Scottish enlightenment and after two years study Jefferson graduated in 1762 following his time at college Jefferson then studied under the classical scholar and Virginian Judge George wife America's first professor of law who later attended the Philadelphia Convention and the Continental Congress and was also a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and was in large part responsible for inspiring Jefferson's lifelong hobby of book collecting around this time that would see him a mass a collection of over 6,000 volumes by the time his death despite excelling in his education Jefferson's formative years as with most Americans of his generation was shanked by the colonial revolt against the British that had begun as early as 1765 in which the 13 colonies attempted to secure independence from George in Britain there later resulted in the American Revolutionary War a number of years later in which Jefferson would champion his libertarian values in defiance of what he and his compatriots saw as the British crown increasingly authoritative and punitive rule after studying law Jefferson returned to Shadwell and became an attorney in 1767 during the Virginia Bar and in 1768 he was elected to join the legislative branch of state government at the age of 25 in the Virginian House of Burgesses where he remained until his departure in 1775 and whilst there the young Jefferson aligned himself with like-minded figures such as George Washington and Patrick Henry who were democratic Republicans and considered radical by many at the time during his time at the House of Burgesses Jefferson co-sponsored a bill in 1769 which would allow slave owners the power to emancipate slaves under voluntary circumstances however this proposal proved ultimately to be unpopular within the Virginia's state's legislative body resulting in Thomas's proposals being unceremoniously defeated largely because many of the state's plantation owners incomes were dependent on slave labor therefore any relaxation of state law pertaining to the emancipation of slaves was seen as the thin end of the wedge during Jefferson's time as a lawyer in the General Court of Virginia he represented indentured servant Samuel Howell in the case of Hal vs. Netherland during which he argued for the civil status of a slave who was born as a grandchild of a white woman arguing that all men were born free yet his attempts were rejected once more and the Virginia courts ruled in favor of Netherland which further demonstrates the lack of libertarian sentiment amongst the colonial land owning classes at the time on the 1st of January 1772 Jefferson married the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner Martha Wales Skelton who would nine months later give birth to the first of their six children together nonetheless Thomas and Martha's Union would ultimately only last decade as she died in 1782 meaning that the following year when Martha's father john skelton also passed away thomas inherited over five thousand acres of land as well as a hundred slaves along with considerable debts it is evident that Jefferson even though he was young was certainly a man of considerable intellect and he was first widely recognized as such particularly amongst those who harbored anti-british feeling when in 1774 he published a summary view of the rights of British America that outlined the case for American sovereignty by criticizing Britain's rights to exercise power over the thirteen colonies in this piece Jefferson argued that as the American colonies were situated outside Britain where feudal law did not apply to land ownership rights the British crown lawfully held only allodial titles over foreign lands essentially meaning that the British monarchy and therefore its parliament had limited legal authority in America and in the eyes of Jefferson and his peers could not levy taxes at will across the thirteen colonies in turn restricting a British monarch King George the third and his government who could only collect rents or fees on American products although the struggle for American independence is often portrayed as the fight for liberty of the oppressed Colonials against the tyranny of the British crown and it's incumbent King George the third in reality the British monarch was nothing more than a figurehead by this time as by the 18th century power in Britain lay firmly in the hands at the country's Parliament which was by and large controlled by the landowning classes meaning that essentially the tyranny that is often spoken of in regard to the battle for American independence referred to the British Parliament and the wealthiest colonial landowners arguing over taxation indeed the most famous and perhaps strongest argument that the colonial revolutionaries levied against the British Parliament was that it had no right to tax the 13 colonies without allowing said colonies to be represented in England so that they could vote on any acts that affected them and despite the fact that the 13 colonies were relatively lightly taxed in comparison with the British population it was the concept of taxation without representation that was the cause of the anti-british sentiment across the colonies of the new world that combined with the British Parliament reluctance to grant representation ultimately led to the outbreak of war the roots of American independence can arguably be found as early as the French and Indian War of 1754 to 1763 which essentially was the North American theatre of global conflict between Britain and France in which the two imperial powers fought one another with both their own military units as well as Indian allies for supremacy over North America from which the British eventually emerged victorious in large part due to the massive resources and population of the North American colonies that de Wharf the French colonial territories in terms of population and therefore manpower despite winning this war and securing their North American Empire the British nonetheless incurred massive debts due to the worldwide war effort which its parliament sought to pay off by means of taxation both in Britain and its overseas colonies including America the trouble being that as the population and wealth of the thirteen colonies which by then totaled around 2 million people in the 1750s was starting to rival Britain it was perhaps inevitable that the more affluent members of the American landowning classes saw themselves as equals of the British in every respect and so demanded a greater degree of representation and rights than mere colonial subjects in addition to the increasing numbers of taxes that were being passed over the thirteen colonies the British Parliament in order to give his merchants an advantage also banned colonists from trading with other nations leading some to oppose British rule in favor of free trade and form strategic alliances with other nations this situation was then compounded by further acts such as the sugar and currency Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 that were designed to both collect revenue from the thirteen colonies but also hinder American trade as Britain's most profitable trade routes at this time were to and from the Caribbean islands which he wanted to protect from colonial competition the British Army also came under close scrutiny when relations between the old world and the new came under strain in the aftermath of the boston massacre of 1770 in which british soldiers shot and killed by rioting protestors which led to widespread resentment amongst american patriots particularly in massachusetts where the war would begin whilst in addition immediately preceding hostilities taxation changes to mercantile trade such as the Townshend Acts established in 1767 and 1768 strongly favored British merchants such as the East India Company and penalized colonial merchants further bill such the Tea Act of 1773 that forced colonists owned by tea from England escalated issues and subsequently resulted in resistance by the Sons of Liberty who partook in the infamous Boston Tea Party in December of that year during which colonial Goods were destroyed by protesters wearing Mohawk Indian dress provoking the Parliament of Great Britain to retaliate with reactionary measures such as the now infamous Intolerable Acts for 1774 which were punitive measures set by the British designed to penalize the Massachusetts economy and unruly population the Intolerable Acts that the British imposed at this time included the Boston port act which halted maritime trade to and from the city until reparations were paid for the goods destroyed during the tea whilst the Massachusetts Government Act revoked the right of self-determination as officials were appointed by the British and civil meetings were restricted to one per year with additional meetings going ahead only with the approval of the royal governor next can the administration of justice Act which meant that Massachusetts could no longer hold public trials of officials by jury and was effectively stripped of the ability to enforce the rule of law over corrupt officials which was not met with acceptance from the colonialists and was considered to provide too much protection to British officials resulting in it being known locally as the murder act because of the laws propensity to shield corrupt or criminal officials one of the more intrusive of the Intolerable Acts the British introduced was the quartering act which meant that the colonialist were compelled to provide shelter and food to British soldiers while a fifth bill the Quebec Act was introduced extending the British Canadian territory into the Ohio region infringing on American land that was also feud unfavorably and although these bills brought in by the British to quell colonial dissent in reality they have the opposite effect of solidifying anti British feeling and he also had the effect of cementing great ties between the thirteen states whose representatives increasingly spoke with one voice in regard to perceived British transgressions following the Intolerable Acts the aggrieved colonies convened in the First Continental Congress from September to October in 1774 to address the fading relationship between the British government and its American colonies in which 12 representatives of the colonies with the exception of New York which abstained took the decision to petition the British crown to repeal the Intolerable Acts as well as the blockade of Boston Harbor was at the same time the decision was taken to boycott British trade in response tensions then finally boiled over on the 19th of April 1775 in the battles of Lexington and Concord when fighting broke out between colonial militia and British troops northwest of Boston and now seeing Britain as a hostile power the Second Continental Congress was called on the 10th of May 1775 culminating on the 4th of July 1776 in the thirteen colonies ratifying the declaration of independence from Great Britain no doubt due to his contribution to justifying the case for independence on March the 27th 1775 Jefferson became the youngest-ever delegate of Virginia when he was elected to the Second Continental Congress replacing the former president of Congress Payton Randolph he also continued working in the House of Burgesses where he stayed until June of that year when he left for political Duty in Philadelphia and during this time Jefferson wrote a declaration of the causes and necessity for taking up arms which addressed and improved on the arguments he had made in his 1774 work a summary view of rights of British America this further work was published on the 23rd of June 1775 and it set out to explain the justification for American patriots taking up arms against the British in the American Revolutionary War which was not to separate from their alliance with Britain but to protect themselves from unwarranted aggression and thus not for glory nor conquest although Thomas Jefferson was still only 33 years of age in 1776 he was nonetheless present at the Second Continental Congress as he was held in Virginia which effectively marked the beginning of his political career as his publications stating the legal case for independence in 1774 had made him a well-known figure by this time whilst at the Continental Congress Jefferson was instrumental in the drafting of the Virginian Constitution in June of 1776 whilst his statement that all men are created equal was included in the introduction to the Declaration of Independence and is regarded by many to be the most famous phrase in American history and it is said that Jefferson working as part of the draft committee beside John Adams and Benjamin Franklin even drafted up to 95 percent of the final document which given his youth is nothing short of remarkable after ratification the Declaration was distributed throughout the colonies and Europe and it stated that in the name of the decent respect of opinion of those under the laws of nature that the United States of America declares itself independent of Great Britain and states the reason for their actions as bestowed upon them by nature's God whilst another of the most famous statements contained within the declaration is that people are born endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights which are the rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness further proposing that the sole purpose of government is to protect the rights of the people amongst the reasons for choosing independence the United States claimed that Britain had refused the assent of law and in doing so had denied protections deemed necessary for the good of the public and failed to accommodate Americans unless they quote relinquish the right of representation which was an act that was deemed as tyrannical as the well of the people was ignored whilst furthermore Britain was accused of appropriating lands and using compulsion through law in order to achieve compliance henceforth stripping the colonists of legislative powers whilst exposing them to threats of invasion and holding standing armies without the consent of the governed as the Declaration was unsighted historians have commented extensively on the origin of the philosophies and doctrines that influence the content of the Declaration and research on the origins of Jefferson's ideas has been of interest to many and although the reasons for declaring sovereignty were clearly detailed at the time the Declaration of Independence the influences behind this document can be found in many historical papers preceding 1774 which again gives testament to not only Jefferson's cognitive ability but also how well-read and informed he was even at a relatively young age many of Jefferson's writings are reminiscent of customs established in English common law such as the Magna Carta of 1215 which forced King John by law to seek the approval of the English aristocracy to raise taxes for the purpose of war and prevented him from doing so without the consent of English barons was furthermore some have argued that his work was also modeled on the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 in which the Scottish crown wrote to pope john xxii stating that the people of Scotland may only be governed by the will of the people alone and not by one supposedly appointed by God opposing the custom of absolute rule in kingship in favor of prototypical democracy additionally the English Declaration of Rights of 1689 also discusses the rights of the people in establishing customs regarding the rule of governance and the absolute rule of monarchy sharing the sentiment of governance by consent to the people freedom from taxation and the freedom to bear arms for self-defence which is inextricably linked to the latest Second Amendment to the US Constitution and the right to bear arms which became one of the pillars of American civil society and in essence speaks of the right to revolution against tyranny as championed by one of Jefferson's favorite writers and philosophers John Locke in his theory of Rights Locke suggested that everyone had the right to defend their life health liberty and property and his writings are an explanation of the reason behind the Glorious Revolution supporting the rule of central government in defining people's rights in relation to civil liberties in opposition to the rule of absolute monarchy which almost certainly further influenced the American patriots views on the unfair and unjust tyranny of Georgia third of England and his government as because the civil liberties of the people were violated this justified the uprising of the colonies against the British Locke was also a firm believer the government should be formed to protect the rights of people which was a sentiment that Jefferson shared and Locke also stated in the interest of citizens that they have the natural right to replace government which is an idea that is also stated in the Declaration of Independence as it states that Americans should have the rights to alter or abolish a government that infringes on life liberty and the pursuit of happiness in September of 1776 Jefferson returned to Virginia leaving Congress to take up his position in the Virginia House of Delegates where he began the task of reforming the Virginian legal code whilst a year later in 1777 Jefferson also proposed the Virginia statute of religious freedom which is a document based on the English tradition of separation of church and state effectively removing the Episcopalian Church as the official religion of the Virginian state but despite his efforts the bill was not accepted until much later when he was acting as minister to France in January of 1786 this separation of church and state also form the foundation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution in December of 1791 that guarantees individual rights such as freedom of expression the right to petition the right to public assembly as well as the right to religious freedom of choice which essentially prohibited Congress or federal government from promoting one religion over another on the 1st of June 1779 the 36 year old Jefferson was selected by the General Assembly to be the governor of Virginia succeeding the long serving Governor Patrick Henry he gained victory over two ballots competing with both John page and Thomas Nelson and after this he was also reelected in 1780 completing his term on the 4th of June 1781 during this phase of the war Jefferson and his family moved to Shaco Hill in the spring of 1780 also moved the governor's palace from Williamsburg to Richmond has attacked coal move to avoid incoming attacks by enemies such as the southern Indians and the British Army under general Benedict Arnold via Chesapeake Bay who aided by the Royal Navy had already gained control over Georgia and South Carolina and was moving into North Virginia culminating in 1781 in British troops occupying and burning Richmond to the ground before a treating during this crisis Jefferson escaped Richmond just ahead of the British forces or Shawnee after he narrowly avoided capture by a cavalry force sent to apprehend him by the British General Charles Cornwallis but his flight in the face of the enemy meant that when the General Assembly reconvened in June 1781 he conducted an inquiry into Jefferson's actions which eventually concluded that he'd acted with honor although despite this he was not elected as governor although the colonial situation had seemed to be dire in early 1781 the tables were finally turned on the British later that year when the French Navy defeated the Royal Navy and the Battle of Chesapeake cutting off Cornwallis's supply lines from the main British base in New York meaning that he was soon forced to surrender and Battle of Yorktown in October of 1781 effectively signaling the end of British resistance in the southern states until eventually when the British realized that the maintaining a war footing across the Atlantic was impossible the Revolutionary War finally came to an end with the Treaty of Paris on the 3rd of September 1783 which effectively sealed sign and delivered American independence all those many in the new world including Jefferson no doubt celebrated the colonial victory over what was then the most powerful empire in the world jubilation did not last for long as less than a year later his wife Martha passed away of apoplexy on the 6th of September 1782 shortly after the birth of their sixth child and devastated Jefferson sought solace in friends most notably the Marquis de Shasta Lou and various accounts state that during her decline and death Thomas was inconsolable and after she passed away aged just 33 he had the epitaph torn from him by death inscribed on her tombstone despite this loss from 1783 to 1784 Jefferson became delegate to the newly formed Congress of the Confederation for Virginia marking the beginning of the Confederate years of American political history and it was at this time that he compiled a plan of governance for the newly created westernmost states that came about as a consequence of the land ordinance of 1785 in which Virginia handed over to the national government the vast area that he claims northwest of the Ohio River Jefferson argued that this territory should not be consumed by the older thirteen states but instead should become nine new separate states in their own right and furthermore the slavery should be banned within their borders however once again objections were raised in Congress and the ban on slavery known as the Jefferson proviso was withdrawn from the proposals although three years later in the so called Northwest Ordinance of 1787 slavery was finally banned which was eventually over the coming decades all doubt across the majority of the northern states of the Union forming the dividing line that would in large part bring the slave-owning southern states into conflict with the north over the coming century the primary reasons for the southern states rejecting the abolition of slavery was down to the fact as previously mentioned that their economies by and large relied on slave labor for the air income far more than the northern most states whose wealth increasingly came from foreign trade and industry as the 18th century gave way to the 19th the modern populist and wealthy northern states would far outshine the relatively old fashioned economies of the south in turn meaning that when the American Civil War erupted in 1861 the South's relatively small economy and population was eventually overwhelmed by the industry and manpower of the north throughout 1784 Thomas Jefferson lobbied Congress for changes to the monetary coinage replacing sterling as currency in favor of the Spanish dollar decimal system but this was like many of his proposals up until now rejected nonetheless Jefferson was soon chosen to join Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in Paris as Minister Plenipotentiary meaning an official fully authorized to represent a government he was appointed to succeed Benjamin Franklin as minister to France but when he was quizzed about the appointment by the French Foreign Minister the can't de Varenne who commented you replace monsieur franklin i here jefferson replied quote i succeed no man can replace him the reason for the American delegation being in France was not simply due to the kingdom's assistance against the British in the Revolutionary War but was also to to the United States seeking to forge economic ties with a plethora of European nations including the Dutch who Thomas along with John Adams secured loans from in order to consolidate America's debts there were in large part due to having to pay for French military assistance against the British whilst it is also said that during this time in France Jefferson fell in love with an Italian English woman named Maria Cosway however his relationship with her did not last as she returned home to Britain as did Jefferson to America in 1789 just as France was engulfed by the chaos of his revolution in the months before Jefferson's return the United States Constitution was ratified in 1788 guaranteeing civil freedoms for Americans and also establishing civil government the wording of which was partly influenced by Jefferson's recent publications and after returning home Thomas was rewarded for his efforts as he was installed as the first United States Secretary of State by the new President George Washington who had come out of retirement to lead his nation largely due to the fact that he was politically neutral and had the admiration and support of virtually all Americans it was in or around this phase in Jefferson's life that he began a relationship with a living slave named Sally Hemings who he may have had six children with although she would later die years after Jefferson and would remain a slave throughout his relationship with her and furthermore it is this supposed relationship with one of his slaves as well as Jefferson's keeping of slaves that have caused some to criticize him as on the other hand he claimed to be against slavery yet he owned slaves himself although some suggest he kept slaves as he knew they would be treated well under his ownership whilst others say that he kept slaves due to him being in debt but then again as the earning of slaves was banned in many states at this time it could also be argued that Jefferson owning them at all was hypocritical and unnecessary it was also during this period that the American Bill of Rights of 1791 was ratified which included Jeffersons Virginia statute of religious freedoms and also consisted of amendments to the American Constitution restricting central or federal government influence of civil freedom and autonomy of the Union states and it was during this period that Jefferson also worked alongside the secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton Secretary of War Henry Knox and Attorney General Edmund Randolph whose powers were limited under the Bill of Rights which stated that all powers not referred to in the US Constitution would remain in the hands of individual states and not the federal government during Jefferson's time as Secretary of State the first issue of the National Gazette was published in October 1791 by Philip Freneau he was a supporter of Jefferson's politics and represented those who advocated the views behind his political philosophy however certain quarters of the American cabinet were not so keen on Thomas's ideas as in 1792 Jeff Alexander Hamilton came to a disagreement concerning Treasury Affairs which was mitigated by Washington who wrote to both parties pleading for the reconciliation of both men who had disagreed over Hamilton's handling of the Treasury marking the start of a political rivalry between the two a large part of the reason the politically impartial Washington had been elevated to the position of President was that the founding fathers had formed two political factions in the aftermath of the American Revolution those being the Federalists such as Hamilton who advocated the centralization of power and a democratic Republicans like Jefferson who argued for greater control in the form of laws or constitutional amendments on the power of central government arguing for civil liberties and a degree of state independence these differing philosophy soon came to a head when the Republican Jefferson disagreed with the Federalists Hamilton about the creation of a National Bank as Hamilton wants to establish a National Bank which would take control of state debt in loans while Jefferson was strongly opposed to the measure and wanted the states of which the new nation was comprised to retain fiscal independence from central or federal government nonetheless Jefferson eventually agreed to the bank's creation on condition that the nation's capital was moved to Georgetown in 1790 which was in turn renamed in George Washington's honor in 1791 and is today known as Washington DC despite this compromise there were still concerns amongst the Republicans that the federalization of their new nation would mean the centralizing of power meaning that many such as Jefferson feared that this would trample on the freedoms of the various states as well as individuals and so finally in December of 1791 the first amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified which along with the Bill of Rights was designed to protect freedom of religion press and speech to name but a few and address the concerns of the anti-federalists such as Jefferson who feared that the centralization of power would one day lead to the kind of unaccountable tyranny the thirteen colonies had fought so hard to escape from the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights are still regarded by many as being amongst the most important documents in the history of the english-speaking world as they enshrined civil liberties into the American Constitution and are along with the Magna Carta and English common law the foundations of American democracy although unlike Britain the rights of freedom of speech thought and religion as well as the right to bear arms are enshrined within the US Constitution and having large part thanks to Jefferson guaranteed the rights and freedoms of the American people to this day during this time whilst Thomas was in Washington's cabinet the French Revolution was in full swing in which many of Jefferson's old French acquaintances have been beheaded as the Marquis de Lafayette who had commanded the allied French troops during the American Revolutionary War was imprisoned for five years much to Jefferson's anger however despite the loss of life Jefferson reportedly said that the lives of the innocent were a small price to pay for the civil liberties that the French would experience following the conflict stating that despite the bloodshed quote to back away from France would be to undermine the cause of republicanism in America Thomas Jefferson remained secretary of state of the United States until the 31st of December 1793 during which time he initially returned to Philadelphia where yellow fever was raging throughout the city after which he returned to his estate at Monticello meaning little mountain in Italian to work on his farm improving the soil that due to years of tobacco production had been depleted of nutrition and during this time he borrowed money from William short to continue working on his agricultural innovations establishing a sawmill and commissioning his slaves to work on the production of nails that helped him to pay off his debts after declining to run for a third term as president George Washington announced his intention to step down in 1796 meaning that the long-delayed power struggle for control of Congress between the Republicans and the Federalists began in earnest resulting in the Republican Jefferson running against his former friend and Federalist John Adams for the presidency and although Adams emerged victorious Jefferson was elected and installed his vice president instead on the 4th of March 1797 during Jefferson's vice presidency Congress had passed a series of bills proposed by the Federalist Party known as the Alien and Sedition Acts which concerned Americans passive support of the European monarchies against Napoleon Bonaparte's France in which aliens thought to be a risk to national security could be deported from the United States and while some Americans supported the bill Jefferson and his fellow Republicans were opposed to it and working by the side of the likes of James Madison Jefferson was successful in repeating the acts at state level which were deemed ultimately unconstitutional due to their obvious contradiction of the American Constitution as they infringed on personal liberties in February of 1807 was hit by personal tragedy once again when he discovered that his lifelong servant named Jupiter Evans had died of an illness and as he had served the Jeffersons throughout his childhood up until his death this deeply affected Thomas as one of his earliest memories was of Jupiter carrying him on a trip with his family and it could be said given that Jefferson was grief stricken by Jupiter's death and reportedly fathered six children with Sally Hemings that instead of viewing african-american slaves with disdain he instead formed extremely close personal relationships with several of them during his lifetime which arguably could support the arguments that he was not merely a racist slave owner but was perhaps bound by social conventions or his own financial position to keep his slaves possibly as both he and they were afraid what the consequences might be if they were to leave him and be sold on as he had been one of the advocates of establishing a new capital of the United States Jefferson had considerable influence on the design of the new government Center and so in June of 1800 States Capitol finally changed from Philadelphia to Washington DC where during the same month false reports that Jefferson had died began circulating in more but these were soon proven to be false and soon afterwards very much alive Jeff sim began working on his 1801 publication manual of parliamentary practice which was later used as a manual for the role of the Senate in the US and was formally inducted as such in 1826 in December 1800 the American electorate began voting for the next president of the United States with incumbent president John Adams running against Jefferson Allen / and Chelsey pichini in a race which lasted from April until October with each state voting and various stages throughout the year ultimately however the election proved to be a very close race as a tie occur between Jefferson and Aaron Burr for the presidency meaning that both politicians would later face another series of votes to decide who the future president of the United States would be finally the race for the presidency was over by February 1801 when Congress after counting up to 36 ballots chose Democratic Republican Thomas Jefferson to be the third president of the United States of America with Allen burr a renowned Federalist serving as the next vice president meaning that Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in the newly established Washington DC where on the 4th of March 1801 he was sworn into office in front of a mass crowd of cheering citizens despite the celebrations Jefferson's first trial as president occurred soon after in May of 1801 when he faced the reality of warfare against the Ottoman Empire's vassal Pasha of Tripoli Algiers Tunis and the Sultanate of Morocco which was collectively known as the Barbary States of North Africa whose forces were attacking American merchant shipping as previous colonial merchant ships had enjoyed the protection of the British Navy but had since independence come increasingly under attack from Barbary vessels on the high seas Jefferson point-blank refused to negotiate with the North African pirates who had ransomed and extorted American merchant sailors resulting in the outbreak of the first Barbary war from 1801 to 1809 was fought alongside Sweden who have been in conflict with the Ottoman Empire from 1800 with both the European and American powers coming out of the victors of the confrontation although despite this conflict once again resurfaced in 1807 when Algiers began attacking American shipping however this was not fully challenged until 1815 long after Jefferson's second term as president he was during the Barbary conflicts that Jefferson concluded the deal which was brokered by Robert Livington the ambassador to France and James Monroe special envoy to Jefferson and a future president of the United States for the purchase of French Louisiana for fifteen million dollars from the deteriorating French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte that almost doubled the size the United States as with a stroke of a pen the u.s. acquired up to eight hundred twenty-eight thousand square miles including regions and on the bank of the Mississippi River and the vast majority of the modern-day Midwest however the deal did include the forced removal of American Indian tribes from their native lands in November 1804 Jefferson was re-elected as president of the United States this time winning overwhelmingly with George Clinton becoming his vice president both of whom were inaugurated on the 4th of March 1805 while shortly afterwards Jefferson's first major act of his second term saw the conclusion of the Barbary war in June following the shores of Tripoli conflict when the Pasha's defenses were finally overcome ending the mediterranean naval conflict between the US and Tripoli which was sealed with the Treaty of peace and Amity there was signed on the 4th of July 1805 ending the confrontation while Jefferson was president in February March of 1806 he also faced opposition from his former vice president Aaron Burr who as revealed in a letter by an army officer named Joseph H Davies intended to begin a revolt against the Jefferson administration by instigating rebellions in Spanish held territories with some speculating a burr wish to rule his own territory separate from that of the United States although his motives have been contested ever since whatever the case in April of the same year the u.s. received word that British warships were stopping and boarding American vessels whilst further claims were then made that the ships were run by deserters or in other words Englishmen who had defected to the US which proved difficult for Jefferson as he wished to remain neutral to the French Anglo conflict whilst maintaining influence and protection on merchant trading routes for in an effort to resolve the dispute the president tasks James Monroe and William Pinckney to be his commissioners to Great Britain who he hoped would be able to ease the increasing tensions after this Jefferson then received a notification for a number of sources including a US military hero General William Eaton in September and October of 1806 that Aaron Burr was intent on creating an independent country in the center of North America which compounded the so called burr conspiracy as it is now known and to defend his position Jefferson recruited US citizens and commissioned his men to defend u.s. territory from encroachment within the law of the US Constitution but nevertheless Burr was apprehended in January of 1807 having failed to escape and was subsequently charged with treason in the federal court where he claimed he merely intended to farm 40,000 acres of farmland which had been leased to him by the Spanish and after no concrete evidence could be found to convict him but ultimately avoided prosecution was acquitted and then later escaped to England meanwhile in their discussion with the British government over diplomatic relations the Monroe Pinckney treaty failed to be ratified by the Senate and was also rejected by Jefferson on the grounds that the treaty did not rule out impressment meaning with the forced enlistment of sailors by the British of seized American crews that the Royal Navy justified by claiming that they were recapturing British deserters and despite reassurance from the British and the suggestion of the Secretary of State James Madison that UK citizens be banned from serving on American vessels a deal could not be reached at this late stage in June 1807 the practical implications of the failed negotiation surfaced when once again British warships crew began to board American vessels to look for deserters and in one instance the Royal Navy vessel leopard even fired upon the American container ship Chesapeake and as a result in July British ships were banned from entering American ports with the exception of emergencies or for diplomatic purposes as part of the so called embargo act of December 1807 further impacting American trade by the end of the year the French Emperor Napoleon threatened the seizure of American ships was further discourse by Monroe on behalf of the u.s. failed to win over the British and as result three further acts were passed by Congress during 1807 and 1808 could the supplementary the additional and the enforcement acts which forbade foreign trade except to coastal ports however a decline of exports resulted which in time did damage the American economy as well as Foreign Relations in December of 1808 the next presidential election took place however this time Secretary of State James Madison was elected as the fourth President of the United States nonetheless but for his successors inauguration Jefferson signed the non-intercourse Act on the 1st of March 1809 which effectively repealed the embargo act on French and British trade however restrictions on commerce with Great Britain remained regardless and three days later Thomas Jefferson finally resigned from the presidency of the United States but despite retiring for politics he remained involved in the governmental discourse with future presidents Madison and Monroe who often discussed the philosophical underpinnings of American politics with him after his resignation Jefferson returned to his Monticello estate which he shared with his daughter Martha and her family which now thanks to his large-scale building works boasted a new Dam mill and canal course along the Rivanna River that were used to facilitate the cultivation of wheat as well as other crops and produce Jefferson dedicated the rest of his life to his family working on his farm as well as reading and during this time he spent many hours inventing and creating items such as a hillside iron plow a revolving book stand and even a macaroni machine amongst other items and his interests even involved observing meteorological phenomena and experimenting with plants on his Monticello estate where he would live for the rest of his days of the original American revolutionaries Adams and Jefferson were the last to pass away and although they shed similar views regarding life liberty and the pursuit of happiness it was clear that both men differed in their approach to achieving such goals nevertheless in January 1812 both Adams and Jefferson rekindled their friendship with Adams making the first move to quell their politically turbulent relationship by sending a short New Year's greeting to Jefferson which Thomas warmly responded to and so they corresponded for the next fourteen years creating a notable respondents of 158 letters in which they reflected upon one another's past actions decisions and disagreements in 1815 Jefferson sold his personal library of six thousand four hundred eighty seven books to Congress for the sum of twenty-three thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars as the National Library had been burned to the ground following a British assault in the capital city in 1814 and as well as this the former president also founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1815 which was a public research facility where classes formally began in 1825 with Jefferson design in the rotunda to house the library which can still be found in the original site of the university over the coming years Jefferson spent more and more time at his Monticello estate with his family where he found the time to write his autobiography published in 1821 in which he presented a detailed account of life during the Revolutionary era up until his writing of the Declaration of Independence whilst later in 1824 much to his delight Thomas was visited by his old friend Lafayette their reunion later being recalled by Jefferson's grandson Randolph who wrote that as they approached each other they're uncertain gait quickened itself into a shuffling run and exclaiming our Jefferson our Lafayette they burst into tears as they fell into each others arms despite his stellar career and many money-making innovations at his Monticello estate Thomas was still heavily in debt in the final years of his life which concerned him greatly as his land and home could have been seized after his passing but after he appealed to the General Assembly a public lottery was held the funds from which alleviated much of his considerable financial burden over the coming months Jefferson's health went into a steep decline until ultimately and perhaps fittingly Thomas Jefferson died on the 4th of July Independence Day 1826 at the age of 83 on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence whilst even more unbelievably only five hours later his fellow Patriots John Adams would also pass away himself at the age of 90 stating quote Thomas Jefferson survives as he was unaware that his longtime rival and eventual friend had already died earlier that very day during his formative years Thomas Jefferson had trained as a lawyer as well as an architect but he ultimately became the primary contributor to the US Constitution writing up to 95 percent of the final document distinguishing him as one of the most prominent and important political thinkers of the 18th century until he eventually became the third president of the United States of America serving consecutive terms from 1801 to 1809 although he had no military experience his influence on the American people as well as the wider world was considerable to say the least as taking inspiration from the philosophical inside of French writers such as Montesquieu and Rousseau as well as thinkers of both the English and Scottish enlightenment Thomas Jefferson became the philosophical heart and inspiration behind the Declaration of Independence the Bill of Rights and the American War of Independence itself and is regarded as one of the greatest American presidents and is celebrated alongside his contemporaries George Washington and John Adams amongst others as the apostles of Liberty as well as one of America's founding fathers who dedicated his life to preserve the flame of individual liberty America from those at home and abroad who sought to snuff it out what do you think of Thomas Jefferson could he be said to have not practiced what he preached professing to believe in the freedom of slaves despite owning them himself was he a multi-talented genius and reformer who became one of the founding fathers of the United States of America whose ideas and writings still resonate across the free world nearly two hundred years after his death let us know what you think in the comments section and in the mean time thank you very much for watching you you

Channel: The People Profiles

Views: 265,922

Rating: 4.750392 out of 5

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel

Id: CRG_63DBM98

Length: 48min 30sec (2910 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 10 2020