JEFFERSON AND THE‘EMPIRE OF LIBERTY’

PRESIDENT JEFFERSON• The Democratic-Republicans supported the national

government, but they expressed concern that an overlypowerful central government could destroy states’ rights aswell as trample the liberties and happiness of citizens.

• Despite the partisan bitterness of the election of 1800,Jefferson, in his inaugural address, attempted to conciliateFederalists by emphasizing the principles on which mostAmericans agreed—federalism and republicanism. Heasserted, “We are all republicans—we are all federalists. Ifthere be any among us who would wish to dissolve thisUnion or change its republican form, let them standundisturbed as monuments of safety with which error ofopinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combatit.” The reconciliation Jefferson hoped for did not come tofruition, however.

JEFFERSON’S “REVOLUTION”

• Jefferson attempted torepeal Federalist measuresthat he believedendangered republicangovernment, such as partsof Hamilton’s financialprogram and the Alien andSedition Acts.

• Jefferson reduced taxes andthe national debt, primarilyby slashing expendituresfor the military and thediplomatic establishment.

THE JUDICIARY

• Although Jefferson was willingto cooperate with the moderateFederalists in many ways, heattacked the underhandedFederalist move to retaincontrol of the judiciary. Hedemanded that Congress repealthe Judiciary Act of 1801 andremove the partisan Federalistjudges that outgoing PresidentAdams had just appointed.

• Jefferson did not oppose theconcept of judicial review, buthe believed that judges shouldnot use it for partisan purposes.

Chief Justice John Marshall

JEFFERSON’S VISION• Jefferson envisioned a

predominantly agriculturalAmerica that would exportsurplus agricultural products.

• Necessities for vision– National government free from

corruption– Unobstructed access to an ample

supply of open land– Free trade

• Needed landed and commercialexpansion

• Jefferson’s main goal was topreserve and perpetuate the“republican character” forcenturies to come.

“MALTHUSIAN” DOUBTS

• Although Jefferson believed thatAmericans were destined to be “ahappy and prosperous people,” heharbored fears that one day Americacould become overcrowded andoverridden with corruption.

• America was surrounded by enemiesand deeply divided by partisan andeconomic differences. How couldthe people be secure in their libertiesyet have a government energeticenough to preserve itself? Jeffersonsought to prevent the onset ofidleness, depravity, and corruption.

A MEANS TO AN END

• The Louisiana Purchaseprobably eased Jefferson’sfears about the long-rangeviability of republicanism inAmerica.

• Like the principle of states’rights to which Jeffersonsubscribed, strictconstruction of theConstitution was not an endin itself but a means topromote republican liberty asthe leader of an oppositionalmovement.

LOUISIANA PURCHASE• Napoleon forced Spain to cede the Louisiana Territory to France. This move

horrified Jefferson because it placed a major European power on the U.S.border and blocked westward expansion. The problem became acute in 1802,when Spanish authorities, just before the territory’s transfer to France, deniedwestern farmers use of New Orleans.

• Jefferson sent Monroe and Livingston to France with a request to buy the city.Napoleon shocked American diplomats with a counter offer to sell the entireLouisiana Territory for $15 million.

• Since the Constitution did not explicitly give the federal government thepower to acquire new territories, and since Jefferson was allegedly wedded tostrict interpretation, he briefly thought of first seeking an enabling amendmentto the Constitution. Fortunately, his practicality prevailed, and he submittedthe purchase treaty to the Senate, where it was quickly ratified.

• The move secured free navigation of the Mississippi River and the right ofdeposit at New Orleans, the expansion of virtuous, sturdy, and independentfarmers further west, and active foreign commerce.

• Jefferson agreed to purchase the Louisiana Territory in support of his mostdeeply held political principle—the protection of republican government.This was the primary goal that underlay all of his actions as president.

“EMPIRE OF LIBERTY”• The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size

of the U.S. While some Americansquestioned the need for so much territory,others recognized that the land wouldserve as a buffer to protect America fromany intervention by other nations.

• Federalists commended the acquisition ofcontrol over the Mississippi River andNew Orleans, but criticized the LouisianaPurchase as a wasteland and warned thatrepublican government could not functioneffectively over a large territory(ironically an Anti-Federalist argument).Federalists also feared expansion woulddecrease the relative importance of theirstrongholds on the eastern seaboard.

EXTENDING THE SPHERE• Jefferson did not want to expand and develop rapidly. He hoped to

unify the interests of cultivator and exporter and secure thedevelopment of landed and perpetually youthful empire. He wantedto avoid resorting to manufacturing on an extensive and permanentbasis. Cities were “sores on the body politic.” He could expand “theempire of republicanism” by increasing the influence of theagricultural class.

• America, in a race against time, would stave off inevitable socialdecay and corruption, “that dreaded day when America would becomea densely populated society characterized by inequality, luxury, anddependence.”

• Expansion would preserve republican character and curtailfactionalism and the development of a military establishment beset bywar, debt, and taxation.

CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT

• In 1805 Jefferson stated, “By enlarging the empire ofliberty, we multiply its auxillaries, and provide newsources of renovation, should its principles, at any timedegenerate, in those portions of our country which gavethem birth.” Continuously expanding the empire ofliberty would stop the republic from degenerating intoluxury, corruption, and despotism.

• But as historian Drew McCoy writes, “Theestablishment and security of a relatively simple,peaceful, predominantly agricultural republicparadoxically required an expansive foreign policy thatpromised to involve the republic in serious andpotentially dangerous disputes with other nations.”

LEWIS AND CLARKEXPEDITION

• Jefferson requested funding fromCongress for an expedition acrossthe continent to explore the newLouisiana Purchase.

• The party, led by MeriwetherLewis and William Clark, left St.Louis in 1804; followed theMissouri, Snake, and Columbiarivers; crossed the Rockies; andreached the Pacific.

• The expedition returned with awealth of scientific information(and misinformation), descriptions,and maps that promoted thesettlement of the West.

GATHERING STORM

• The successes of Jefferson’sfirst term—doubling the sizeof the country, maintainingpeace, and reducing taxes andthe national debt—won overmany Federalist voters.

• However, Jefferson’s secondterm as president was besetby problems caused by thebreakdown of the Republicanparty unity and the renewalof the Napoleonic Wars.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAmbrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether

Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of theAmerican West. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Ellis, Joseph J. American Sphinx: The Character ofThomas Jefferson. New York: Knopf, 1996.

McCoy, Drew R. The Elusive Republic: PoliticalEconomy in Jeffersonian America. Chapel Hill:University of North Carolina Press, 1980

Onuf, Peter S. “The Revolution of 1803”. The WilsonQuarterly. Winter 2003. pp. 22-29.

The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson. NewYork: Modern Library, 1993.