Thomas Jefferson Research Paper

What do you think were the most significant policies of Jefferson's administrations? Give your

reasons.

Thomas Jefferson was an active political activist who served as the 3rd President of the United

States from 1801-1809. Born on April 13, 1743 he was also known as Man of the People and

Sage of Monticello. Besides being a politician he was also a lawyer and a planter. He was pivotal

for America during the American revolutionary war and was one of the leaders to advocate

independence from British from a long time ago. He was an American founding father and

principle author of Declaration of Independence. He was elected president through nerve

wracking election of 1800 decided in the house of representative. Yet Jefferson also …show more content…
It was fully in accord with

Jefferson's policy of making the country secure without resorting to war or funding an

expensive military and naval establishment. They also believed that it would help

preserve the agrarian character of the American confederation for generations to come.

2. The Barbary wars:

Jefferson’s desire to keep government and the military small met a severe test in the

western Mediterranean Sea, where trading interest ran afoul of local Muslim states,

leading to first formal declaration of war against the United States by a foreign power.

For well over a century, four Muslim states on the northern coast of Africa-Morocco,

Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, called the Barbary States by Americans- controlled all

Mediterranean shipping traffic by demanding large annual payments called tribute for

safe passage. Countries electing not to pay found their ships at the risks of seizure. About

a hundred American merchant ships annually traversed the Mediterranean, trading

lumber, tobacco, sugar and rum for regional delicacies such as raisins, figs, capers and

medicinal opium.

In 1801, when the military head of Tripoli failed to secure a large increase in his …show more content…
William Marbury had been appointed a justice of the peace for the District

of Columbia in the final hours of the Adams administration. When James Madison,

Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state, refused to deliver Marbury’s commission,

Marbury, joined by three other similarly situated appointees, petitioned for a writ of

mandamus compelling delivery of the commissions. Chief Justice John Marshall, writing

for a unanimous Court, denied the petition and refused to issue the writ. Although he

found that the petitioners were entitled to their commissions, he held that the Constitution

did not give the Supreme Court the power to issue writs of mandamus compelling

delivery of the commissions. Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for a unanimous Court,

denied the petition and refused to issue the writ. Although he found that the petitioners

were entitled to their commissions, he held that the Constitution did not give the Supreme

Court the power to issue writs of mandamus. Section13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789

provided that such writs might be issued, but that section of the act was inconsistent with

the Constitution and therefore invalid. All this provided court with the power called

Judicial Review.

5. Impressment and

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