Thomas Jefferson and his Influence Today

Thomas Jefferson is an important figure in the history of the United States. He is known as one of the founding fathers of the united states, Thomas Jefferson was also the first secretary of state to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson greatly influenced the United States history in many ways that can be seen today, particularly in his actions as president, his influence on the economy and the creation of political parties. Thomas Jefferson has done many important things in the history of the United States but none of them beats his action as president, as president Thomas Jefferson single-handedly expanded the United States territory with the Louisiana purchase, the Louisiana purchase was a land agreement between both the United States and France, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the span of the United States and immensely strengthened the country, because Thomas Jefferson was such a good president and he believed in the strict interpretation of the constitution and then he noticed that no-where in the constitution does it say the president cannot acquire or buy land, but Thomas Jefferson assumed that the purchase of the land would one day benefit America as a nation. The Louisiana purchase leads into my next sub topic on Thomas Jefferson's actions as president which would be the Lewis and Clark expedition after the purchase of the territory president Thomas Jefferson was unsure of what the new land has to behold so he sent out a troop led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark, the main objective was to study the landscape, Natural presence such as animals and plants and mainly to develop trade with the local Indian or Native American groups, during the expedition Lewis and Clark met a Native American woman called Sacagawea,without her serving as the guide to Louis and Clark's expedition they would not have gathered as much knowledge on the Native American Tribes and the animals in the area. Another prominent action of Thomas Jefferson as president was the Embargo Act and Chesapeake-leopard Affairs, during the Napoleonic wars which took place between France and England the United States was a major player because they were supplying shipments to both the French and the English which they did not like so both countries began seizing American shipments, the British navy began impressing American sailors which were by taking them and forcing them to work in the military or naval forces by compulsion, this issue only came to notice when a British warship fired canons on a U.S ship and then took four of the sailors on board, In response Thomas Jefferson signed the Embargo Act of 1807, which basically disallowed any ships to leave their ports until Britain and France stopped seizing and impressing them, this was supposed to destroy the economy of Britain and France but unfortunately it backfired and only ruined the economy of the United States. Thomas Jefferson he avoided war because he had a better instrument with which to strike against Britain: an embargo cutting off American commerce nominally with all of Europe. It was actually directed against the British since the British navy had already effectively stifled trade with all countries under Bonaparte's control. Thomas Jefferson as president had an important role in the creation of political parties, Thomas Jefferson alongside was the creator of the democratic-republican party, the democratic republican party was based solely on Thomas Jefferson's ideologies such as strong state governments, agrarian mindsets, Strict interpretation of the constitution and it was pro-french but the main goal and agenda of the democratic-republican party was to oppose the Federalists which were run by Alexander Hamilton, while the federalists had an exact opposite view they felt America should be a more industrialized country rather than farming country and instead of state power they believed in federal power alone. Hamilton favored a strong central government with a weak legislative that would unify the infant nation and encourage industry, Jefferson held opposite views: he extolled states rights as a bulwark of liberty and thought that the United States should remain essentially an agricultural society Furthermore, this leads into my next subtopic of the election of 1800 the election of 1800 is very significant because it was the first time in the history of the western power that there was a peaceful transfer of power rather than bloodshed, Nevertheless, the election was very vitriolic, controversial and spread sectarianism, the election also led to the end of the federalists party and the first party system. This leads to my next sub-topic of his Agrarian vision, Thomas Jefferson unlike the Federalists thought that America should be a country of Agriculture and manual labor rather than an industrialized nation with machines to do everything, he believed agriculture was going to be the backbone of agriculture in America and that unlike the European we should be distinct and be the world trade market for raw goods.in fact in Thomas Jefferson's autobiography, he states Agriculture is our wisest pursuit because I will, in the end, contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness(120) My last point his influence on the economy when George Washington was president, Alexander Hamilton had suggested that he taxed whiskey becuse it was something everyone in the nation liked and drank significantly, Hamilton came up with the plan to help pay for a military and also because the United States had borrowed money to fund the revolutionary war that helped them succeed from Great Britain or England, this left Thomas Jefferson with the national debt of almost $80 million which he then cut down single-handedly to $58 million in just one term of his presidency. Thomas Jefferson cut down the money going to the Army and navy and directed several of that money to pay off the tax debt, together with his secretary of the treasury they were able to cut the National Debt to a mere $43 million so that way he could abolish the tax on whiskey and all other taxes thus bring peace back to the nation(149). For someone who wanted to get rid of banks and did not like the idea Thomas Jefferson did get rewarded a lot for it, Thomas Jefferson is not only on one but two of the national currencies of the United States, he is on the Nickel and also on the rarest bill in the United States just to show you his importance he is on the $2 bill. In this essay based on Thomas Jefferson, I have listed three events that were either caused by Thomas Jefferson, throughout the history of the united states Thomas Jefferson has proved to always appear be it is on money or the daily constitutional rights that every American is entitled to he has proved a valuable and very intellectual man who has been involved in the course of the united states from being the governor, to being a congressman, to being an author of the declaration of independence, to be the 1st secretary of state, to be the 3rd president of the United States I have shown that if it was not for this great man the United States will not be the united states we all know and love today.

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