Jefferson’s Presidency

Jefferson’s PresidencyMRS. INGRAM

New Policies When Jefferson took office, his

followers preached a ‘republican revolution’ in governmental policies. This was because of his governmental

practices– as the first Democratic-Republican elected, he differed greatly from the Federalists before him.

Jefferson’s main goal was to bring down federal debt. He cut the debt from $80 mil to $59

mil.

John Marshall John Marshall became Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court when Jefferson took office. In his 35 years, he heard over 1,000 cases

and set 4 main precedents that would define his legacy. Power of judicial review– power of the

judicial branch to review acts of Congress; Federal laws were superior to state laws; Believed in the implied powers of the

Constitution; Believed in limiting the power of state gov

to interfere in business contracts.

Marbury v. Madison (1803) First court case to assert the power of judicial

review. William Marbury was appointed under John Adams

as one of his ‘midnight judges’– a last minute appointment before he left office.

His papers were not delivered by Jefferson’s Secretary of State, James Madison.

Marbury claimed the Supreme Court had the power to order Madison to deliver his papers under the Judiciary Act of 1801; Marshall disagreed.

This is the only time Marshall declared a federal law (JA 1801) unconstitutional.

The Nation Expands Democratic-Republicans wanted an economy based

on farming, so Jefferson saw a need for increased area to grow these crops on. However, there was nothing in the Constitution about

acquiring territory… so to do so, Jefferson would have to go against his D-R principles.

Jefferson sought to expand to the Pacific, first conquering the Louisiana Territory owned by Spain. However, Napoleon had claimed the land from Spain,

making it much more difficult to claim (Jefferson thought).

Jefferson purchased the territory from France for $15 million. He then sent two men (Meriwether Lewis and William Clark) to explore the new land.

Foreign Problems Jefferson had to send a small navy to northern

Africa to stop the Barbary pirates from seizing American ships.

The U.S. needed overseas markets to sell their surpluses of goods, but Britain ruled the seas. The U.S. adopted a policy of re-export, in

which American ships would bring French goods from the Caribbean to the U.S. be re-labelled as American, and sent overseas past the British blockade.

The U.S. became Britain’s greatest market competition, and aided the French economy.

Foreign Problems (cont’d) Jefferson also faced the problem of

British ships seizing U.S. merchants and forcing them to serve in the British military. This was known as impressment.

The problems with the British grew, and Jefferson knew the U.S.’ navy was not strong enough to take on Great Britain’s. Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807

in hopes to encourage trade with Britain. Great Britain was able to start a successful

trade with South America, so U.S. merchants suffered most of all.