Thomas Jefferson Research Paper

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743. He was born on his father’s farm of Shadwell located along the Rivanna River in the Piedmont region of central Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton (Martha Jefferson), an attractive and delicate young widow whose dowry more than doubled his holdings in land and slaves. Thomas Jefferson was a foremost important figure in America’s early expansion. Thomas Jefferson was a spokesman for democracy. He was an American Founding Father, also the principal author of the Declaration of Independence which was declared in the year 1776, and the third President of the United States who served from 1801 to 1809. Thomas Jefferson, who also served in the

Virginia legislature, also served as the Continental Congress, and was also governor of Virginia. He also served as United States minister to France and United States secretary of state. Thomas Jefferson was a man of many great things that happened to the United States. President Jefferson encouraged American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation. For motivating, he was considered to be an advocate of democracy, individual rights, and political belief. Thomas Jefferson was the first President to be inducted in Washington DC, the city that he helped plan. “During his two terms in office, the United States purchased Louisiana Territory and Lewis and Clark explored the vast new acquisition.” Even though he promoted individual liberty, and was also a slave owner. While President Jefferson was serving in the office, he had much experience on what it’s like to be a leader. Third of the most important events Jefferson did while in office was The Purchase of Louisiana, The Lewis and Clark inaugurated, and the change of 12th Amendment.
On March 4, 1801, Jefferson was sworn into office as the President of the United States. He had many achievements and much success during his first term in office. One of his most important achievements was the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France for about $15 million in 1803. The Louisiana Land Purchase was a agreement between the United States and France. The United States gain about 827,000 more square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. “President Thomas Jefferson wrote this prediction in an April 1802 letter to Pierre Samuel du Pont amid reports that Spain would retrocede to France the vast territory of Louisiana. As the United States had expanded westward, navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the port of New Orleans had become critical to American commerce, so this transfer of authority was cause for concern. Within a week of his letter to du Pont, Jefferson wrote U.S. Minister to France Robert Livingston: "every eye in the United States is now fixed on this affair of Louisiana. Perhaps nothing since the revolutionary war has produced more uneasy sensations through the body of the nation." Thomas Jefferson tried his best to support Napoleon the seller of Louisiana Territory in Santa Domingo. His had very hard time to come up with a strategy along the Mississippi to help them. “A militant Napoleon in Louisiana would not bode well for United States interests on land or at sea, and Jefferson recognized that such a prospect might force him into making a much dreaded alliance with Britain.” (Monticello) He was forced to pay very close attention to the protest that was issued from New England’s government over the Louisiana Purchase. They had debated that to admit Louisiana at full pleasure into the Union. Which was essentially to dissolve the Union, as each of the several states had signed on to the terms of the Constitution. It was said that Jefferson was more considering the possibilities of a constitutional amendment to resolve the differences of the Louisiana Purchase. He made a decision and decided that it would be better to move unofficially and trusting that the good sense of this country will correct the evil of construction when it shall produce bad effects. Jefferson aimed to push the evil of construction to its toughest limits. The federal government was forced to override the important expectation and make the alternate arrangements, without owning Louisiana under the full rights. By taking this step, it caused the United States to become a colonizing force twenty years after it had succeeded in casting off the burden of annexation. The treaty approval and annexation was doing so quick that a Congress dominated by the Republicans had to provide Jefferson with individual executive power over the entire territory. Jefferson took that and gave it to two territorial governors. The people he had chosen, both did not have any experience to comprehend what was going on. “Over time, the area covered by the Louisiana Territory become the states of: Louisiana, Oklahoma, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Kansas, and Nebraska.” From the moment when the Louisiana Territory was achieved, the fundamental character of the Union was changed forever. The federal government of the United States then became a force of despotic capacities. They didn’t know if Florida was considered in the Union or not, the matter of Florida remained unsolved to this day. However, as Spain became weaker and weaker under Napoleons press, the ownership of Spain became a heavier issue. “Many people in Congress had encouraged that President Jefferson should simply snatch the Florida, and while several such missions were considered Jefferson preferred diplomacy with Napoleon to outright robbery.” Congress passed legislation about the Mississippi River that stretched to territory not in their own control. The United States affected to claim sovereignty over Florida. This was an issue that was to remain unsettled for over a period of time before the United States finally established control of the territory behind the diplomacy of President Monroe and the military ability to make good judgment of Andrew Jackson.
During Thomas Jefferson’s time as President, in office, he doubled the size of the nation.

On January, 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent a ‘secret’ letter to Congress that was asking them for $2,500 to fund them for an expedition to the Pacific Ocean. His plan was to “establish trade with the Native American people of the West and find a water route to the Pacific. Jefferson also was fascinated by the prospect of what could be learned about the geography of the West, the lives and languages of the Native Americans, the plants and animals, the soil, the rocks, the weather, and how they differed from those in the East.” Jefferson made a choice to allow Meriwether Lewis lead the expedition. Lewis was his former secretary and a fellow native of Albemarle County, Virginia (Monticello). When Lewis was in the Army, he served in a rifle company commanded by William Clark. Clark chose to let Lewis assist him in leading the United States Army expedition. “During the cold winter at Fort Mandan, the members of the Expedition prepared a shipment that was to be sent back to President Jefferson. The shipment included maps, written reports, items made by Native Americans, the skins and skeletons of previously unknown animals, soil samples, minerals, seeds, and cages containing a live prairie dog, a sharp-tailed grouse, and magpies. The large keelboat and about a dozen men were dispatched downriver on April 7. The shipment was received at the President's House in Washington four months later.

Many of these items, including a painted Mandan buffalo robe, were eventually put on display in Jefferson's "Indian Hall," the entrance hall of Monticello, his home near Charlottesville, Virginia. Other objects were later displayed in Charles Wilson Peale's museum in Philadelphia. The same day the shipment was sent downriver, the "permanent party" of the Expedition left Fort Mandan in the two pirogues and six dugout canoes and headed westward into uncharted territory.” While traveling with the Missouri's current, the Expedition was able to cover up to 70 miles in a day. When the explorers reached the Mandan, there parted company with Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and young Jean Baptiste. The Expedition finished its journey when it reached St. Louis on September 23, 1806. Thomas Jefferson had thought that the men would be gone for about a year, and consequently had feared for their safety. In fact, it took the Lewis and Clark Expedition two years, four months, and nine days to travel across the western part of the continent and back home (Monticello). During that time, Thomas Jefferson have instructions to Lewis that would be almost impossible to complete. But even so, he still viewed the Expedition as a ‘tremendous’ success. The Expedition caused the explorers to change their vision of the young county. “No water route to the Pacific was found, but accurate and detailed maps were drawn. Peaceful contacts were made with the Native American tribes and part of trade was discussed. The body of knowledge added to the scientific community proved to be truly invaluable and vast reaches of North America had been explored. Lewis and Clark's "voyage of discovery" turned out to be one of Thomas Jefferson's most long-term inheritances.
In retirement Jefferson became the "Sage of Monticello." He maintained a large communication such as writing letters and remained interested in a broad variety of intellectual pursuits.

Unfinished business from the Revolution drew his attention, such as revision of the Virginia constitution and the gradual emancipation, or freedom, of slaves. Jefferson was the master planner of the University of Virginia in all its parts, from the grounds and buildings to the university rules, teachers, and subjects taught. He died at Monticello on the fiftieth anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1826. Jefferson remains a major figure in the development of the United States. His accomplishments, both large and small, and his beliefs, both political and personal, remain inspiring to Americans, especially through his masterpiece, the Declaration of

Independence.
In Conclusion, Thomas Jefferson served this country like the way he felt it needed to be served. He was the third President of the United States, 2nd Vice President of the United States, 1st United States Secretary of State, United States Minister to France, Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from Virginia, 2nd Governor of Virginia, and also Delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Virginia. Jefferson was faced with many challenges while in office. He made The Louisiana Purchase for $15 million dollars, was a part of the Exploration of the Northwest by Lewis and Clark inaugurated, he was the president during the 12th Amendment change of Presidential election rules, and more. Thomas Jefferson still remains an American icon today. His face is on the United States nickel and is also craved into stone at Mount Rushmore.