The Age of Jefferson

Lecture 2

Main Topics

• Age of Jefferson• A Republic of Farmers• The Louisiana Purchase• Lewis and Clark• Tecumseh and Tippecanoe• Foreign Crises• Embargo Act 1807

Age of Jefferson• Power passes from the Federalists (democrats) to

the Republicans peacefully.• The 1800 election represented the change in

ideology.• Jefferson was a wealthy Virginia landowner, but

presented himself as a simple farmer, in contrast to the Federalist business elite.

• For example, for his inauguration Jefferson decided to walk along the muddy streets from his lodgings to the Capitol to swear the oath rather than travel by carriage.

A Republic of Farmers• Jefferson believed that his most important duty

was to promote democracy, which the Federalists undermined.

• He encouraged the growth of the nation by self-sufficient farmers.

• According to Jefferson, “those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God.”

• He believed that cities, manufacturing, and commerce opposed democracy.

• Virtue was to be found in the countryside

Louisiana Purchase• In order to promote the agrarian republic that

Jefferson desired, the United States had to continue to expand westward.

• These plans faced many obstacles including:• 1. The lands west of the Mississippi and the mouth

of the river at New Orleans were controlled by France, which acquired them on lease from Spain in 1800.

• 2. French control of this territory represented a grave threat to to the future survival of the nation and its expansion westward.

• In 1803 Jefferson sent envoys to the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, offering to purchase New Orleans at a price of 2 million (43 million today).

• Napoleon countered with an offer to sell the entire Louisiana territory for 15 million dollars (320 million today).

• Questions were later raised about whether the Constitution gave Jefferson the power acquire territory, and some wondered whether Napoleon had the right to sell territory that was leased from Spain.

• Despite these questions the Louisiana purchase was clear: Jefferson had added more than 2 million square km of territory to the United States, from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.

• He had also ensured American control over the Mississippi, essential for economic development.

• Most important, Jefferson was successful in enlarging the “empire of liberty” for he believed that the survival of the republican virtues depended on a society of farmers on new lands.

Lewis and Clark• The Louisiana purchase allowed Jefferson to

send his dispatch Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on a journey to discover the west.

• Between 1803 and 1806 Lewis and Clark trekked from the Mississippi through the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean and back.

• Sacagawea served as a guide and interpreter.• They gathered scientific data, prepared maps,

and made contact with native peoples.

Tecumseh and Tippecanoe

• Reflecting his belief in the virtues of an agrarian society, Jefferson believed that the solution lay in encouraging people to abandon their traditional lifestyle and become farmers.

• Some aboriginals tried to adapt and were taught by missionaries, while others rejected this way of life.

• Tecumseh preached a powerful political and spiritual message. He urged Native Americans to sever contact with Americans, place no faith in treaties, cease farming, and return to the nomadic lifestyle.

• Tecumseh formed a Native alliance and confronted Governor William Harrison, rejecting treaties that had been signed and warning of violence if settlement continued.

• November 1811 Harrison and his soldiers fought a force of Tecumseh's followers at Tippecanoe.

• This led to increased attacks on settlements and persuaded Tecumseh to form an alliance with the British in an effort to halt American expansion.

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Foreign Crises• Americas dependence on trade with

European nations left it vulnerable to a variety of threats.

• The first came from Barbary pirates, privateers who operated businesses from North Africa to harass ships in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic.

• The United States had a right to free captives and trade freely with other nations.

• As the Napoleonic Wars raged in Europe neither Britain or France would permit the United States to trade with their opponent.

• In 1803 the British navy began stopping American vessels at sea and arresting escaped British sailors, ignoring American neutrality.

• The British also ignored American citizenship, arguing that t still owed allegiance to the crown.

Embargo Act 1807

• Jefferson was unwilling to risk war against Britain’s superior naval force, and when the British ignored the protests Jefferson proposed a boycott of British goods.

• This attempt failed and Jefferson was forced to impose on embargo, prohibiting any trade with b/w the US and Britain (or France).

• By denying the European powers access to raw materials such as lumber, cotton, Jefferson hoped to force them to respect American neutral rights.

• The embargo act failed completely.• American exports dropped by 80%• Agricultural prices collapsed and

economic depression followed.

Check your understanding

• 1. What values-for example, democracy-are represented by Jefferson’s idea of an agrarian republic?

• 2. Why might the Louisiana purchase have been illegal?

• 3. Describe Tecumseh’s influence on relations b/w Native Americans and the American government.

• 4. Why did the Embargo Act fail?