Revolution of 1800

Writing Assignment : Revolution of 1800

The election of 1800 is called by many the “Revolution of 1800” due to the fact that this election, was the transition of power from one political party to another. There were many foreign policy changes, judiciary changes, and political changes during the election of 1800, which is why it was named the “Revolution of 1800”. Adams never really had a jump on Jefferson, due to the fact that he had earned enemies with the Alien and Sedition Acts. The election wasn’t named a revolution because of the votes, the margin was only 8, it was named more because of the transfer of power. Jefferson, very opposite from the Federalists, opposed a strong centralized government, and believed in states rights. The 1800’s were a turning point in American History.
Foreign affairs were drastically changed by this election. The XYZ Affair turned many Americans off to the fact of being “allies” with French, but Jefferson was an avid supporter of the French, and by his liking he switched the American support to the French, away from the British. The Americans were originally supporting the British because they were under the presidency of John Adams. Jefferson was in favor of Westward Expansion. The Louisiana territory was taken by Spain, and then given to France. His favoring of the Westward Expansion lead him to purchase Louisiana. The purchase of Louisiana, lead to the Lewis and Clark expedition. A few years later war between England and France broke out, and Jefferson, (who had lowered the amount of Navy we had prior) initiated the Embargo Act of 1807. The Embargo Act made America neutral, which meant we weren’t favoring one side over another. The act prohibited trade with all nations, but as people did with the Sugar/Stamp/etc acts that were previously placed, they found a way around them. The act ended a few days before he left office in March 1809.
Dealing with Politics, there were some major differences between him, and previous presidents. Jefferson favored a strict interpretation of the Constitution, while Adams and Hamilton favored a more lose interpretation of it. This was a problem because a justice by the name of John Marshall was a federalist, and his rulings strengthened the federalist powers over the states. Switching to a different point of view, Jefferson believed that Agriculture was the most important economic venture. The Federalists believed that the rich should be the only ones ruling, while Jefferson switched the government to having the power be spread across equally. “Rule by the masses” is Jeffersons motto during this time, while switching from Adams to Jefferson. There were a variety of Economic changes that Jefferson brought into play during his presidency. One of the biggest and most influential changes that he brought, that eventually turned out to be not the best move was to slash the Navy budget in half, and reduced the size of the army to 3,350 officers. This was a huge change from the plan that Adams had acted upon. The switch between two major political parties was a turning point in history due to it’s impacts on economics, foreign policy, and judiciary. The next few elections were won by the Jeffersonians, or the Democratic-Republicans. Jefferson was a wise man, and if it wasn’t for his actions, and the downfalls in his presidency our past might have been very different.