Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson: The Aristocrat as Democrat
Prepare the following in your notes for class discussion
A) Jefferson’s reputation as Virginia planter
What was his request for his epitaph?
B) Federalists and Democratic- Republicans
C) The election of 1800 as a “Bloodless Revolution”
D) Marbury VS. Madison
E) The practice of impressment and Napoleonic Wars
F) The Louisiana Purchase
-Was it ‘dumb luck’ or wise diplomacy?
- Jefferson’s constitutional ‘scrupples’

Major Themes
A) Reconcile the fact that the author of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves.
-How would Ellis untie this ‘Gordian knot”?
-What would Jefferson say if he were with us today? can we see Jefferson as a “renaissance man.”
B) While stating in his first inaugural “We are all federalists, we are all republicans” what governmental measures was he contemplating that would put him in both camps. -How would Joseph Ellis interpret this famous phrase?
C) Why did he have such a fascination for the land west of the Mississippi?
-Explain Ellis’ notion of the West as ‘democratic energy’
D) Assess the following
“The Embargo Act was a short run disaster but in the long run will help build an international power.”
-How and why did Jefferson violate his own notions about the proper role of government?
E) How can it be stated that the Democratic – Republicans eventually “out federalized the federalists,”
-Analyze Hamilton’s assessment of Jefferson as a political leader and as a person