Thomas Jefferson report card

“…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none…” (Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address) this proclamation made by Thomas Jefferson regarding attitudes towards other nations is something that is normally followed throughout his presidential term; therefore he deserves a B- in the sense of attempting and ultimately succeeding but also failing in, keeping the peace with foreign nations. Jefferson was a startling president and he was able to keep the United States at peace with nations in Europe during his first term, as wealth and commerce augmented rapidly. The Barbary Pirates are a great example as to how Jefferson dealt with problems with foreign people. The pirates would take crew members from ships and demand payment on behalf of America, after making the decision to put an end to the payments to the pirates Jefferson sent a naval to punish them; although semi contradicting his devotion to peace and economy. Later on after in 1815 Stephen Decatur was sent to the Mediterranean to where a treaty renouncing both raids and tribute were signed. Although it wasn't something totally eliminating the racketeers from being wicked it still was a success on behalf of Jefferson; he was able to lead the world toward a path of free seas and peace for all nations. Jefferson so far was able to fulfill his promises to keep peace and friendship with other nations. The relations between the new United States and European nations were pleasant and the Barbary Pirates had compelled admiration for the American flag. Intense admiration should be given to Jefferson for he was able to handle the impressment of American seaman in an appropriate manner. He was able to keep calm and not go to war with Britain even though there was a vast amount of anger in the United States towards the situation. Instead of going into something more drastic such as war, Jefferson simply demanded the British to stay out of the U.S’s waters and for an apology. Lastly in relation to foreign relations, in 1803 war between France and Britain was renewed. As a war tactic each nation attempted to affect their opponent’s trade using neutral nations such as the United States. Jefferson saw this and in an attempt to keep peace between the United States and other nations, there was the Embargo Act which cut off the United States trade in hopes of getting Britain and Napoleon into terms. (Embargo Act of 1802) Jefferson was unsuccessful when it came to the Embargo act; neither the French nor Britain needed the American trade as much as American trade needed them therefore not making a difference when it came to scaring the nations. What this would have done instead of scaring Napoleon and Britain out of their conflict was, demolish the American commerce which was what it was trying to protect. Jefferson as a president managed to fulfill a lot of his promises made in his inaugural address regarding keeping peace and honest friendships with other nations. He was very successful and although he had a failure with the Embargo Act he still attempted to make a change therefore his grade of a B is accurate due to his successful attempts and failure of the Embargo Act.