America Past; D14; Thomas Jefferson

Beeping sound Wooshing sound. Music begins. [Music playing] On the last program we talked about Jefferson's political philosophy,

we visited his home here in Monticello, went inside and looked at some of his gadgets and inventions. Today I want to look at him as president. What did he have to deal with; how did he deal with these problems as president? First of all, maybe I ought to say what he had done before he went into office. (music) Jefferson had been born into a very prominent Virginia family. Particularly his mother's side was prominent, in 1743. He died, incidentally, in 1826, 1826 - July the 4th, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which he had written, on the same day that John Adams died. He had attended William and Mary; he spoke six languages; he studied science; he studied math through calculus; he had been a lawyer; a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses; the governor of Virginia; a member of the Continental Congress; author of the Declaration of Independence; ambassador to France; secretary of state and vice president.

It would seem that he was qualified to hold the office of president. He had a different attitude toward that office than Washington or Adams had had. He believed in a great deal of informality. We mention in another program that he would walk to his inauguration. He often opened the door of the White House personally to guests. One time in a threadbare coat and corduroy pants and shoes with no heels on them, And the guest was a British ambassador, who considered that shockingly informal, thought he was talking to a servant. But Jefferson believed that a democracy should be simple - its government should be simple, not formal and like the kings and courts of Europe. When he took office the government was actually in pretty good shape. Adams had been a good administrator, as had Washington. The federal debt had been paid under Hamilton. Adams had at least temporarily avoided a European war. So it didn't look

too bad. He was bothered... Jefferson was bothered by the fact that all of the government offices were held by Federalist. You see Jefferson was the first Republican to be elected, and the members of his party naturally they wanted into office. We've been out all this time - let's get appointed. Well Jefferson didn't go in and just start firing people wholesale. If anybody left, they were replaced by a Republican, of course, but not many left. Jefferson complained that office holders seldom died and that they never resigned. He was upset by it. His appointees tended to be of the upper classes. Jefferson was an aristocrat. He was supportive of the lower classes. He got his support from the common man, but he didn't appoint them to office. That would be more typical of Jackson later. Jefferson really trusted the common man to elect the right upper class person to office. Well, let's look at about four aspects of Jefferson as president.

What did he do about some old Federalist laws?, his relations with the courts, his purchase of Louisiana, and his dealings with foreign affairs. First of all just briefly, the Federalists laws. I'm referring here to the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Naturalization Act - laws passed under Adams to try to silence criticism of the Federalist Party. Those laws Alien and Sedition Act had been passed for a two year period. They were just allowed to expire. If you have been put into prison under them, you were freed. The naturalization law act was actually repealed. Now the courts - well, that was a problem. Jefferson was elected in November, just as presidents are today. But in those days the president did not take office until March. Today the president assumes office in January. So between November and March, Adams is still president, but he

knows he is going out of office. He was what was called a lame duck - he's wounded but he's not dead. And during that time he appointed many judges to the federal court. Now once you're appointed as a judge to the federal court, you hold office for life, or for good behavior. Unless they can impeach you, you're there. So when Jefferson comes into office, he finds the courts are full of all of these appointees from Adams. They're called midnight judges because he almost literally sat up till midnight the night before he left office, appointing these people. And Jefferson couldn't get rid of them. Though one of them he impeached, got impeached for insanity. Even the Federalists could not maintain that insanity is a desirable characteristic of a judge. But another he couldn't get rid of, who was accused of making political speeches to the juries, That wasn't considered an impeachable offense. In most cases, instead of getting rid of the judge, they got rid of the court. We're just going to abolish this particular court.

You can still be a judge, but you've got no court to be judge in. There was one very famous Supreme Court case that involved one of these judicial appointees, by the name of Marbury. Now Adams had appointed Marbury to be the justice of the peace of the District of Columbia. That would not normally be considered particularly significant, but Marbury didn't get a paper saying that he was justice of the peace. So Jefferson comes into office. His secretary of state, who was James Madison, refused to give Marbury his little paper. Congress even passed a law, saying, ordering him to give Marbury that paper. So Marbury took him into court, and then went to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court said yes, you ought to give him the paper. There's a law that says you ought to give him the paper. We ought to make you give him the paper, but we're not going to. Why? Because that law is unconstitutional. And that's the first

time in history that the Supreme Court declared an act of Congress to be unconstitutional. They've done it ever since. It's known as the right of judicial review. I want you to know that term. The right of judicial review is the right of the courts to declare a law of Congress to be unconstitutional. And they first did it in the case of Marbury vs. Madison. A very famous chief justice handed down that decision - a distant relative and a close enemy of Jefferson's, John Marshall. John Marshall was chief justice for 35 years. He had a terrific impact on the court. His decisions tended to strengthen the power of the government. He was a Federalist. But in this case, he did what Jefferson wanted him to, and refused to deliver that paper. Fine. Jefferson's dealings with the laws; they just let them expire, his dealings with the courts;

not very successful. He couldn't get rid of those justices. How about Louisiana? One of the major events in Jefferson's administration took place on the second floor of the Cabildo in New Orleans. The date was December 20,1803. And the event was a transfer of the Louisiana territory from France to the United States. Now what led up to that? Well in part, it was our interest in moving west. We had filled up the area east of the Mississippi River. We're beginning to think beyond it. People thought the Mississippi should not be the western boundary of United States. One politician had said the western boundary should be the setting sun - a boundary he did not define too clearly. But we are interested in expanding. We're also interested in what happens to the Mississippi River. And those two things combined to lead to the purchase of Louisiana.

Now that territory west belong to Spain. Spain had receded after the French and Indian War. When the treaty was signed in 1763 everything west of the Mississippi, plus New Orleans, had gone to Spain. And I said that we got Louisiana from France. So how did that happen? Well that happened because France took it away from Spain. France is now led by Napoleon. And Napoleon is dreaming of new empires in the New World. France had lost it all in the French and Indian War. He's beginning to think about getting something back. What he really wanted back was not so much the United States, that area, but the West Indies, particularly Santo Domingo or Haiti. He wanted to start coffee and sugar plantations down there. He wanted to raise coffee there, grow food up in Louisiana, send that to the West Indies to feed the workers and send the coffee and sugar to France. That was his idea. So he wanted Louisiana. In a secret treaty called the Treaty of San Ildefonso,

Spain gave it to France. Why? Didn't have much choice. France was the strongest country in Europe. If Napoleon wanted something Spain had, he got it that's all. He did give Spain some land in Italy, which is highly doubtful he had right to give, but he didn't worry about the niceties of international law. He gave him some of Italy. He took Louisiana. Spain probably couldn't have kept the United States out of it anyway. We were pushing that way. Only 1 percent of that area was populated and if we had wanted to move in... Well Spain would've probably lost it. So ?she? probably saw a chance to make a pretty good deal and get out of it. Now, how did the United States react when they heard that New Orleans and Louisiana was controlled by France? Why do they care whether it's France or Spain? Simple. Spain is a fairly weak country. Spain had also signed a treaty with the United States, called Pinckney's Treaty, in which he guaranteed that the Mississippi River would be kept open for our trade and that we could send goods from New Orleans, unload them

there, reload them on the ocean going vessels. But that was with Spain. Now New Orleans is controlled by France. Thomas Jefferson said there is one spot on earth, the owner of which is our natural enemy, and that spot is right here in New Orleans. He also made the comment that if ever France should control New Orleans, the United States would have to marry itself to the British fleet and nation. Odd talk from Jefferson. Jefferson was an old British hater and a lover of the French. But he realized that we could not allow the important port of New Orleans to fall into French hands, or at least to Napoleon's hands. We would have to turn to the British Navy for support. So when he finds that France controls New Orleans, a port through which one half to two thirds of all of our commerce traveled, he's concerned. What were his options besides just worrying about it? Well you could go to war with France. That really have been foolish. Under Napoleon weak United States fighting France?

You'd have to say get serious. The only other option would seem to be to buy it. So he sent James Monroe, a fellow Virginian of his, to France with instructions to try to buy the city of New Orleans, also Florida. It turned out that France didn't control Florida. He had been authorized to spend seven or eight million dollars. Secretly Jefferson told him to go ahead and spend ten if he could get it. Well that was just to buy New Orleans. And they're in there negotiating and the French foreign minister, whose name was Talleyrand, suddenly offered to sell all of the Louisiana territory to the United States for 15 million. Now when I say all of the territory, I mean the central part of the United States. Well what do you do if you're James Monroe? You've been told that you're not to spend more than 10 million for New Orleans. Suddenly you can double the size of the United States for 15 million. Do you say no I've got my instructions I'm going to follow them to the letter? Or do you jump at the deal? Well he took it

before Napoleon could change his mind. Now realize of course that this treaty has no effect until it's approved by two thirds of the Senate. All Monroe did was reach a tentative agreement that then comes back to the Senate for final approval. Why do you think Napoleon was willing to sell it so soon anyway. Well. It happened that down in Santo Domingo in Haiti there had been a revolt. There was a black leader down there, named Toussaint L'Ouverture, sometimes called the black Napoleon. And he started a rebellion against France. And in that, the French lost about 30,000 troops. And Napoleon just got fed up with the idea of an empire. He supposedly said "Damn coffee, damn colonies. Sell Louisiana. Get out of this thing." And that's what he did. Besides he was getting ready for one of his annual wars with England, and he could use the money. So he's willing to sell. We were willing to buy. Now

let me give you the basics on this purchase. When did it happen? It happened in 1803. What did we get? We got the central part of the United States, except for Texas that belong to Spain. Why did we spend 15 million dollars? That figures out to about 3 cents an acre. Would have to be considered a pretty good bargain. Why did we want it? We wanted it so we could control the Mississippi River, particularly New Orleans. Who is the President? Jefferson. Who did we buy it from? France, who was led by Napoleon. Well when Monroe came back with this treaty, there were some rather severe reaction to it. Jefferson worried about whether the whole thing was legal - whether it was constitutional. Remember Jefferson was what was called a strict constructionist. A president should not do anything unless the Constitution

actually gives him the power to do so. And there's nothing in the Constitution that really says you can go out and buy territory. So he talked about adding an amendment. You talk about years. Napoleon would have changed his mind by the time that happened. So Jefferson has a problem. Here's what I believe, and yet this is what is practical. Many presidents face that. When you're not in office you can have all your theories and criticize the other person, but when you're there you've got to make a decision. Do you let this thing this deal fall through? Do you let Spain get it back, or England, or do you jump at it? Jefferson decided to bury his scruples and make the purchase. People in New England didn't like it because they thought all westerners would vote wrong. A bunch of wild Westerners out here - they all vote the Democratic Republican ticket. New England wanted people who would vote Federalists. I guess they didn't want every bipedal of the forest out there voting, so they opposed it for that reason. Others said it was just silly. We spent 50

million dollars for a bunch of gopher holes. We have to defend this thing now. We won't be able to keep it. This is the dumbest thing that's come down the pike. So some objected to it on that basis. Others just said that well Napoleon shouldn't have sold it. He had promised Spain that he wouldn't sell it. But principles need not be obstacles. Here's a good deal. Let's go for. It passed very easily in the Senate - something like 26 to 5 was the vote. So while people talked about rejecting it, it was no problem. So on December 20, 1803, in what's now called Jackson Square in New Orleans, the French flag was run down and the American flag was run up, and New Orleans and Louisiana became part of the United States. Now. What did we get? People were really curious. The boundaries are very indefinite, but kind of implied the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. But where, you know, where to go? Jefferson was by nature a curious soul - curious about

things. And he wanted to send the spores out to see what had happened. And he picked two men to do that. I suppose the two best known Americans for it. His personal secretary, 28 year old, introverted Meriwether Lewis, and an extroverted, red headed frontiersman, named William Clark. And the two of them are going to leave from St. Louis, and they're going to go up the Missouri River, over the mountains, to the mouth of the Columbia River. The Lewis and Clark expedition. (fiddle music begins) They took about fourteen soldiers with them, nine frontiersmen, some French boatmen, Meriwether Lewis' dog, and away they went. Only one person died on that, incidentally. It's kind of surprising. They're gone two and a half years. If anybody got sick, Lewis whipped out his home remedies and it seemed to do the trick. Everybody was under the age of 30. Everybody was single. They bought supplies, about $150 worth of mirrors and trinkets, a fiddle for their entertainment.

They kept a journal of their trip. And that's the main source of information about it. Jefferson, before they left, wrote a letter instructing them what they were to look for. [actor's voice portraying Jefferson] The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River and such principal streams of it, as by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across the continent for the purposes of commerce. You know your intercourse with the natives... treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner with which their own conduct will admit. [narrator resumes] Their relations with the Indians were pretty good. By far the best known Indian guide they ran into was Sacagawea, an Indian woman who guided them over the mountains. They spent a winter with the Mandans in the Dakota Territory.

Clark described that:(actor's voice): "The Mandans are a friendly and artistic tribe. They are truly nature's nobleman." (bird song) (narrator resumes): They went on over the mountains, came down to the Columbia. Clark mentions seeing a mountain. Anybody who has been in that area now, recognizes what is undoubtedly Mount Hood. They went down the Columbia River to its mouth, and built a fort there. Named it with a somewhat unmusical name of Fort Clatsop. Well, they come back, and immediately their journal is widely read. You have the first maps of that area. Clark is a pretty good artist - drawings of birds and flowers and all sorts of critters that were out there, he reproduces in that journal. And people began to develop an interest now in settling in the West, or at least some parts of it. There was another expedition also went into Louisiana. Lewis and Clark had gone up the Missouri River. Zebulon Pike would go along the Arkansas - will sight the mountain in Colorado that still bears his name, though he did not climb it. But after

these expeditions, people know more about the West, and after Louisiana, the territory of the United States was virtually doubled. In 1804 while Lewis and Clark were still on their expedition, Jefferson was re-elected President. He was re-elected with a great deal of ease. The vote in the Electoral College was 162 to 14. Certainly one of the bigger wins in history. Washington had been unanimous. James Monroe, all but one electoral vote. Roosevelt, Reagan - some of those had larger votes, but it was very unusual. This certainly shows that up to that point, people were quite happy with Jefferson in the White House. That same year there were other elections, of course, going on. One of them was for governor of New York. And who was running for the governor of New York, but Aaron Burr, Jefferson's old vice president - the one who had refused to admit that he had been nominated for vice president, instead of president.

And while he's running for governor of New York, he lets it be known to certain people that if he were elected, he would combine New York with New England and take them out of the Union. They would secede. They would form their own little northeastern country. Well, that's treason! A governor taking his state, and a section of the United States, away from the rest of the union? That's treason. And who found out about it? Alexander Hamilton - a New Yorker. Remember, he had not supported him for president, and Burr had never forgiven Hamilton for not supporting him. And now here this Hamilton again coming around, and exposing me as a traitor. So Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Now, Hamilton supposedly fired over the head of Aaron Burr. You don't have to kill your opponent in a duel; you just have to show that you have the courage to show up. (gunshot noise) Hamilton fired over Burr's head; Burr took direct aim and

killed Hamilton. Burr eventually died in disgrace in England - sort of a Benedict Arnold type of reputation. Now, in the area of foreign affairs, Jefferson's first problem concerned some nations along the northern coast of Africa called the Barbary states or the Barbary pirates. The Barbary pirates had a pretty good racket. What they would do is stop ships coming through the Strait of Gibraltar and hold the crews for ransom. Well, some countries just paid them an annual amount to leave them alone. The United States didn't do that. They tried to ransom people that were captured. The very day that Jefferson took office, we sent off 26 barrels of silver to the Barbary pirates for ransom. The government would pay about $200 of your ransom. You had to come up with the rest of it yourself, and it might be as high as four thousand dollars. Well, what do you do about that situation? We were too poor to pay and too

weak to fight, in general. And, besides, Jefferson didn't believe in big navies. You're not going to deal with the Barbary pirates unless you have a navy. Jefferson's idea of a proper navy was little small ships used to collect taxes on tariffs on ships coming into a country. They had these - they were called the Mosquito fleet. One of them was so small that a storm came up and blew it several miles inland and left it in a cornfield. Well, Jefferson decides, "I'm going to have to change my mind." He was perfectly willing to do that. He had done it with Louisiana. He adapted to the situation. We've got to have a navy. He used to think that navies just got you into wars. They bobbed around on the ocean and got in trouble with other ships; they protected merchants, and he wasn't all that interested in the merchants anyway. He changes his mind - He sends the navy over to deal with the Barbary pirates and deals with them fairly successfully. It would be over a period of years, but at least he started

We got one big hero out of that whole business - a naval officer named Stephen Decatur. The Barbary pirates had captured one of our ships - the Philadelphia, taken it into their harbor, and they were rebuilding the ship, putting new guns on it, and they were going to bring it out and use it against us. Decatur sailed into that harbor, right under the guns of 21 ships, went up to the Philadelphia, set it on fire, and sailed back out again without a hand being laid on it. (fire crackling sounds) Jefferson will have other foreign problems with which to deal. He is going to have to worry about the English and how to keep out of a war with them. We'll worry about that on the next program. Jefferson is going to be criticized for it, the way he handles that, and he's not going to like it. Jefferson was a private person. What did he want to do? He wanted to live here in Monticello. Life could come to him here. The world still comes to Monticello to try to get a feeling for Thomas Jefferson. He didn't like to go out there. He was very sensitive to criticism.

He once said that an ounce of criticism more than made up for a pound of praise. But when you're in public life, you're going to be criticized. You either have to learn to deal with that or get out of it. He was willing to deal with it. He did not like to give speeches in public. He wrote his speeches out and had somebody else deliver them as president to Congress He was a private, sensitive person with a feeling for humanity - a person who was forced out of his private life here into the arena of public affairs.