The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson

Joe Catanzaro

Thomas Jefferson Essay

10.19.2005

The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson

The presidency of the United States is more or less considered the premier position of power in the world today. Back in the days when the United States was just a new, developing nation however, it was much more than that. Being president of the United States in those days meant you were the overseer of the very activities that would shape the past and future of one of the now most powerful world powers known to man. One such overseer, the third president of our United States, was none other than Thomas Jefferson. Though there were two previous presidents before him, President Jefferson was the first to have the privilege of life in the newly constructed White House.

President Jefferson, a federalist, was in hot contention with Mr. Alexander Hamilton, of the Republican Party, for the seat of Presidency in the 1801 presidential race. Jefferson had had previous political experience; he was the vice president to John Adams from 1797 to 1801, first Secretary of State from 1789 to 1795, part of which was under the presidency of both George Washington and John Adams, as well as American Ambassador to France, Founder of the University of Virginia, and dabbled in many different subjects, including Horticulture, Etymology, and Architecture. It is this intellectual diversity and variation that the author believes were Jefferson's strong points in both creating the Democratic - Republican Party, and winning the Presidential Election of 1801.

Thomas Jefferson was not without flaws, however. In fact, one of his major flaws was an unfortunate excellence in Hypocrisy. Although Jefferson was one of the main supporters of the anti-slavery movement, he was an avid slave-owner and slave-trader. It is surprising that voters did not see this as a negative trait in Jefferson, enough to the point to vote for the other of the candidates; it must have been Hamilton's strict interpretation of the current matters of the time that pushed voters away from Hamilton and toward Jefferson. While Jefferson was very against slavery, he also was involved in what is now called the 'Sally Hemings Controversy'. Contained in this scandal is the question of whether or not Jefferson