The Presidential election of 1800 was bitterly fought. Adams and Jefferson had become enemies. Aaron Burr also sought the Presidency and made backroom deals trying to win. In the end, Thomas Jefferson won, and Aaron Burr was elected Vice President.
Jefferson took office on March 4, 1801. He was the first President inaugurated in Washington, D.C., which had become the nation’s permanent capital in 1800. He had been living at a boarding house in Washington. Many people thought he would wear fancy clothes and go by carriage to his inauguration. But on the day he took office, Jefferson dressed plainly. He walked the two blocks from his rooms to the U.S. Capitol building. There he was sworn in as President.
Jefferson gave a fine speech. A thousand people packed the hall to hear it. Put aside your political differences, the new President told Americans. “We are all Republicans—we are all Federalists.” Jefferson also stated his goal: “Peace … and an honest friendship with all nations.” The problem was, only the people in the first few rows heard him. He was still a terrible speaker. Besides, he was very nervous. He spoke so quietly, many listeners had to read the speech in the newspapers the next day.
The new President moved into the White House, which wasn’t yet completed. Jefferson turned out to be an outstanding national leader. He had long wanted the nation to expand westward. In 1803, he helped make the greatest land deal in U.S. history. For $15 million, the nation bought 828,000 square miles of land from France in what is now the central United States. Called the Louisiana Purchase, this deal doubled the country’s size. Later, all or part of fifteen states were carved from the region.
Jefferson was curious about lands beyond the Louisiana Purchase as well. In 1804, he sent out a group of explorers led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They traveled from near St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Northwest. On their journey they learned about western lands and Indians. The Lewis and Clark Expedition helped the U.S. claim more land. Later, it became three states: Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.
THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION
THOMAS JEFFERSON HAD ALWAYS BEEN CURIOUS ABOUT THE AMERICAN WEST. AS PRESIDENT, HE COMMISSIONED AN EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE AND MAP THE TERRITORY. IN MAY 1804, CO-CAPTAINS MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK SET OUT FROM NEAR ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. TRAVELING BY RIVER AND LAND, THEY JOURNEYED TO THE OREGON COAST AND BACK AGAIN—A DISTANCE OF MORE THAN 8,000 MILES. THEY WERE ACCOMPANIED BY A CREW OF MEN AND THE SHOSHONE INDIAN INTERPRETER SACAGAWEA. IT TOOK THE EXPLORERS TWO YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS TO COMPLETE THEIR JOURNEY.
Jefferson brought a new style to the Presidency. Washington and Adams had been formal and dignified. Jefferson was relaxed and friendly. The President rode his horse around Washington, often speaking to strangers. He opened the White House to everyone. “He was dressed with an old brown coat, woolen hose, slippers without heels,” wrote one visitor from New Hampshire. “I thought this man was a servant. It was the President.” Jefferson’s pet mockingbird also surprised visitors. Dick liked to fly about the White House, sometimes landing on Jefferson’s shoulder.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WORK BEGAN ON THE WHITE HOUSE, WHICH WAS TO BE THE HOME OF EACH PRESIDENT, IN 1792. GEORGE WASHINGTON CHOSE THE SITE FOR THE MANSION, BUT HE NEVER LIVED THERE HIMSELF. JOHN ADAMS AND HIS WIFE, ABIGAIL, WERE THE FIRST RESIDENTS—THEY MOVED IN IN LATE 1800.
Jefferson was re-elected as President in late 1804. This time, George Clinton of New York was his Vice President. By his second inauguration, Jefferson was sixty-one years old. He was a grandfather now. Sometimes his loved ones from Virginia visited him in Washington. During one visit, in early 1806, Patsy had her eighth child. The baby was named James Madison Randolph. James was the first baby born in the White House.
President Jefferson also kept in touch with his family by writing letters. On his second inauguration day—March 4, 1805—Jefferson wrote to his granddaughter Ellen. The “pressure of the day” made it hard for him to write a long letter, he explained. But he sent her a poem. He ended by saying:
I am called [away] by company. Therefore, God bless you, my dear child. Kiss your Mama and sisters for me, & tell them I shall be with them in about a week from this time.
Th. Jefferson
Jefferson expected his grandchildren to write back to him.
Ellen didn’t answer Jefferson’s March 4 letter. So, later that spring, he wrote to her, saying, that if she didn’t write soon, “I shall send the sheriff after you.” The nine-year-old girl knew that her grandfather the President was joking, but she did write back.
Keeping peace was the greatest challenge of President Jefferson’s second term. The British needed sailors for their ships. They often got them by stopping American vessels at sea and kidnapping American sailors. To make things worse, Britain attacked the U.S. Navy ship Chesapeake in 1807. Jefferson ordered British ships out of American waters. He resisted the outcry to take revenge on Britain, however. By so doing, he kept the nation out of war.
As President, he also considered ways to end slavery. The man who had declared that “all men are created equal” knew that slavery was wrong. He once wrote: “Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people [the slaves] are to be free.” And as far back as 1774, he had said that freeing the slaves was “the great object of desire” in the thirteen colonies. He also saw that he was part of the problem. Over the years, he had owned 400 slaves at Monticello, including Sally Hemings and his own four slave children.
Jefferson considered ways to end slavery. Should all the slaves be freed at once? Should they be freed gradually? Or was it best just to prevent new slaves from entering the country? Freeing all the slaves at once would cause problems, he thought. A slave was worth hundreds of dollars. Southern whites might be fighting mad if their slaves were freed.
He finally acted in 1806, but with a weak attack on slavery. That December, President Jefferson asked Congress to end the slave trade. As of January 1, 1808, it became illegal to bring any more slaves into the country. Jefferson hoped that this would make slavery slowly die out. But it didn’t. New slaves were smuggled in. And slaves already in America had children. These babies were born slaves, increasing the slave population. Jefferson’s failure to act boldly to end slavery was perhaps his greatest failure as President. Not until 1865 would the Civil War end slavery in the United States.
Jefferson probably could have won a third term. But, like George Washington, he thought two terms were enough. During his second term, he also suffered from terrible headaches that kept him from working for days at a time. He decided not to run again in 1808. He was pleased when his friend James Madison succeeded him as President.
On the March day in 1809 that he took office, Madison asked Jefferson to ride with him in his carriage. Jefferson refused, wanting no special treatment. “This day, I return to the people,” he said.
Former President Jefferson then went home to Monticello. |