Essay On The Embargo Act Of 1977 Dbq

Jefferson’s election in 1800 marked the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties in U.S. history. This showed that the country could transition power without getting into violence or conflict. Jefferson believed in limited government and states rights, which means that he thought the federal government should have less power and the states should have more. Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana land in 1803 doubled the size of the United States and expanded executive power by allowing the President to make large land purchases without approval from Congress.

Jefferson wanted to stop the shipment of goods, war materials and other things during the time of Napoleonic Wars. Jefferson also hoped that the Embargo act would orevent any possible wars between the United States and other allied countries. The mbargo act was passed in the month of December in 1807 and it did, in fact, prevent all the possible wars. Others thought it was a father of the War

The Federalists opposed the Louisiana Purchase due to political reasons. In document B it states, “The cowardly wretch at their head [Jefferson]”. This quote displays how low the Federalists thought of Jefferson. The document also states, “an infernal pleasure in the utter destruction of his opponents”, showing that Jefferson is thought of as a man with demonic pleasures against the Federalists. Further reasoning is that if they denied him an amendment to buy Louisiana, he would be stuck in a dilemma.

In 1803 a great conflict arose between France and England known as the Napoleonic Wars. These wars would go on for years and would affected America greatly. Eventually the Napoleonic Wars war came to an impasse with neither fractions being able to get the upper hand on the other. Both England and France then decided to target each other’s trade partners in order to weaken their forces by leaving them without necessary supplies or food. Unfortunately the United States was both England’s and France’s trade partner.

The purchasing of the Louisiana Territory promoted Jefferson’s vision for the country because his plans for this nation depended on western expansion as well as access to the international markets for American farmer products. His vision was threatened when France gained control of Louisiana. Napoleon threatened to block American access to the New Orleans port. Napoleon, for a number of reasons, most to do with money, offered the Louisiana territory to the US for a minimal amount. The US now owning the Louisiana territory more than doubled its size overall.

15) Thomas Jefferson believed that if America cut off trade with other countries, then those countries would cooperate with American demands. A problem with this, was when he used American trade to get the French and English to meet their demands by cutting off ALL trade with ALL countries. These were called the Embargo Acts of 1807. The Americans were more greatly affected than the French or British because the French and British did not completely rely on America, but the merchants and traders were pretty dependent on trade with the French and British. The Embargo Acts cut the American gross national product by 5% and weakened the economy.

The Louisiana Purchase did not go against the constitution and it eventually set the precedent for future administrations. The Purchase seemed unconstitutional as there was no precedent set by any President before Jefferson. No President had ever before tried to purchase land from a foreign power and it was therefore up for debate as to whether the President seemed to have these powers. Jefferson went against his principles by going through with the Purchase, but he understood that if the United States waited too long to make a decision, Napoleon would sell the land to another country. Furthermore, it can be argued that the Louisiana Purchase was the result of pre-existent negotiations between the U.S. and France.

To enforce the Embargo Act, Jefferson sent secret agents aboard ships to prevent any black market trading amongst the people. This undermined the people’s rights and took away the livelihood and freedom of many Americans, which is represented in the image in Document D. In Document B, Jefferson says, “the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”, Jefferson contradicts his Inaugural Address in Document B when he created the Embargo Act. The Embargo Act, keeping neutrality, ruined the nation’s economy and affected the majority of the US as a whole. Not only did Jefferson disrupt the minority through the use of secret agents hidden aboard ships for citizen surveillance, but he also caused major trouble for the American Economy. According to Document F, just before the Embargo Act was created, a ship by the name of the U. S. S. Chesapeake was

As president of a new country, Thomas Jefferson was forced to assert his authority and make difficult decisions he felt necessary to promote a strong and unified nation. In 1803, he made a decision that created much philosophical controversy at the time, but is said to be one of his greatest achievements as president. Though Jefferson was criticized for abandoning his strict Republican beliefs in purchasing the Louisiana territory, he did not actually desert his political ideals because he took into account his notions of individualism’s necessity to a nation, an agrarian-based society, and the Constitution’s allowance for acquiring new territory. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States which was an essential aspect to the individualism of the country. Jefferson believed vast amounts property was critical to develop Republican citizens because with more land came more independence and responsibility.

In conclusion both the Federalist and the Democratic Republicans had strong options about the Alien and Sedition Acts, most of which were different in relation to what was constitutionally right or wrong. John Adams truly tried to do something proper regarding the acts but it sadly backfired when he discovered the citizens of the United States enjoyed their personal freedom. Although I would have managed the Sedition Acts differently I believe this event contributed greatly into the shaping of our government since it was still pretty clear that our Founding Fathers had no idea how to run a nation. This event only lead to the discovery of political parties and the truth about personal opinions regarding the community members of this society.

While the supporters of Thomas Jefferson believe that buying foreign land was necessary, those who are against him feel that what he did was unconstitutional. In the source, “Thomas Jefferson to John Breckinridge, 12 August 1803”, the text explains that what Jefferson did was allowed, as it had not mentioned that he couldn’t in the constitution. This controversy is huge, because some people believe that he did not have the right to do so. Jefferson made a point that it wasn’t mentioned in the constitution, so he decided to ratify it and pay for it. Some believe congress did not have the right to authorize this decision.

The Federalist and Republican Parties surfaced during George Washington’s term as President of the United States. During Washington’s term, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson’s opposing views helped with the creation of these parties. Both had the best intentions for the newly founded United States, but their thinking went in different directions. The disagreements centered on the amount of control the national government had and the capabilities of the American people to govern themselves. The Federalist Party believed there should be a strong central government at the expense of the states’ rights, the government should be run by wealthy, highly-educated people encouraging manufacturing and trade, and the Constitution should be used as a guide and interpreted loosely.

In the 1790s, there were two men who had different beliefs regarding how the United States should function. The two men were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was the leader of the Republican party and Hamilton was the leader of the Federalist party. The political parties were created by Hamilton and Jefferson based on their differences in opinion on how the country should run. For example, Jefferson believed that the government should be self-governed and all of the power should go to the individual states.

The Louisiana Purchase was one of the United States’ largest land deals ever. The US bought the one hundred, eighty-six thousand square mile territory for about 5.5 cents per square mile, 35 and one-third cent per acre. At that time, the early 1800’s, the US was expanding westward, and Louisiana, which was owned by Spain, was right in the way. Thomas Jefferson become the third president of the United States on February seventeenth, 1801, and was looking west even before.

Jefferson’s dilemma in the Louisiana Purchase In April of 1803 Thomas Jefferson was faced with many moral dilemmas in the process of buying the Louisiana territory. Though the price for the territory was beyond generous, Jefferson felt that by purchasing the territory he would be going against his beliefs that the constitution should be followed word for word. The constitution said nothing of the president having the power to purchase land from another government, or to use money of the states for the same purpose (“the moral dilemma”). Another problem was once the land was purchased, there was a fear that it could have been a waste since they had no way to know the layout of the land, and what it would be useful for.