Thomas JeffersonJefferson had destroyed political traditions. From his contradictions
and defecting his priciples, Jefferson destroyed the political precedent
and is a exemplatory hypocrite, which can be seen throughout his
administration.
Jefferson was an admired statesman who was grappling unsuccessfully
with the moral issue of slavery. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the
Declaration of Independence, opposed slavery his whole life, yet he never
freed his own slaves. He championed Enlightenment principles, yet never
freed himself of the prejudices of his soceity. Jefferson was extremely
hypocritical in the issue of slavery. Jefferson was a plantation owner
early in his life, and had slaves working for him throughout his life.
Jefferson had tolerated while he didn’t accept others who owned slaves.
Jefferson denounced the slave owners, while he was owning and using slaves.
Although Jefferson was supposedly a good slave owner, his hypocritical
nature made him accuse others not to own slaves while he, himself was
owning slaves. Another part of the hypocrisy was that Jefferson believed
that the slaves were dependent upon the white man, while he, himself was
dependent upon the slaves. Jefferson also was hypocritcal in his
acquisition of the Loisiana territory. In Jeffersonian principles, large
expansive governments were bad, and small was good. This was a antithesis
of that principle. Jefferson knew that the acquisition of the Loisiana
territory was beneficial to the welfare of the U.S. According to the
constitution, nowhere in the constitution is the acquisition of land a
right of the government, Jeffersons’ predisposition was to strictly go by
the constitution (as seen with the national bank controversy), this is
another contradiction during his administration. Since the appropriation of
the Lousiana territory was important for the expansion of the united
states, he temporarily dismissed his principles, therefore destroying
political traditions.
Another hypocritical event during Jeffersons’ administration was his
acceptance of the National Bank. Early in Jefferson’s political career,
Jefferson had debated with Hamilton on whether to have the National Bank.
“When this government was first established, it was possible to have kept
it going on true principles, but the contracted, English, half-lettured
ideas of Hamilton destroyed that hope in the bud, We can pay off his debts
in 15 years.” Early in Jefferson’s Administration, Jefferson had denounced
the National Bank. At the end of his administration, Jefferson realized
that the National Bank was important and this is hypocritical by
disregarding his principles.
The Burr conspiracy depicted Jefferson as a ruthless, and a individual
who will do anything inorder to achieve his goal. Jefferson championed
civil liberties and unalienable rights. Yet, Jefferson violated civil
liberties by coercing witnesses, arrested with out habeus corpus and
prosecuting in a “court” of his own. Jefferson and Jeffersonians are
hypocrites from the start and they destroyed political tradition as seen
during Jeffersons’ administration.
Jeffersonians show an immense amount of hypocritism in their policies.
For example, Federalists had supported high tarriffs, inorder to protect
national manufacturers and american industry. The tarriffs were a vital
determinent, which kept the economy of the United States viable. The
Jeffersonians, not the Federalists began the American system of protecting
american industry which initially was a major constituent of the federalist
platform.
