Thomas JeffersonEssay on Jefferson
Jefferson 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.
