Thomas Jefferson was elected the third US President in 1800. During his two terms, he oversaw the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the size of the US, established judicial review in the Marbury v. Madison Supreme Court case, and issued the Embargo Act in an attempt to punish Britain and France for trade issues but which damaged the US economy instead. An expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark also explored the new western lands.

1. PRESIDENCY OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON
1801-1809

2. 1. Incumbent – currently in office
2. Judicial review – the right of the Supreme Court to determine if a law violates
the Constitution
3. Customs duties – taxes on foreign imported goods
4. Frontiersman - a man living in the region between settled and unsettled
country
5. Embargo – an order that prohibits trade with another country
6. Impressment – the practice of forcing people to serve in the army or navy

3. • The election of 1800 was full of contention (heated disagreement)
• The Federalist candidates were John Adams (incumbent) and Charles Pinckney
• The Democratic-Republican candidates were Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr
• The election ended in a tie, with Jefferson and Burr each receiving 73 electoral
votes
• After days of voting in the House of Representatives, Thomas Jefferson
became the third president of the U. S., with Aaron Burr as his vice president

4. • After the problems with the election of 1800, Congress passed the
12th Amendment, creating a separate ballot for president and vice
president

6. • Jefferson was a strong supporter of states’ rights, and believed in reducing the
power of the federal gov’t.
• Jefferson’s cabinet included:
- James Madison – Secretary of State
- Albert Gallatin – Secretary of the Treasury
• Jefferson’s administration allowed the Alien & Sedition Acts to expire, and
repealed the Naturalization Act, which had required aliens to live in the U.S. for
14 years (instead of 5) before being eligible for citizenship.
• These Acts were seen by the Dem-Rep Party as signs that the federal
government threatened individual liberties

7. • To reduce the national debt, Jefferson reduced the size of the army and navy.
He also persuaded Congress to repeal the whiskey tax.
• Gov’t funds would now come only from customs duties, and from sale of
western lands

8. • Before Jefferson took office,
the Federalists passed the
Judiciary Act of 1801, which
created 16 judgeships that
John Adams had promised
to Federalists before leaving
office
• This ensured that
Federalists would control
the courts

9. • One of the judges Adams
appointed was William
Marbury, but his commission
was not delivered before
Jefferson took office.
• Jefferson told Secretary of State
James Madison NOT to deliver
the commission
• Marbury sued, asking the
Supreme Court to order
Madison to deliver his
appointment papers

10. • Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the Court’s opinion in the case of Marbury
v. Madison
- The Supreme Court ruled that the law Marbury based his claim on was
unconstitutional; Marbury’s request was denied
• The case of Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court’s power of
Judicial Review

12. • President Jefferson wanted to expand the borders of the U. S.
• He feared that France would close New Orleans, part of the Louisiana Territory,
to American trade
• Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to
try to buy New Orleans. The French offered
to sell ALL of the Louisiana Territory to the
U. S. for $15 million.
• The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States

14. • To learn more about the land
acquired in the Louisiana
Purchase, Jefferson asked his
secretary, Meriwether Lewis,
and experienced frontiersman
William Clark to lead an
expedition
• In May 1804, Lewis and Clark
led 30 soldiers up the Missouri
River. The group was called
the Corps of Discovery.

15. • A Shoshone woman named
Sacagawea joined the group
as a guide when they
reached land near the Rocky
Mountains
• After 18 months, Lewis and
Clark reached the Pacific
Ocean
• Reports of their journey
inspired the American
people to travel westward

17. FYI:
- Jefferson also sent
explored Zebulon Pike to
check out the Western
Wilderness
- He found a mountain in
Colorado that later
became known as Pike’s
Peak.

18. FYI:
- Many Federalists opposed the
Louisiana Purchase, fearing that
the new territory would become
Republican and weaken their
party’s power
- Some Federalists in Massachusetts
planned to secede (withdraw) from
the Union and form a “Northern
Confederacy”
- They wanted to include all of New
England as well as New York; they
turned to Aaron Burr for support of
their plan

19. FYI:
- Alexander Hamilton had never trusted Aaron Burr. Hamilton became
concerned about rumors of Burr agreeing to lead New York out of the Union.
- Hamilton accused Burr of plotting treason
- Burr lost the 1804 election for governor of NY, and blamed Hamilton
- Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. They met, armed with guns, in New Jersey
- Burr shot and killed Hamilton.
- He stepped down as VP, and fled to avoid arrest

21. • Great Britain and France were still at war; each country wanted to stop the
other from trading with the U.S.
• In 1808, Jefferson urged Congress to pass the Embargo Act. This law banned
trade with all foreign countries
• The Embargo Act was the U.S. response to Britain’s practice of impressment of
U.S. citizens after they stopped and searched American ships
• Under the Embargo Act, American ships could not sail to foreign ports, and
American ports were closed to British and French ships
• By passing the Act, Congress hoped to punish Britain and France and protect
American merchant ships from capture

22. • The law was a disaster. American
merchants lost a lot of money,
and the British simply traded
with Latin America instead.
• In March 1809, Congress
repealed the Embargo Act and
replaced it with the Non-
Intercourse Act, which banned
trade only with Britain and
France.
• This law was just as unpopular
and ineffective, further damaging
the U. S. economy (and
contributing to the upcoming
War of 1812)

24. • Like Washington, Jefferson decided not to run for a third term
• He retired at his Virginia estate, Monticello
• Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826 – the 50th
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence