The Compromising of Principles

A detailed Summary of The Compromising of Principles

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Perhaps the most powerful words ever written by who scholars refer to as the greatest enlightened mind in early American politics, Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a philosopher of sorts, a man of great ideals and values, yet at the same time, a contradictory man. Here was a man who very clearly stated that all men are created equal, but at the same time, he was a large slaveholder. Nonetheless, Jefferson is a man remembered for the vision of what America was to become, an independent and expanding nation. The question then lies in what was to become of this independent and expanding nation? Was it to fall like other failed attempts at a republic as history had demonstrated before?* Or was it to grow into a thriving nation? Thomas Jefferson is as much a part in what the nation grows into as he was in creating it. In the 1790s, amidst great turmoil in the nation, Jefferson was a man of strong values and opinions. He believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution

The United States the dream versus the United States the reality were two different concepts. Prior to and during the Revolutionary War, the biggest concern the United States had was gaining independence from Great Britain. Although it had in mind in establishing a government that would run the country, they really had no clear cut way as to go about it. Thomas Jefferson was in the center along with other great figures such as George Washington and Alexander Hamilton at the time the nation's greatest minds were trying to formulate a government that would work. During the War they established the Articles of Confederation . Although it worked sufficient enough during the War it was not enough to carry the nation once they had gained their independence. It was not until the Constitution that a true government would be built that could carry the country. Although the Constitution was the document to which the government would abide it had no clear measures on how it should be interpreted. Enter Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson's greatest triumph in office was the Louisiana Purchase. He had always longed to expand westward but more importantly he had always wanted the United States to have control over the New Orleans port. When he sent James Monroe and Robert Livingston to France to negotiate a deal to buy the region of the New Orleans what he got was a much better deal. A desperate Napoleon in need of money offered to sell all of the Louisiana region. Monroe and Livingston dared not refuse. After Livingston signed the treaty he rose and said, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our lives." The purchase of Louisiana almost doubled the size of the nation. But before they could finalize the deal it had to go through Congress. The Constitution said nothing of purchasing land and this is when Jefferson's own ideals of a strict interpretation of the law were turned loose. At the same time Munroe and Livingston were in France Jefferson authorized a great expedition westward led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Their explorations laid down the foundations for travel westward. On westward expansion and Indians, Jefferson believed that "Indian tribes would either have to assimilate into American culture by becoming fathers and abandoning their seminomadic hunting or they would have to move west of the Mississippi River.

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Approximate Word count = 1599
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History