Thomas Jefferson
(March 4, 1801 to March 3, 1809)

Born: April 13, 1743
Died: July 4, 1826

Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Previous Occupation: Lawyer, planter

Elected From: Virginia
Vice President: Aaron Burr (1801-05); George Clinton (1805-09)
Cabinet Members: view list

Other Government Positions:
· Member of Virginia House of Burgesses, 1769-74
· Member of Continental Congress, 1775-76
· Governor of Virginia, 1779-81
· Member of Continental Congress, 1783-85
· Minister to France, 1785-89
· Secretary of State, 1790-93 (under Washington)
· Vice President, 1797-1801 (under J. Adams)

Inaugural Address: 1801, 1805
Biography: view

Presidential Highlights:
· Fired Adam’s "midnight appointments", also fired the federal lawyers and agents who had enforced the Sedation Act.

· Repealed Adam’s property tax.

· Repealed Washington’s whiskey tax.

· Issued an executive order banning the African slave trade in the United States (slaves could no longer be legally imported into the country).

· Negotiated 15 treaties with Indian tribes, expanding the size of the United States

· Negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, which purchased the Louisiana Territory (800,000 sq miles) from France for $13 million dollars.

· The Barbary War. The Barbary States of North Africa had plundered seaborne commerce for centuries. On May 14, 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli increased "tribute" demands upon the United States, and declared war. Jefferson dispatched an American squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean Sea. Several battles took place, and the United States imposed a naval blockade. On June 4, 1805, a peace treaty was signed which gave the United States the freedom of travel on the Mediterranean and relinquished Tripoli's claims for tribute.

· Signed the Nonimportation Act forbidding the importation of specified British goods in an attempt to force Great Britain to relax its rigorous rulings on cargoes and sailors. When impressment continued, the Embargo Act of 1807 was passed, which forbade all international trade to and from American ports. On March 1, 1809, the embargo was superseded by the Nonintercourse Act. This allowed resumption of all commercial intercourse except with Britain and France.

Presidential Election:
1800
Thomas Jefferson73
Aaron Burr73
John Adams65
Charles C. Pinckney64
John Jay1

1804
Thomas Jefferson162
Charles C. Pinckney77

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