Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Contradiction- a proposition, statement, or phrase that asserts or implies both the truth and falsity of something. Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd president of the United States of America. Jefferson, along with Adams, Hamilton, Washington, and Madison were the Founding Fathers of our country. Among the Founding Fathers, four of them are said to be heroic, Jefferson however, was the opposite. Thomas Jefferson made many contradictions in his beliefs and values when it came to being a leader for the United States; these contradictions made him one of the worst presidents in American history.

Jefferson was an anti-federalist. This meant that he was a member of the group that opposed the adoption of the United States constitution. Anti-federalists wanted to strengthen the power of the states and weaken the central government. However, Jefferson ended up being a creator of the constitution; therefore, he supported a strong central government. By doing this, Jefferson did the exact opposite of his belief when it came to the political strengths and weaknesses.

In 1798, four laws were passed by congress to strengthen the power of the central government. These four laws were called the Alien and Sedition Acts. The acts were designed to protect the United States from alien citizens and to stop seditious attacks from making the government weaker. Later, these acts were repealed by none other than Thomas Jefferson. This would have extended the national power to be greater than that of the states. Soon after that, the

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were passed. These resolutions gave power to the states themselves which opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The new naturalization law was passed in 1802. The law stated that the clerk had to record the entry of all aliens into the United States. The information needed from these immigrants included their name, birthplace, age, nation of allegiance, country of emigration, and place of intended settlement. The naturalization law granted that all immigrants were to be given the same rights as a natural citizen of the states.

The whiskey rebellion was a protest on tax in the United States in the 1790's. Those who had traded goods such as corn were "paid" in whiskey. The tax was placed so that those who were receiving the whiskey had to pay a price. The idea of this was by Alexander Hamilton to help pay off the country's national debt to the British. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson, who was a Republican at the time, repealed this tax. Jefferson, being a Democrat-Republican (Anti-federalist) did not wish to make those who purchased whiskey pay a tax to get the country out of debt.

Thomas Jefferson is probably the most well-known for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. This was said to be "the greatest real estate deal in history". Jefferson purchased