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Did Thomas Jefferson live up to his original ideals?

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Did Thomas Jefferson live up to his original ideals?

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Thomas Jefferson did not live up to his original ideals he made when he became president. He wrote about how slavery was awful but than didn't do anything to stop it and he owned almost 100 salves. Also he believed in a strong state government but he took away the taxes and tariffs so the government did not have as much money as they could have, therefore the states did not have as much money to strengthen and expand their government.  He also went against his believes about the constitution.

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When Thomas Jefferson made his speeches he spoke against slavery and said it must stop, but he never took action to stop it. As well  Jefferson owned almost 100 slaves on his plantation and home, Monticello. His slaves served him and his family. Despite him being against slavery, he was a hypocrite when it came to this topic and he only granted freedom to about 7 of his slaves. When he would talk in front of the public, he would say how slavery was against the constitution and how it should end, but, in a letter to Edward Coles he says, "They(African Americans) are a pest in society by their idleness (being without a job)." This shows how even though he said he didn't support slavery he wasn't necessarily fair to them about their intentions of being in the US.

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Power to the States and Taxes and Tariffs

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Power to the States and Taxes and Tariffs

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Jefferson believed in a very strong state government. Also he argued a lot with Alexander Hamilton about whether to have taxes and tariffs or not but Jefferson did not like the taxes and tariffs at all and wanted them not to be a thing at all. Due to the fact that without the taxes or tariffs the government would not have as much money if they did, the government wouldn't be able to give as much money to the states. Therefore, the states couldn't have as strong of a government because of the amount of money they have. If the government cant give the states more money they would be able to expand their own state government and become more powerful, which was what Jefferson wanted. In document 7 the text says, "Jefferson tried to shrink the government and cut costs whenever possible. He reduced the size of the army, hated a planned expansion of the navy and lowered expenses for government social functions." This demonstrates how Jefferson wanted, in a way, for the government to be not as strong as the states government, assuming the state government didn't get weaker as the government got weaker. Also, if he continued to weaken the government and not find ways to bring in money, the circumstance might be similar to the effect of the articles of confederation.

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Jefferson was on the democrat and republican side and did not like the federalists. They had opposing views on how to interpret the constitution. The federalists viewed the words of the constitution as, if it doesn't say you can't than it should be allowed with congressional approval. The democrat/republican side including Jefferson believed that if the constitution didn't say you could do it, you couldn't do it. Even though that's what he believed, to pass the Louisiana purchase he had to agree with the federalists about how to interpreter the constitution. In document 6 it ways, "Eventually, Jefferson was convinced by advisers, including Thomas Paine that the transaction was not beyond the scope of the constitution." This shows how, to get the purchase thru and approved, he had to go against what he originally believed was right by interpreting/inferring what the words implied and not just what they said.

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As a result, Thomas Jefferson did not follow the ideals he originally wrote when be became president. Originally he, did not believe slavery was a good thing, he wanted the states to have a very strong government and did not like the taxes and tariffs and lastly, he interpreted the constitution as, if it doesn't say you can do it, than you should not be able to do it. As he became president he had to stretch, or not follow, the ideals and beliefs he had for himself. Do you think Jefferson followed his ideals?