Jefferson Administrations - Jefferson Becomes President
The Thomas Jefferson Administrations
With the presidential election of 1800, the United States replaced its Federalist John Adams with Republican Thomas Jefferson. The fact that this transfer of power was accomplished without bloodshed prompted Jefferson to proclaim it a "revolution." After his inauguration Jefferson set out to implement his republican ideals by limiting the power of the federal government—cutting direct taxes, eliminating federal positions, and reducing military size and spending. With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which doubled the size of the United States, Jefferson hoped to encourage agricultural growth. The contradiction between Jefferson's politics of restraining federal power while actually having to make important executive decisions occasionally led Jefferson to trample on some of his ideals even as he pursued others.
Jefferson...
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