Unit Eight: The Jeffersonian Era

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Unit Eight The Jeffersonian Era

• American Wonder

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The Louisiana Territory

• The Purchase of the Louisiana Territory opened up
  a vast area (the boundaries being truly unknown)
  for American expansion.
• The only problem was that few Americans had
  traveled west of the Appalachians, let alone west
  of the Mississippi River into the Great Plains
  region.
• To find out what the new lands held two separate
  expeditions were sent into the west the Louis
  and Clark expedition and the Pike expedition.

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The Louisiana Territory

• To explore the northern half of the Louisiana
  Territory, Jefferson chose a close friend
  Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to head a
  group called the Corps of Discovery.
• Their job was to explore, map, keep detailed
  records, and make first contact with any Native
  Americans in the area.
• Lewis hired a French fur trader Toussaint
  Charbonneau as a guide and his wife Sacagawea
  (Bird women), a Shoshone Indian, as a translator
  for the mission.

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The Louisiana Territory

• The expedition started in St. Louis in 1804 and
  cannoned up the Missouri River up to the Rocky
  Mountains.
• They then crossed the continental divide or
  Great Divide (ridge of the Rockies) following
  the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.
• On the return trip Lewis and Clark split up to
  cover more territory, but canoed back together
  down the Missouri into St. Louis in 1806. (Most
  people even Jefferson thought they were dead)

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Lewis and Clark Expedition
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Lewis and Clark Expedition
York also called Toby slave on trip
Meriwether Lewis
William Clark
Sacagawea
Click on the picture above to join the journey.
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Pike Expedition

• In 1805 Jefferson commissioned Lieutenant Zebulon
  Pike to find the source of the
  Mississippi River, exploring
  the upper Mississippi River
  valley.
• In 1806, Pike was commissioned to explore the
  southwestern half of the Louisiana Territory.
• In what is today Colorado, Pike named the highest
  mountain top after himself called Pikes Peak.
  

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The Great American Desert

• He then turned south crossing into Spanish
  territory going through the town of Santa Fe and
  crossing over the Rio Grande (big river) where he
  was captured by Spanish soldiers.
• After he gave the Spanish his maps and notes they
  allowed the expedition to return home.
• Pike influenced future settlement into the Great
  Plains region because he called it the Great
  American Desert due to the endless grassy plains
  and lack of trees, stating it was only good for
  Indians.
• This caused many early settlers to skip over the
  Great Plains and head to the coastline of the
  Pacific Ocean.

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Pike Expedition
Rio Grande
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The Napoleonic Wars

• A major international issue developed in France
  in 1806 when Napoleon Bonaparte issued the Berlin
  Decree installing the Continental System. (to not
  allow Britain to trade with French allies or
  dependants)
• Shortly after the Berlin Decree Napoleon planned
  an invasion of Great Britain leading to the Third
  Napoleonic War.
• He then issued the Milan Decree which waged
  economic war on Britain ( any nation that traded
  with England was an enemy of France)

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Trouble on the High Seas

• In response to the decrees of Napoleon the
  British made the Orders in Council forbidding any
  trade with the French.
• The Napoleonic War caused troubles for American
  merchants because they where caught in the
  middle.
• American merchant ships were stopped on the high
  seas and American sailors were impressed (forced
  to serve for another navy) into the British navy.
  

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Troubles on the High Seas

• In response to the impressnment of American
  sailors, Americans offered any British sailors
  who wanted to desert (leave) the British navy
  safe passage to America and citizenship.
• Britain then issued a loose blockade of the
  American coastline to search American ships for
  deserters.
• The British warship HMS Leopard attacked and
  boarded the U.S.S. Chesapeake taking three
  prisoners known as the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair.
  
• The attack on an American vessel off the coast of
  Virginia highly enraged the American public.

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Embargo Act of 1807

• In response to the attack and the impressnment of
  American sailors Jefferson issued the Embargo Act
  of 1807 (later changed to the Non-intercourse
  Acts) restricting American merchants from trading
  with any foreign nation from 1807-1812.
• The Embargo was meant to be a peaceful diplomatic
  weapon against England and France, but angered
  many American merchants due to the lose of money.
  
• Many American merchants turned to smuggling,
  making the embargo inefficient.

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Embargo Act of 1807
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Domestic Issues

• During Jeffersons second term he also had to
  deal with many issues at home.
• In 1807 he signed legislation that banned the
  importation of slaves into America, but also
  disallowed Free blacks from carrying the male.
• Jefferson began the policy of relocation of
  Native Americans into the West, only allowing the
  Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek,
  Chickasaw, and Seminole) to remain.
• He had to deal with a huge corruption scandal
  known as the Yazoo Land Controversy.
• He also had to deal with members of his own party
  who believed he had went against the principles
  of the party.

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Home to Monticello

• By the end of 1808 Jefferson was tired of dealing
  with the nations problems and followed
  Washingtons example and refused to run again.
• Jefferson retired to his home in Virginia that he
  had designed and built called Monticello.
• Jefferson then went on to found the University of
  Virginia. (a school free of church dogma)
• Jefferson was a deist (people who believe in God,
  but that he does not interfere into our lives he
  is a watchmaker).
• Jefferson even had his own bible
  with all the miracles removed from it.

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Jeffersons Homes
Click on the Picture for a virtual tour of
Monticello and other information.
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Legacy of Jefferson

• Thomas Jefferson left behind a presidency of
  contradictions that was seen as a fulfillment of
  republican democratic ideals, but also as a
  Nationalizer of power in the hands of the Federal
  government.
• He established the Army Corps of Engineers and
  West Point but believed in a small military.
• Jefferson was a man ahead of his time, but was
  also the man needed in his time.

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Jefferson Memorial
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights,
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, that to secure these rights
governments are instituted among men.
We...solemnly publish and declare, that these
colonies are and of right ought to be free and
independent states...And for the support of this
declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of divine providence, we mutually
pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred
honour.