CCUS 10 - Jefferson and 1812
Hi, I’m John Green, this is Crashcourse
U.S. history and today we’re going to discuss
Thomas Jefferson.
We’re gonna learn about how America became
a thriving nation of small, independent farmers,
eschewing manufacturing and world trade, and
becoming the richest and most powerful nation
in the world in the 19th century, all thanks
to the vision of Thomas Jefferson, the greatest
and most intellectually consistent founding
father, who founded the University of Virginia
and grew twenty varieties of peas at Monticello...
[Present John:] Me From the Past! Get to your
desk. In a stunning turn of events, Me from
the Past is an idiot and Jefferson is more
complicated than that.
Intro
So, in 1800, Thomas Jefferson, pictured here.
This is the third time we’ve featured Thomas
Jefferson on the chalkboard so we had to go
a little Warhol on it.
Right so Jefferson, the Republican, ran against
John Adams, the Federalist. 1800 was the first
election where both parties ran candidates
and actually campaigned, and surprisingly,
the Federalists’ elitist strategy of “Vote
for Adams because he’s better than you,”
did not work.
Now, both parties realized that it was important
to coordinate their electoral strategy to
make sure that the vice presidential candidate
got least one fewer electoral votes than the
Presidential candidate.
But then the Republican elector who was supposed
to throw his vote away forgot to, so there
ended up being a tie between Thomas Jefferson
and Aaron Burr.
As per the Constitution, the election went
to the House of Representatives, where it
took 36 ballots and the intervention of Alexander
Hamilton before Jefferson was finally named
president.
Incidentally, Burr and Hamilton really disliked
each other, and not in, like, the passive
aggressive way that politicians dislike each
other these days, but in the four-years-later-they-would-have-a-duel-and-Burr-killed-Hamilton
kind of way.
A duel which occurred--wait for it--in New
Jersey.
But anyway, shortly after the election of
1800, the 12th amendment was passed, making
the electoral college simpler, but not as
simple as, say, you know, one person’s vote
counting as one vote.
Anyway, complain about the electoral college
all you want, but without it, we would never
have had President Rutherford B. Hayes. And
just LOOK AT THAT BEARD.
So Jefferson became president, and his election
showed that Americans wanted a more democratic
politics where common people were more free
to express their opinions. The Federalists
were never a really a threat again in presidential
politics, and arguably the best thing that
John Adams ever did was transfer power in
an orderly and honorable way to his rival,
Jefferson.
Jefferson’s campaign slogan was “Jefferson
and Liberty,” but the liberty in question
was severely limited.
Only a fraction of white men were allowed
to vote, and of course, there was no liberty
for the slaves.
There’s a lot of contentious debate on the
subject of Jefferson and slavery, but here’s
my two cents, which I should NOT be allowed
to contribute because we should only round
to the nearest nickel, which by the way features
Thomas Jefferson.
So Thomas Jefferson was a racist and he wrote
about black people’s inherent inferiority
to whites and Native Americans, and the fact
that he fathered children with one of his
slaves doesn’t change that.
George Washington freed his slaves upon his
death. Well, sort of, they were supposed to
be freed upon his wife’s death, but living
in a house full of people who were waiting
for you to die made Martha want to free them
while she was still alive.
But with few exceptions, Jefferson didn’t
free his slaves upon his death and throughout
his life, he used the sale of slaves to finance
his lavish lifestyle.
And, this leads to two big philosophical questions
when it comes to history. First, if Jefferson
clearly did not think that black people were
the intellectual or moral equals of whites
and was perfectly comfortable keeping them
in bondage, then what does the most important
phrase of the Declaration of Independence
actually mean?
And, the second question is even broader:
does it matter if a person of tremendous historical
importance had terrible aspects to their character?
Does being a bad person diminish your accomplishments?
I don’t have a great answer for those questions,
but I will tell you that no one remembers
Richard Nixon for starting the EPA.
But this is very important to understand:
slaves were aware of the concept of liberty
and they wanted it.
So, in addition to an election, 1800 also
saw one of the first large scale slave uprisings.
Gabriel’s Rebellion was organized by a Richmond
VA blacksmith who hoped to seize the capital,
kill some of its inhabitants and hold the
rest hostage until his demands for abolition
were met.
But, the plot was discovered before they could
carry it out and Gabriel along with 25 other
slaves was hanged.
But, after the rebellion, Virginians, if they
didn’t know it already, were very aware
that slaves wanted and expected liberty.
And the response was predictable: Virginia
made its laws concerning slaves much harsher.
It became illegal for slaves to meet in groups
on Sundays unless supervised by whites, and
it became much more difficult for whites to
legally free their slaves.
Oh, it’s time for the mystery document?
The rules here are simple.
Identify the author, no shock. Fail to identify
the author, shock.
“The love of freedom, sir, is an inborn
sentiment, which the God of nature has planted
deep in the heart: long may it be kept under
by the arbitrary institutions of society;
but, at the first favorable moment, it springs
forth, and flourishes with a vigour that defies
all check. This celestial spark, which fires
the breast of the savage, which glows in that
of the philosopher, is not extinguished in
the bosom of the slave. It may be buried in
the embers; but it still lives; and the breath
of knowledge kindles it to flame. Thus we
find, sir, there have never been slaves in
any country who have not seized the first
favorable opportunity to revolt.” [1]
I mean, from the bit at the beginning about
the love of freedom, it seems like it could
be Jefferson, but the rest does not seem like
Jefferson.
It probably wasn't a slave since they were
denied access to education precisely because
the breadth of knowledge is so dangerous to
the institution of slavery.
Ugh, this is looking pretty bleak for me,
Stan. Mmmm...John Jay? Dang it!
Who was it? GEORGE TUCKER? Who the John C.
Calhoun is George Tucker?
Is there a person watching this who knew that
it was George Tucker?
Apparently George Tucker was a member of the
General Assembly of Virginia, and the Mystery
Document was a description of Gabriel’s
rebellion that suggested a solution to the
inherent problem of rebellious slaves.
He argued that we should set up a colony for
them in Indian territory in Georgia, which,
of course, also wouldn’t have worked because
we were soon to steal that territory.
But, back to Jefferson: His idea was to make
the government smaller, lower taxes, shrink
the military and make it possible for America
to become a bucolic, agrarian “empire of
liberty” rather than an English-style industrial-mercantile
nightmare landscape.
So how did he do? Well, really well at first.
Jefferson got rid of all the taxes except
for the tariff, especially the whiskey tax.
And then when he woke up with a terrible cheap-whiskey
induced hangover, he paid off part of the
national debt. He shrunk the army and the
navy and basically made sure that America
wouldn’t become a centralized, English style
state for at least the next 60 years.
Low taxes and small government sounds great,
but no navy? That would be tough, especially
when we needed ships (and Marines) to fight
the Barbary Pirates (on the shores of Tripoli)
who kept capturing our ships in the Mediterranean
and enslaving their crews.
This is yet another example of how foreign
affairs keeps getting in the way of domestic
priorities, in this case the domestic priority
of not wanting to spend money on a navy.
Also, vitally, Jefferson’s presidency really
marks the last time in American history when
a Republican president didn’t want to spend
money on the military.
Don’t get me wrong, Democrats can do it
too. I’m looking at you, LBJ.
As much as he wanted to get rid of any trace
of the Federalists, Jefferson found himself
thwarted by that eminently conservative and
undemocratic institution, the Supreme Court.
Jefferson appointed Republicans to most government
positions, but he couldn’t do anything about
the Supreme Court, because they serve for
life.
And, since the country was only like twelve
years old, they were all still pretty fresh.
Most important among them was Chief Justice,
John Marshall, who happened to be a Federalist.
Marshall was Chief Justice basically forever
and is without question the most important
figure in the history of the Supreme Court.
He wrote a number of key opinions, but none
was more important that the 1803 decision
in Marbury v. Madison.
Marbury v. Madison is so important because,
in that decision, the Supreme Court gave itself
the power of judicial review, which allows
it to uphold or invalidate federal laws.
The court then extended this power to state
laws in Fletcher v. Peck and eventually even
to executive actions.
Like, we think of the main job of the Supreme
Court being to declare laws unconstitutional,
but that power isn’t anywhere in the constitution
itself.
Marbury v. Madison gave the Court that power
and without it the Supreme Court would probably
be a footnote in American history.
So unlike Marshall, Jefferson and the Republicans
were big proponents of strict construction,
the idea that the Constitution should be read
as literally as possible as a way of limiting
the power of the federal government.
The problem is, there might be things the
government wants to do that the Constitution
didn’t account for, like, for instance,
buying a large tract of land from Napoleon,
who, as we remember from Crash Course World
History, complicates everything. Let’s go
to the Thought Bubble.
So, yeah, Jefferson basically doubled the
size of the US in what came to be known as
the Louisiana Purchase. Napoleon was eager
to sell it because the rebellion in Haiti
had soured him on the whole idea of colonies
and also because he needed money.
Jefferson wanted to purchase New Orleans because
western farmers were shipping their products
through the city, and when he approached France
about this, Napoleon was like, hey, how about
I sell you...this?
Jefferson couldn’t turn down that deal,
so he bought the whole kit and caboodle for
$15 million, which is worth about $250 million
today. To put that into perspective, a new
aircraft carrier costs about $4.5 billion.
So he got a good deal.
What’s the problem with this? Well nothing
if you believe in a powerful government that
can do stuff that’s not in the Constitution.
But if you are a strict constructionist, like
Jefferson, you have to reconcile this obviously
beneficial act with there being no mention
in the constitution of the President being
able to purchase land in order to expand the
size of the U.S.
So, laying scruple aside, Jefferson bought
Louisiana and then sent Lewis and Clark to
explore it, which they did, even going beyond
the boundaries of the purchase all the way
to the Pacific. And this was so cool that
it almost makes us forget that it was kind
of unconstitutional and a huge power grab
for the President. So the question is why
did he do it?
Jefferson’s desire to increase the size
of the country prompted Federalists to complain
that “we are to give money, of which we
have too little, for land, of which we already
have too much.” By doubling the size of
the country, Jefferson could ensure that there
would be enough land for every white man to
have his own small farm. And, this in turn
would ensure that Americans would remain independent
and virtuous because only a small farmer who
doesn’t have to depend on the market for
food, or shelter or anything really--well,
except slaves--can be truly independent and
thus capable of participating in a nation
of “free” men.
Thanks, Thought Bubble. And, this desire to
create a nation of independent farmers producing
only primary products helps to explain Jefferson’s
other incredibly controversial policy, the
embargo.
Jefferson imposed the embargo in order to
“punish” Britain for its practice of impressing
American sailors, as well as its blockade
of France, with whom Britain was once again--or
possibly just still--at war.
So basically, Jefferson wanted free trade
among nations, and his solution was to get
congress to forbid all American ships from
sailing to foreign ports.
The theory was that the British were so dependent
on American primary products like wood and
cotton that if we cut off trade with them
the British would stop impressing American
sailors and end their blockade.
What’s the connection between free trade
and Jefferson’s agrarian ideal?
Well, the idea was that America would trade
its primary products for Europe’s manufactured
goods so that the U.S. wouldn’t have to
develop any manufacturing capacity of its
own
Alas, or perhaps fortunately, this did not
work. For one thing, Britain and France were
too busy fighting each other even to notice
America’s embargo.
So, they just continued blockading and impressing.
Also, the embargo devastated the American
economy. I mean, exports dropped by 80%
Furthermore, not being able to import European
manufactured goods only served to spur American
manufacturing.
I mean, Jefferson might have wanted Americans
to be a bunch of self-sufficient farmers,
but Americans wanted European manufactured
stuff, like teapots and clocks and microwaves...well
then how did they cook stuff, Stan?
And if they couldn’t get that stuff from
Britain, they would just make it themselves.
So in terms of Jefferson’s agrarian ideal,
the embargo was a massive failure.
And lastly, the embargo limited the power
of the federal government about as much as
crystal meth limits cavities.
I mean, imposing the embargo was a colossal
use of federal power and it was also an imposition
on people’s liberties.
The problem the embargo was supposed to solve
didn’t go away and, as we’ll discuss next
week, it eventually led to the U.S.’s first
declared war.
For now I want to leave you with this. Thomas
Jefferson is revered and reviled in almost
equal measure in American history.
The Declaration of Independence, which he
mainly drafted, is a signal achievement, delineating
some heroic ideas for the founding of the
United States, but also embedding some of
its crucial shortcomings.
And Jefferson’s presidency is like that
too. He claimed to champion small government
but he enlarged federal power more than Washington
or Adams ever did. He imagined an agrarian
republic but his policies led to increased
manufacturing; he wanted to foster freedom,
but he owned slaves and took land from the
Indians. In the end, Jefferson’s life and
policies encapsulate the best and the worst
of us, which is why his Presidency is still
worth studying closely. I’ll see you next
week.
Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan
Muller. Our script supervisor is Meredith
Danko. The associate producer is Danica Johnson.
The show is written by my high school history
teacher, Raoul Meyer, and myself. And our
graphics team is Thought Cafe.
If you have questions about today’s video,
please ask them in comments where they’ll
be answered by our team of historians. And
we’re also accepting submissions for the
Libertage captions.
Thanks for watching Crash Course and as we
say in my hometown, don’t forget to be awesome...Oh
that was a fake out! It’s going this way.
CCUS 10 Jefferson
________________
[1] George Tucker, quoted in Foner, Voices
of Freedom p. 150.
This page was last edited on 31 March 2022, at 04:10