Jeffersonian DemocracyJeffersonian Democracy 6

CONTENTS

■Monticello, designed and built by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson cherished

classical Roman architecture; such architectural innovations greatly increased

the cost of the building—and Jefferson’s indebtedness.

Source: Langdon Clay/Esto

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one of the richest men in Virginia, owner of thousands of

acres of land and 200 slaves, was also plagued by debt. His

financial woes mounted as he built additions to

Monticello, his home, and acquired more books for his

library, one of the finest in the nation. Creditors harassed

him. “I am miserable till I shall owe not a shilling,” he

wrote in 1787. When he died, he was bankrupt. His slaves

were sold to pay creditors.

Jefferson’s antipathy toward debt influenced his

ideas about government. He opposed federal expendi-

tures because they could lead to indebtedness. A weak

government, too, was less likely to restrict individual

freedoms, a doctrine that prevailed for a century and

endures to this day. Few presidents have left a deeper

imprint. His parsimony sometimes left the nation vulner-

able to foreigners, whether high-handed European rulers

or pirate states in northern Africa. On a few occasions—

such as the chance to acquire the Louisiana territory—he

splurged, but soon recanted. On leaving office he urged

his successor to pay off the federal deficit.^1 ■

■Jefferson Elected President

■The Federalist Contribution

■Thomas Jefferson: Political

Theorist

■Jefferson as President

■Jefferson’s Attack on the

Judiciary

■The Barbary Pirates

■The Louisiana Purchase

■The Federalists Discredited

■Lewis and Clark

■The Burr Conspiracy

■Napoleon and the British

■The Impressment Controversy

■The Embargo Act

■Jeffersonian Democracy

■Debating the Past:

Did Thomas Jefferson Father a

Child by His Slave?

■Mapping the Past:

A Water Route to the Pacific?

(^1) After the 3,000-volume Library of Congress was destroyed by fire
in 1814, Madison persuaded Congress to purchase Jefferson’s
6,000-volume library for $23,950. This helped pay some of
Jefferson’s debts. At the time, some politicians grumbled that
Jefferson’s library had been overvalued. Many of his books, after
all, were pirated (published by printers who had not paid copyright
fees), that era’s equivalent of an “illegal download.”
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