Thomas Jefferson

D

Embargo

In December 1807 the Embargo Act was put into effect. American ships were forbidden to sail from American ports to any European port. Jefferson believed that England and France could not survive without American trade. However, he had greatly underestimated the effect of the embargo on the United States itself. All parts of the country were affected, especially the industrial and commercial North. Shipbuilders, sailors, manufacturers, and merchants denounced the embargo. The Southern planters also suffered financially. Exports stopped, and produce prices fell. U.S. revenue at the time was derived almost entirely from customs duties. With the stoppage of international trade the national income dropped from $16 million in 1807 to a little more than $7 million in 1809. Indeed, the embargo did more damage to the American economy than to England's or France's.

Americans did their best to evade the embargo. Smuggling flourished along the Atlantic coast and over the Canadian border in the Northeast. The harassed president wrote to Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin:

The Federalists assailed the Embargo Act as not only ruinous, but unconstitutional as well. According to Jefferson's own strict interpretation of the Constitution, the federal government did not have the power to impose such a restriction on commerce during peacetime. However, Jefferson ignored the constitutional aspects of the embargo and sought, instead, means to enforce it. Opposition continued to grow, even in his own Cabinet. Therefore, in March 1809, a few days before he left office, Jefferson had the Embargo Act repealed. The less stringent Non-Intercourse Act, pertaining only to England and France, was adopted in its place.

E

Election of 1808

Jefferson was again offered the Republican presidential nomination in 1808. Unwilling to see the presidency become “an inheritance,” he declined. He wanted, he said, to follow “the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor,” George Washington. The Republicans thereupon chose Jefferson's political protégé James Madison, who went on to win the presidential election of 1808. As Jefferson's term drew near its end, he wrote his old friend, French economist Pierre du Pont de Nemours:

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VI

Later Life

At the age of 65, Jefferson was at last free to return to his beloved mountaintop estate in Virginia. He devoted much of his energy to repairing and rebuilding his estate, but he yet found time to design houses for his friends. He furnished Monticello with rare and beautiful objects and with his own remarkable inventions, so that the estate was much talked about and frequently visited. He also worked to advance agricultural science, and he filled his account books with observations of all kinds.

Jefferson's leisure time was spent in reading. Ancient history especially interested him, but he also continued his study of philosophy, religion, and law. In 1815 he sold his 6500-volume collection to the federal government as the nucleus of the restored Library of Congress, which was being built up again after its destruction in the British burning of Washington in the War of 1812. However, immediately afterward, Jefferson set about buying a new collection.

Political differences had long ago broken up the friendship between Jefferson and John Adams. Now, a mutual friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, brought about a reconciliation. Jefferson and Adams began a lively correspondence that touched on many subjects. “I cannot write volumes on a single sheet,” Adams wrote plaintively, “but these letters of yours require volumes from me.”

A

University of Virginia

The founding of the University of Virginia was probably the most important work of Jefferson's later years. Architecturally designed by Jefferson and based on his plans and recommendations, the university opened its doors in 1825. It accepted not only wealthy students, but also capable students too poor to pay. Free public education had always been one of Jefferson's dreams, and he managed to accomplish it on the university level, although not on lower levels.

B

Missouri Compromise

Occupied as he was with private projects, Jefferson always remained interested in national affairs. Many years before, as a congressman, he had tried to outlaw slavery in new states. He failed, as did others who came after him, and the issue eventually became the main grievance between the slaveholding South and the antislavery North. In 1820 Congress tried to reconcile the opposing sides with the Missouri Compromise, which allowed slavery only in new states created south of a line at 36°30' north latitude. Jefferson’s correspondence about the Missouri question clearly shows that he believed a terrible struggle over slavery still lay ahead.

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