Question

Discuss Thomas Jefferson's most important achievements and his failures, if any. thanks

Answer 1

Achievements of Thomas Jefferson

The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written by President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson in 1776. It was an official statement asserting that the US was no longer a part of the Empire of the British. The Declaration evidenced to be something that inspired varied national declarations throughout the world. The second sentence of the declaration, within which Jefferson used the popular phrase for the first time “All men are created equal”, has become a widely known statement on human rights and has been referred to as “the most potent and eventful words in history”.

Became the President Of The United States
Thomas Jefferson served from 1779 to 1781 as the Governor of Virginia. He also served form 1785 to 1789 as the U.S. Minister to France. He also served from 1790 to 1793 as U.S. Secretary of State. He was serving under President George Washington and finally, he was elected as U.S. Vice President and served from 1797 to 1801 under President John Adams. In the year 1800, he tied with Aaron Burr in the presidential election and after 36 ballots, on February 17, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected as the third President of the United States. He was re-elected with massive majority in 1804.

Doubled the size of the U.S.
Jefferson doubled the size of U.S. during his serving. In order to purchase New Orleans and adjacent areas from France, President Jefferson made an agreement and Napoleon offered to sell the complete Louisiana territory for $15 million. This purchase happened in 1803 and It doubled the dimensions of u. s. at a sum of fewer than three cents per acre and was became the largest territorial gain in U.S. history. The territory proved to be one amongst the most fertile tracts of land in the world. It included land from fifteen U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces.

Abolished the Slave Trade
President Thomas Jefferson proposed the criminalization of the trade of slaves to congress in 1806. The importation of slaves was prohibited by the Act which was signed by Jefferson and become a law in 1807. This meant that no new slaves would be imported anymore. This took effect on the earliest date permitted by the constitution which was January 1, 1808.

Founded the University of Virginia
Jefferson thought-about education as an important part while building an honest society. He wanted to establish a new place for education which was not influenced by churches and where students may concentrate on new areas not offered at other universities. Thomas Jefferson founded this university in 1819. He was additionally the principal designer of the buildings. It finally opened in 1825 and was notable for being centered about a library instead of a church.

Failures of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson is usually viewed as a really sensible or even a great president. However, there have been some shortcomings or failures throughout his presidency. One of the failures is that he did not attempt much to finish slavery once and for all. It had been inconsistent along with his words within the Declaration of Independence concerning all men being equal. As president, he had the chance to do to try to to one thing concerning slavery, however, hi did not attempt much to end it.

Jefferson additionally wasn’t imminent in managing Britain and France interfering with u.s. trade. Britain and France were in an exceeding war, and that they wished to stop the goods from reaching their enemy. As a result, every country condemned U.S. ships that were heading to their rival. The problem was from both sides both countries seized U.S. ships that additionally affected the sailors. Jefferson's response was to at first stop all commerce with different countries by passing the Embargo Act of 1807. President was attempting to avoid the U.S. basically getting dragged into this conflict between Britain and France. The Embargo Act of 1807 was a whole failure because the U.S. economy relied on trade. The Non-Intercourse Act was passed in 1809 that aforesaid we might trade with others, however not with Britain or France. The U.S. did leave the door open for both the countries in case anyone of them decided to leave the shipping alone. However, this action also failed because so much of the U.S. trade was actually with Britain and France.