The Challenges Of Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is widely known as one of America’s greatest heroes. He is a symbol of American independence and the third president of these United States. In his lifetime, Jefferson was consistently faced with many controversial issues due to his status as an educated American. These challenges are even included in our sacred document that is the Declaration of Independence; however, that is an entirely different paper. Perhaps the most difficult dilemma Jefferson faced was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In his decision, Jefferson was tasked with doing the right thing for his States, but also possibly contradicting his own beliefs as a result. Before Thomas Jefferson was elected into his first term as president he had become known as the …show more content…
The American people have been scarred with tyrannical rule by Great Britain and will rise in any assumptions that their unalienable rights are at risk. Yes, Jefferson expanded the United States to double its size in one sweep, but the process at which this was done should certainly have been overlooked by each branch of government. Especially when one takes into consideration the fact that Jefferson was a firm believer in that the Constitution should be followed under the impression that anything not listed should not be allowed. If this was the case, (most people would wonder), why did he not stick true to that belief and purchase land from a foreign …show more content…
He saw it as a means of allowing Americans to expand to new lands and possibilities that were otherwise impossible without the attaining of new land. Jefferson would find himself defying his belief that the Constitution be strictly interpreted and therefore exploiting himself to the Federalists, who were against the purchase because it would deem their eastern seaboard less important. Jefferson indeed faced multiple dilemmas in the decision to go through with purchasing Louisiana territory from France; defying his beliefs, putting the government in question, and risking Federalist upheaval across the nation. But it seems that, in the broader aspect of things, Jefferson made the correct decision in expanding American land because it allowed increase in production within American farming and therefore made the nation twice as strong as it was before 1803, not just in wealth but in power as well. All great nations start their conquest with expansion, and this was the beginning of the United States’