The Penn's Grove record., 1920-04-09
THOMAS JEFFERSON

HIS most important service in this con-
nection was the framing of the Decla-
ration of independence, which prepar-
ed the way for making a few scattered
colonies into a nation. Jefferson was
also n of the men sent to arrange
terms of peace for the new govern
ment, so that its liberty might be Sc
cured. He was made Vice-President
Of the United States under President
Adams, who succeeded Washington;
and in 1901 he became President him
self, and held the office for eight
years.
This brings US to the time wher he
rode on horseback to the Capitol at
Washington to be inaugurated Presi-
dent, just as any Virginia farmer
might ride to mill, instead of going in
the style that Washington had adopted
1t was now twelve years since Wash
ngton became President, and is likely
hat Jefferson thought that Washing
on had gone a little too far in the d.
rection OF show and style. All that
was well enough, he may have thought
ahen it was desirable to show the
European nations that we could do
such things with proper dignity.
In the same way Jefferson refused
to have his birthday publicly celebrat-
ed, as those of Washington and Adams
had been, and would not even let it be
known when his birthday came. He
would not have weekly receptions, as
Washington had done, but opened his
doors to all corners on New Years Day
and on the Fourth of July.
1t is very likely that the President
carried all this simplicity too far. He
narrowly escaped getting into serious
trouble with the foreign ambassadors
because he would not allow them to. be
treated with any special attention at
public dinners. mo man would come
to a table he said to the British min
lister, where he was to be marked with
inferiority to any one else" The
British minister wrote home that it
was almost in~tolerable" that the Pres
ldent should speak in this way. The
French minister, too, wrote that all
Washington was turned upside down.
But this hard feeling passed away, and
it is now generally agreed that Jeffer-
son did well in aiming at simplicity of
manners.
Jefferson's most important act in be-
half of the country, after becoming
President, was in making what was
called the Louisiana Purchase. He
took the responsibility of buying from
the French Government-that is, from
Napoleon Bonaparte-in 1903, over a
million 1,032, 1907 square miles of ter
rltory, more than doubling the whole
area of the nation. The state which
we nov call Louisiana was but a small
part of this, for the territory purchas-
ed stretched from Mexico on the south
to the British possessions on the north,
and extended from the Mississippi to
the Rocky Mountains. The price paid
for all this land was fifteen million
dollars. jefferson hesitated a good
deal about m~akirs%oTs purchase, for
ne was no. quite sure hat he as Pres
ident had the right to make It, but at
last the land was bought.
Another important order given by
President Jefferson was that which
sent some American men-of-war to
rescue prisoners from the Barbary
States on the Mediterranean Sea.
These states used to capture American
vessels and send their crews into slav-
cry, to a number of thousands in all, so
that millions of dollars were spent to
ransom the prisoners. At last a treaty
was made with these states by which
the United Safes was to pay a sum of
money for the protection of American
vessels.
When at last the Barbary States
broke the treaty, President Jefferson
sent out four American ships, at a
time when the whole navy consisted of
only six. One of these ships, the
Il s1-11l~L. -.-1--1 - H. D.
barry coast and its crew enslaved. But
at length, thru the bravery and skill
of a young lieutenant named Decatur,
piracy was utterly abolished in the
Barbary States, so far as Americans
were concerned.
jefferson, although himself a slave
holder, was opposed to slavery, and
would have freed his own slaves had
the law permitted. 1t is pleasant to
know that when he returned from
Europe in 1889, after one of his abb
sences, his slaves took him from his
carriage and carried him to his house.
When, during the Revolution, the Brit
ish general, Tarleton, took possession
of Jefferson's plantation and carried
away about thirty of his slaves, Jeffer-
son wrote to his friends that 'if this
had been done to give the slaves free
dom, he (Tarleton) would have done
quite right" This saying, coming
from a man who owned a great many
slaves, shows plainly his personal gen.
crosby.
But jefferson made himself unpopu-
lar in New England, because he Sc
cured the passing of a law called 'The
Embargo" by which he tried to pro
tect American vessels from England
and France by ~forbidding them to go
to sea at all. This law ruined many
merchants and injured American COM
merce.
Daniel Webster, who saw Mr.. Jeffer-
son in his old age at Monticello, found
him very different from any idea that
he had previously formed of him. Mr..
Webster says, "He was a tall gaunt,
light-haired, light-complexioned man,
and not a person of impressive