Ivy McCombs

When Thomas Jefferson was elected to presidential office in 1801, he was considered to
be an Anti-Federalist, and was completely against the Constitution, but as time went on in his
eight years of presidency, his views on America began to change. Jefferson stood with AntiFederalists before becoming president, and believed that they should have the weaker central
government supported by the Articles of Confederation.When he became president, his views
did alter, even stating in his inaugural address We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists,
but his views did not change completely to a Federalist point of view. . After his presidency,
Jefferson reverted back to his views as an Anti-Federalist after things that had happened during
his presidency, such as the incident with the Tripoli pirates.
Jefferson was an Anti-Federalist when he entered the White House, and his views were
for the states to have more power, believed in supporting the lower class more, and in a strict
interpretation of the Constitution. He stands as an Anti-Federalist with one of his first acts in
office, which was getting rid of the excise tax. The excise tax was brought along by Alexander
Hamilton, who fought Jefferson for it when Washington was still president and Jefferson was
Secretary of State. Jefferson reluctantly agreed, but after becoming president himself, he
realised how much the tax was crippling the farmers. He stated in a letter to his good friend,
James Madison, The excise tax is an infernal one...the third and last will be to make it the
instrument of dismembering the Union, and setting us all afloat to choose which part of it we will
adhere to it. Jefferson, taking notice of the bad effects of the excise tax, decided to have it
removed.
Jefferson was also against the Alien and Sedition Acts, and believed they were
unconstitutional. The Alien and Sedition Acts stated that citizens could not speak poorly of
government officials or their decisions. Anyone who did defame these officials or documents
would be prosecuted for treason. This was in clear violation of the First Amendments guarantee
of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Before entering office, the states had no way to
deem laws unconstitutional, so Jefferson put an end to that. Jefferson wrote the Kentucky
Resolution, which gave powers to the states to deem a federal law unconstitutional. The
Resolution declared, they constituted a general government for special purposes, delegated to
the government certain definite powers, reserving, each state to itself, the residuary mass of
right to their own self-government. His friend, James Madison, penned the Virginia Resolution,
a similar document with the same purpose. Another thing that proved Jefferson to be a
Democratic Republican was his choice to declare the Embargo Act of 1807, after numerous
instances with the Barbury pirates. These pirates would attack American merchant ships loot
them. The embargo stated that American would do any trading with other countries. The pirates
were located in the countries of Tripoli, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Jefferson enacted the
embargo to state America as neutral, taking note from Washington and his Neutrality
Proclamation. Many Federalists were angered by the embargo, including one who stated in the
Federalist Circular in Massachusetts, Be resolute, act like sons of liberty, of God, and your
country; nerve your arm with vengeance against the Despot (Jefferson) who would wrest the
inestimable germ of your Independence from you-and you shall be Conquerors!!!
Jefferson also did things during his presidency that could be seen as Federalist. One of
these instances is the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson was originally only interested in buying
New Orleans, considering it was a great port town that aided the French, so he sent two

advisors to France in order to negotiate a price for New Orleans. Napoleon Bonaparte was at a
critical stand-off with Santo Domingo, known in the present day as Haiti, with the island fighting
for its own independence. Napoleon, at first, did not want to get rid of New Orleans, but soon
changed his mind and decided to sell all of Louisiana to the U.S. for $15 million dollars, only $5
million dollars more than they were offering to buy New Orleans for. Jefferson, who believed in a
strict Constitution, was concerned about how American citizens and the people of his party
would react, considering there was nothing in the Constitution that said anything about the
president purchasing land. In a letter to one of his friends, John Breckinridge, Jefferson
expressed his concerns about his decision, but also defended purchasing Louisiana. He says,
The Constitution has made no provision for our holding foreign nations into our Union. The
Executive, in seizing the fugitive occurrence which so much advances the good of our country,
have done an act beyond the Constitution. Jefferson, though, remained confident he had made
the right choice in buying Louisiana.
Even though Jefferson did purchase Louisiana, and other actions he did in office could
be seen as Federalist, he was still and Anti-Federalist. He believed in a strict interpretation of
the Constitution, and while purchasing Louisiana, he was concerned about what Democratic
Republicans would think because nothing in the Constitution stated the president could
purchase new territory. He did what was best for the farming community, and was not a firm
believer in the factories the Industrial Revolution was bringing. He did not want to go to war with
other countries, so he enacted the Embargo Act of 1807. All of these show that Thomas
Jefferson was an Anti-Federalist when he entered the White House, when he was in office, and
even after his presidency ended.