Sectionalism is loyalty to one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole. Sectionalism occurs in many countries, such as in the United Kingdom .
147-458: The nullification crisis was a sectional political crisis in the United States in 1832 and 1833, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson , which involved a confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government. It ensued after South Carolina declared the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional and therefore null and void within the sovereign boundaries of
294-615: A province of Canada or become its own nation. Both of these referendums failed, keeping Quebec under the governance of the Canadian government . In the north , the Canadian government had given the indigenous Inuit peoples throughout the Yukon , Northwest Territories and Nunavut a certain amount of self-governance, allowing them to maintain their cultural practices . Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826)
441-548: A "natural right" to liberty is one he would later incorporate as he set about authoring the Declaration of Independence. He also took on 68 cases for the General Court of Virginia in 1767, in addition to three notable cases: Howell v. Netherland (1770), Bolling v. Bolling (1771), and Blair v. Blair (1772). Jefferson wrote a resolution calling for a "Day of Fasting and Prayer" and a boycott of all British goods in protest of
588-576: A Continental Congress delegate from Massachusetts and an emerging leader in the Congress. They became close friends, and Adams supported Jefferson's appointment to the Committee of Five , charged by the Congress with authoring a declaration of independence. The five chosen were Adams, Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin , Robert R. Livingston , and Roger Sherman . The committee initially thought that Adams should write
735-477: A New England response to Madison's war policy. The debate allowed many radicals to argue the cause of states' rights and state sovereignty. In the end, moderate voices dominated and the final product was not secession or nullification, but a series of proposed constitutional amendments. Identifying the South's domination of the government as the cause of much of their problems, the proposed amendments included "the repeal of
882-883: A Supreme Court decision in Pennsylvania, appointed an "extreme nationalist" in Joseph Story to the Supreme Court, signed the bill creating the Second Bank of the United States , and called for a constitutional amendment to promote internal improvements . Opposition to the War of 1812 was centered in New England. Delegates to a convention in Hartford, Connecticut , met in December 1814 to consider
1029-661: A capital close to the major commercial centers of the Northeast , while Washington, Jefferson, and other agrarians wanted it further south. After lengthy deadlock, the Compromise of 1790 was struck, permanently locating the capital on the Potomac River , and the federal government assumed the war debts of all original 13 states . Jefferson's goals were to decrease American dependence on British commerce and to expand commercial trade with France. He sought to weaken Spanish colonialism of
1176-445: A cause around which to rally his party and organized a national opposition from Monticello. The treaty, designed by Hamilton, aimed to reduce tensions and increase trade. Jefferson warned that it would increase British influence and subvert republicanism, calling it "the boldest act [Hamilton and Jay] ever ventured on to undermine the government". The Treaty passed, but it expired in 1805 during Jefferson's presidential administration and
1323-521: A circuit judge, declared the South Carolina law as unconstitutional since it violated the United States' treaties with the United Kingdom. The South Carolina Senate announced that the judge's ruling was invalid and that the act would be enforced. The federal government did not attempt to carry out Johnson's decision. Historian Avery Craven argues that, for the most part, the debate from 1828 to 1832
1470-673: A common interest in the playing of the violin. Jefferson entered the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia , in 1761, at the age of eighteen, and studied mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy with William Small . Under Small's tutelage, Jefferson encountered the ideas of the British Empiricists , including John Locke , Francis Bacon , and Isaac Newton . Small introduced Jefferson to George Wythe and Francis Fauquier . Small, Wythe, and Fauquier recognized Jefferson as
1617-512: A constitutional, but as a revolutionary right. Madison biographer Ralph Ketcham wrote: Though Madison agreed entirely with the specific condemnation of the Alien and Sedition Acts, with the concept of the limited delegated power of the general government, and even with the proposition that laws contrary to the Constitution were illegal, he drew back from the declaration that each state legislature had
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#17328447062311764-574: A few weeks in 1777; Mary "Polly" (1778–1804); Lucy Elizabeth (1780–1781); and another Lucy Elizabeth (1782–1784). Only Martha and Mary survived to adulthood. Martha's father John Wayles died in 1773, and the couple inherited 135 enslaved people, 11,000 acres (45 km ; 17 sq mi), and the estate's debts. The debts took Jefferson years to satisfy, contributing to his financial problems. Martha later suffered from ill health, including diabetes, and frequent childbirth weakened her. Her mother had died young, and Martha lived with two stepmothers as
1911-463: A firm supporter of the French Revolution while opposing its more violent elements. Soon after returning from France, Jefferson accepted President Washington's invitation to serve as Secretary of State . Pressing issues at this time were the national debt and the permanent location of the capital. He opposed a national debt, preferring that each state retire its own, in contrast to Secretary of
2058-401: A general level of protection at 35% ad valorem (compared to 25% with the 1816 act) and hiked duties on iron, woolens, cotton, hemp, and wool and cotton bagging. The bill barely passed the federal House of Representatives by a vote of 107 to 102. The Middle states and Northwest supported the bill, the South and Southwest opposed it, and New England split its vote with a majority opposing it. In
2205-502: A girl. A few months after the birth of her last child, she died on September 6, 1782, with Jefferson at her bedside. Shortly before her death, Martha made Jefferson promise never to marry again, telling him that she could not bear to have another mother raise her children. Jefferson was grief-stricken by her death, relentlessly pacing back and forth. He emerged after three weeks, taking long rambling rides on secluded roads with his daughter Martha, by her description "a solitary witness to many
2352-594: A hereditary aristocracy and took the lead in abolishing what he called "feudal and unnatural distinctions." He targeted laws such as entail and primogeniture by which a deceased landowner's oldest son was vested with all land ownership and power. Jefferson was elected governor for one-year terms in 1779 and 1780. He transferred the state capital from Williamsburg to Richmond , and introduced additional measures for public education, religious freedom, and inheritance. During General Benedict Arnold 's 1781 invasion of Virginia , Jefferson escaped Richmond just ahead of
2499-516: A letter of inquiry into the geography, history, and government of Virginia, as part of a study of the United States. Jefferson organized his responses in a book, Notes on the State of Virginia (1785). He compiled the book over five years, including reviews of scientific knowledge, Virginia's history, politics, laws, culture, and geography. The book explores what constitutes a good society, using Virginia as an exemplar. Jefferson included extensive data about
2646-740: A lifelong correspondence. During the summer of 1786, Jefferson arrived in London to meet with John Adams, the US Ambassador to Britain. Adams had official access to George III and arranged a meeting between Jefferson and the king. Jefferson later described the king's reception of the men as "ungracious." According to Adams's grandson, George III turned his back on both in a gesture of public insult. Jefferson returned to France in August. Jefferson sent for his youngest surviving child, nine-year-old Polly, in June 1787. She
2793-399: A man of exceptional ability and included him in their inner circle, where he became a regular member of their Friday dinner parties. Jefferson later wrote that, while there, he "heard more common good sense, more rational & philosophical conversations than in all the rest of my life". During his first year at the college, Jefferson spent considerable time attending parties and dancing and
2940-411: A moderating influence. He felt that the first step in reducing the tariff was to defeat Adams and his supporters in the upcoming election. William C. Preston , on behalf of the South Carolina legislature, asked Calhoun to prepare a report on the tariff situation. Calhoun readily accepted and in a few weeks had a 35,000-word draft of what would become his " Exposition and Protest ". Calhoun's "Exposition"
3087-613: A native South Carolinian and the most effective proponent of the constitutional theory of state nullification. On July 1, 1832, before Calhoun resigned the vice presidency to run for the Senate , where he could more effectively defend nullification, Jackson signed into law the Tariff of 1832. This compromise tariff received the support of most Northerners and half the Southerners in Congress. South Carolina remained unsatisfied, and on November 24, 1832,
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#17328447062313234-519: A nerve with his constituency. Nationalists such as Calhoun were forced by the increasing power of such leaders to retreat from their previous positions and adopt, in the words of Ellis, "an even more extreme version of the states' rights doctrine" in order to maintain political significance within South Carolina. South Carolina's first effort at nullification occurred in 1822. Its planter class believed that free black sailors had assisted Denmark Vesey in his planned slave rebellion. South Carolina passed
3381-513: A new negotiated tariff, the Compromise Tariff of 1833 , which was satisfactory to South Carolina. The South Carolina convention reconvened and repealed its Nullification Ordinance on March 15, 1833, but three days later, nullified the Force Bill as a symbolic gesture of principle. The crisis was over, and both sides found reasons to claim victory. The tariff rates were reduced and stayed low to
3528-426: A nullification convention in 1829 was defeated by the South Carolina legislature meeting at the end of 1828. State leaders such as Calhoun, Hayne, Smith, and William Drayton all remained publicly noncommittal or opposed to nullification for the next couple of years. The division in the state between radicals and conservatives continued through 1829 and 1830. After the failure of a state project to arrange financing of
3675-411: A profiteering scheme involving the sale of confiscated Loyalist lands. Unlike some Founders, Jefferson was content with his Monticello estate and the land he owned in the vicinity of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley . Jefferson thought of Monticello as an intellectual gathering place for his friends James Madison and James Monroe . In 1780, Jefferson received from French diplomat François Barbé-Marbois
3822-480: A railroad within the state to promote internal trade, the state petitioned Congress to invest $ 250,000 in the company trying to build it. After Congress tabled the measure, debate in South Carolina resumed between those who wanted state investment and those who wanted to work to get Congress's support. The debate demonstrated that a significant minority of the state did have an interest in Clay's American System . The effect of
3969-723: A regular companion of the Marquis de Lafayette , a French hero of the American Revolution , and Jefferson used his influence to procure trade agreements with France. As the French Revolution began, he allowed his Paris residence, the Hôtel de Langeac , to be used for meetings by Lafayette and other republicans. He was in Paris during the storming of the Bastille and consulted with Lafayette while
4116-570: A state convention adopted the Ordinance of Nullification , which declared that the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and unenforceable in South Carolina after February 1, 1833. South Carolina initiated military preparations to resist anticipated federal enforcement, but on March 1, 1833, Congress passed both the Force Bill —authorizing the president to use military forces against South Carolina—and
4263-680: A viable system of government for the new Republic and to propose a policy for settlement of the western territories. He was the principal author of the Land Ordinance of 1784 , whereby Virginia ceded to the national government the vast area that it claimed northwest of the Ohio River . He insisted that this territory should not be used as colonial territory by any of the thirteen states, but that it should be divided into sections that could become states. He plotted borders for nine new states in their initial stages and wrote an ordinance banning slavery in all
4410-530: A violent burst of grief". After serving as U.S. Secretary of State from 1790 to 1793 during Washington's presidency , Jefferson returned to Monticello and initiated a remodeling based on architectural concepts he had learned and acquired in Europe. The work continued throughout most of his presidency and was completed in 1809. Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence . At age 33, he
4557-420: Is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the author of nature, because it is necessary for his own sustenance." The judge cut him off and ruled against his client. As a consolation, Jefferson gave his client some money, which was conceivably used to aid his escape shortly thereafter. However, Jefferson's underlying intellectual argument that all people were entitled by their creator to what he labeled
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4704-484: The Anglican Church , but both were later revived by James Madison . In 1778, Jefferson was given the task of revising the state's laws. He drafted 126 bills in three years, including laws to streamline the judicial system. He proposed statutes that provided for general education, which he considered the basis of "republican government". Jefferson also was concerned that Virginia's powerful landed gentry were becoming
4851-735: The British Parliament passing the Intolerable Acts in 1774. Jefferson's resolution was later expanded into A Summary View of the Rights of British America , in which he argued that people have the right to govern themselves . In 1768, Jefferson began constructing his primary residence, Monticello, whose name in Italian means "Little Mountain", on a hilltop overlooking his 5,000-acre (20 km ; 7.8 sq mi) plantation. He spent most of his adult life designing Monticello as an architect and
4998-596: The Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the nation's First Party System . Jefferson and Federalist John Adams became both personal friends and political rivals. In the 1796 U.S. presidential election between the two, Jefferson came in second, which made him Adams' vice president under the electoral laws of the time. Four years later, in the 1800 presidential election , Jefferson again challenged Adams and won
5145-597: The Louisiana Territory from France, and his leadership in supporting the Lewis and Clark Expedition . They acknowledge the fact of his lifelong ownership of large numbers of slaves and give differing interpretations of his views on and relationship with slavery . Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743, Old Style , Julian calendar ), at the family's Shadwell Plantation in the British Colony of Virginia ,
5292-504: The Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia. Calhoun was not alone in finding a connection between the abolition movement and the sectional aspects of the tariff issue. It confirmed for Calhoun what he had written in a September 11, 1830, letter: I consider the tariff act as the occasion, rather than the real cause of the present unhappy state of things. The truth can no longer be disguised, that
5439-500: The Second Continental Congress . He served as the second governor of revolutionary Virginia from 1779 to 1781. In 1785, Congress appointed Jefferson U.S. minister to France , where he served from 1785 to 1789. President Washington then appointed Jefferson the nation's first secretary of state, where he served from 1790 to 1793. During this time, in the early 1790s, Jefferson and political ally James Madison organized
5586-470: The U.S. government for $ 23,950, hoping to help jumpstart the Library of Congress's rebuilding. Jefferson used a portion of the proceeds to pay off some of his large debt. However, Jefferson soon resumed collecting what amounted to his third personal library, writing to John Adams , "I cannot live without books." By the time of his death a decade later, the library had grown to nearly 2,000 volumes. Jefferson
5733-557: The Virginia Constitution , George Mason 's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights , and other sources. Other committee members made some changes, and a final draft was presented to Congress on June 28, 1776. The declaration was introduced on Friday, June 28, and Congress began debate over its contents on Monday, July 1, resulting in the removal of roughly a fourth of Jefferson's original draft. Jefferson resented
5880-515: The Webster–Hayne debate was to energize the radicals, and some moderates started to move in their direction. The state election campaign of 1830 focused on the tariff issue and the need for a state convention. On the defensive, radicals underplayed the intent of the convention as pro-nullification. When voters were presented with races where an unpledged convention was the issue, the radicals generally won. When conservatives effectively characterized
6027-687: The peculiar institution of the Southern States and the consequent direction which that and her soil have given to her industry, has placed them in regard to taxation and appropriations in opposite relation to the majority of the Union, against the danger of which, if there be no protective power in the reserved rights of the states they must in the end be forced to rebel, or, submit to have their paramount interests sacrificed, their domestic institutions subordinated by Colonization and other schemes, and themselves and children reduced to wretchedness. From this point,
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6174-466: The states' rights position being articulated in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions . The Kentucky Resolutions, written by Thomas Jefferson , contained the following, which has often been cited as a justification for both nullification and secession : ... that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the general government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be
6321-455: The three-fifths clause , a requirement that two-thirds of both houses of Congress agree before any new state could be admitted to the Union, limits on the length of embargoes, and the outlawing of the election of a president from the same state to successive terms, clearly aimed at the Virginians." The war was over before the proposals were submitted to President Madison. After the conclusion of
6468-557: The trans-Appalachian West and British control in the North, believing this would aid in the pacification of Native Americans. Jefferson and political protegé Congressman James Madison founded the National Gazette in 1791, along with author Phillip Freneau , to counter Hamilton's Federalist policies, which Hamilton was promoting through the influential Federalist newspaper the Gazette of
6615-510: The "numerous market-oriented enterprises, particularly banks, corporations, creditors, and absentee landholders". The Tariff of 1816 had some protective features, and it received support throughout the nation, including that of John C. Calhoun and fellow South Carolinian William Lowndes . The first explicitly protective tariff linked to a specific program of internal improvements was the Tariff of 1824 . Sponsored by Henry Clay , this tariff provided
6762-464: The "white slaves of the North". The South expanded into rich new lands in the Southwest (from Alabama to Texas ). However, slavery declined in the border states and could barely survive in cities and industrial areas (it was fading out in cities such as Baltimore , Louisville , and St. Louis ), so a South based on slavery was rural and non-industrial. On the other hand, as the demand for cotton grew
6909-490: The 23-year-old widow of Bathurst Skelton. She was a frequent hostess for Jefferson and managed the large household. Biographer Dumas Malone described the marriage as the happiest period of Jefferson's life. Martha read widely, did fine needlework, and was a skilled pianist; Jefferson often accompanied her on the violin or cello. During their ten years of marriage, Martha bore six children: Martha "Patsy" (1772–1836); Jane Randolph (1774–1775); an unnamed son who lived for only
7056-602: The British forces, which razed the city. He sent emergency dispatches to Colonel Sampson Mathews and other commanders in an attempt to repel Arnold's efforts. General Charles Cornwallis that spring dispatched a cavalry force led by Banastre Tarleton to capture Jefferson and members of the Assembly at Monticello, but Jack Jouett of the Virginia militia thwarted the British plan. Jefferson escaped to Poplar Forest , his plantation to
7203-599: The British to vacate their posts in the Northwest and to compensate the U.S. for enslaved people whom the British had freed at the end of the war. Jefferson sought a return to private life, and resigned from the cabinet position in December 1793; he may also have wanted to bolster his political influence from outside the administration. After the Washington administration negotiated the Jay Treaty with Britain in 1794, Jefferson saw
7350-624: The Charleston non-agricultural class. Governor Hamilton was instrumental in seeing that the association, which was both a political and a social organization, expanded throughout the state. In the winter of 1831 and spring of 1832, Hamilton held conventions and rallies throughout the state to mobilize the nullification movement. The conservatives were unable to match the radicals in organization or leadership. The state elections of 1832 were "charged with tension and bespattered with violence," and "polite debates often degenerated into frontier brawls." Unlike
7497-677: The Easterners looked down on the Westerners. Sectionalism can be found in the Spanish regions of Catalonia , the Spanish portion of the Basque Country , Galicia , and Andalusia . After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became its own unitary state, however, also containing regions heavily populated by Russians . This caused a few rebellions throughout the eastern parts of
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#17328447062317644-473: The Jackson administration failed to take any action to address their concerns, South Carolina's most radical faction began to advocate that the state nullify the tariff. They subscribed to the legal theory that if a state believed a federal law unconstitutional, it could declare the law null and void in the state. In Washington, an open split on the issue occurred between Jackson and Vice President John C. Calhoun ,
7791-591: The Negro Seamen Act, which required all black foreign seamen to be imprisoned while their ships were docked in Charleston . The United Kingdom strongly objected, especially as it was recruiting more Africans as sailors. Worse, if the captains did not pay the fees to cover the cost of jailing, South Carolina would sell the sailors into slavery . Other Southern states also passed laws against free black sailors. Supreme Court Justice William Johnson , in his capacity as
7938-419: The North and South. In the South, wealthy white men owned all of the quality land, leaving poor white farmers with marginal lands of low productivity. Fears of slave revolts and abolitionist propaganda made the South militantly hostile to suspicious ideas. Members and politicians of the newly formed Republican Party were extremely critical of Southern society and argued that the system of free labor in place in
8085-429: The North industrialized, urbanized, and built prosperous factories, while the deep South concentrated on plantation agriculture based on slave labor , together with subsistence farming for poor whites who owned no slaves. Southerners defended slavery in part by claiming that Northern factory workers toiled under worse conditions and were not cared for by their employers. Defenders of slavery referred to factory workers as
8232-514: The North resulted in much more prosperity. Republicans criticizing the Southern system of slavery would commonly cite the larger population growth of the Northern states, alongside their rapid growth in factories, farms, and schools as evidence of the superiority of a free labor system. Southerners argued that it was the North that was changing and was prone to new "isms", while the South remained true to
8379-490: The North. The movement of twice as many whites leaving the South for the North contributed to the South's defensive-aggressive political behavior. The Western United States was also growing due to the innovations of the railway system and the massive boom in the steel industry. The expansion of the railway system paved the way for agriculturists to produce wool and grain. Westerners were able to develop their own strong sectional identity and embrace their region's uniqueness while
8526-454: The Resolutions of 1798 , published in 1800 after they had been decried by several states. This asserted that the state did not claim legal force. "The declarations in such cases are expressions of opinion, unaccompanied by other effect than what they may produce upon opinion, by exciting reflection. The opinions of the judiciary, on the other hand, are carried into immediate effect by force." If
8673-558: The Senate, he assumed a more passive role than his predecessor John Adams. He allowed the Senate to freely conduct debates and confined his participation to procedural issues, which he called an "honorable and easy" role. Jefferson had previously studied parliamentary law and procedure for 40 years, making him quite qualified to serve as presiding officer. In 1800, he published his assembled notes on Senate procedure as A Manual of Parliamentary Practice . He cast only three tie-breaking votes in
8820-570: The Senate, the bill, with the support of Tennessee Senator Andrew Jackson , passed by four votes, and President James Monroe , the Virginia heir to the Jefferson-Madison control of the White House , signed the bill on March 25, 1824. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts led the New England opposition to this tariff. Protest against the prospect and the constitutionality of higher tariffs began in 1826 and 1827 with William Branch Giles , who had
8967-471: The Senate. In four confidential talks with French consul Joseph Létombe in the spring of 1797, Jefferson attacked Adams and predicted that his rival would serve only one term. He also encouraged France to invade England, and advised Létombe to stall any American envoys sent to Paris. This toughened the tone that the French government adopted toward the Adams administration. After Adams's initial peace envoys were rebuffed, Jefferson and his supporters lobbied for
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#17328447062319114-667: The South Carolinians, entered the fray over the tariff. As a state representative, Rhett called for the governor to convene a special session of the legislature. An outstanding orator, Rhett appealed to his constituents to resist the majority in Congress. He addressed the danger of doing nothing: But if you are doubtful of yourselves—if you are not prepared to follow up your principles wherever they may lead, to their very last consequence—if you love life better than honor,—prefer ease to perilous liberty and glory; awake not! Stir not!—Impotent resistance will add vengeance to your ruin. Live in smiling peace with your insatiable Oppressors, and die with
9261-402: The South. South Carolina had been adversely affected by the national economic decline of the 1820s. During this decade, the population decreased by 56,000 whites and 30,000 slaves, out of a total free and slave population of 580,000. The whites left for better places; they took slaves with them or sold them to traders moving slaves to the Deep South for sale. Historian Richard E. Ellis describes
9408-444: The Treasury Alexander Hamilton , who desired consolidation of states' debts by the federal government. Hamilton also had bold plans to establish national credit and a national bank, but Jefferson strenuously opposed this and attempted to undermine his agenda, which nearly led Washington to dismiss him from the cabinet. He later left the cabinet voluntarily. The second major issue was the capital's permanent location. Hamilton favored
9555-541: The Union. Moreover, competition from the newer cotton producing areas along the Gulf Coast , blessed with fertile lands that produced a higher crop-yield per acre, made recovery painfully slow. To make matters worse, in large areas of South Carolina slaves vastly outnumbered whites, and there existed both considerable fear of slave rebellion and a growing sensitivity to even the smallest criticism of "the peculiar institution." State leaders, led by states' rights advocates such as William Smith and Thomas Cooper , blamed most of
9702-430: The United States . The National Gazette made particular criticism of the policies promoted by Hamilton, often through anonymous essays signed by the pen name Brutus at Jefferson's urging, which were written by Madison. In Spring 1791, Jefferson and Madison took a vacation to Vermont ; Jefferson had been suffering from migraines and was tiring of the in-fighting with Hamilton. In May 1792, Jefferson became alarmed at
9849-430: The Virginia legislature pass resolutions denying the power of Congress to pass protective tariffs, citing the Virginia Resolutions of 1798 and James Madison's 1800 defense of them. Madison denied both the appeal to nullification and the unconstitutionality; he had always held that the power to regulate commerce included protection. Jefferson had, at the end of his life, written against protective tariffs. The Tariff of 1828
9996-405: The War of 1812 Sean Wilentz notes: Madison's speech [his 1815 annual message to Congress] affirmed that the war had reinforced the evolution of mainstream Republicanism, moving it further away from its original and localist assumptions. The war's immense strain on the treasury led to new calls from nationalist Republicans for a national bank. The difficulties in moving and supplying troops exposed
10143-424: The alien and sedition acts, but opposed the idea of state review of federal laws. Southern Republicans outside Virginia and Kentucky were eloquently silent about the matter, and no southern legislature heeded the call to battle. The election of 1800 was a turning point in national politics, as the Federalists were replaced by the Democratic-Republican Party led by Jefferson, but the four presidential terms spanning
10290-514: The authority of the Constitution, that it rests on this solid foundation. The States, then, being parties to the constitutional compact, and in their sovereign capacity, it follows of necessity that there can be no tribunal above their authority to decide, in the last resort, whether the compact made by them be violated; and, consequently, as parties to it, they must themselves decide, in the last resort, such questions as may be of sufficient magnitude to require their interposition. Historians differ over
10437-558: The bill levied heavy taxes on raw materials consumed by New England such as hemp, flax, molasses, iron, and sail duck. With an additional tariff on iron to satisfy Pennsylvania interests, Van Buren expected the tariff to help deliver Pennsylvania , New York , Missouri , Ohio , and Kentucky to Jackson. Over opposition from the South and some from New England, the tariff was passed with the full support of many Jackson supporters in Congress and signed by President Adams in early 1828. As expected, Jackson and his running mate John Calhoun carried
10584-449: The changes, but he did not speak publicly about the revisions. On July 4, 1776, the Congress ratified the Declaration, and delegates signed it on August 2; in so doing, the delegates were knowingly committing an act of high treason against The Crown , which was deemed the most serious criminal offense and was punishable by torture and death . Jefferson's preamble is regarded as an enduring statement on individual and human rights, and
10731-593: The constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non fœderis) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them: that nevertheless, this commonwealth, from motives of regard and respect for its co-States, has wished to communicate with them on
10878-547: The different lifestyles, social structures, customs, and the political values of the North and the South . Regional tensions came to a head during the War of 1812 , resulting in the Hartford Convention which manifested New England's dissatisfaction with a foreign trade embargo that affected its industry disproportionately, as well as dilution of Northern power by new western states, and a succession of Southern Presidents . Sectionalism increased steadily in 1800–1850 as
11025-522: The document, but Adams persuaded the committee to choose Jefferson. His choice was due to Jefferson being a Virginian, popular, and being considered a good writer by Adams. Jefferson consulted with his fellow committee members, but mostly wrote the Declaration of Independence in isolation between June 11 and 28, 1776, in a home he was renting at 700 Market Street in Center City Philadelphia . Jefferson drew considerably on his proposed draft of
11172-528: The early 1920s, beginning with the Scots National League . Today, Scottish sectionalism is most strongly associated and advocated by the Scottish National Party (SNP), which can be described as both sectionalist and separatist. The SNP advocates for both Scottish independence and more autonomy for Scotland while remaining a part of the United Kingdom. Sectionalism in 1800s America refers to
11319-538: The entire South with overwhelming numbers in every state but Louisiana, where Adams drew 47% of the vote in a losing effort. But many Southerners became dissatisfied as Jackson, in his first two annual messages to Congress, failed to launch a strong attack on the tariff. Historian William J. Cooper Jr. writes: The most doctrinaire ideologues of the Old Republican group [supporters of the Jefferson and Madison position in
11466-574: The extent to which either resolution advocated the doctrine of nullification. Historian Lance Banning wrote, "The legislators of Kentucky (or more likely, John Breckinridge , the Kentucky legislator who sponsored the resolution) deleted Jefferson's suggestion that the rightful remedy for federal usurpation was a "nullification" of such acts by each state acting on its own to prevent their operation within its respective borders. Rather than suggesting individual, although concerted, measures of this sort, Kentucky
11613-452: The federal concentration of power, whereas Hamilton sought more power for the federal government. Jefferson supported France against Britain when the two nations fought in 1793, though his arguments in the Cabinet were undercut by French Revolutionary envoy Edmond-Charles Genêt 's open scorn for Washington. In his discussions with British Minister George Hammond , he tried in vain to persuade
11760-409: The federal government and civil war within the state. With silence no longer an acceptable alternative, Calhoun looked for the opportunity to take control of the antitariff faction in the state; by June he was preparing what would be known as his Fort Hill Address. Published on July 26, 1831, the address repeated and expanded the positions Calhoun had made in the "Exposition". While the logic of much of
11907-510: The federal government that violated the Constitution. This veto, the core of the doctrine of nullification, was explained by Calhoun in the Exposition: If it be conceded, as it must be by every one who is the least conversant with our institutions, that the sovereign powers delegated are divided between the General and State Governments, and that the latter hold their portion by the same tenure as
12054-513: The federal governments would be a matter of political and ideological discussion through the Civil War as well as afterwards. In the early 1790s the debate centered on Alexander Hamilton 's nationalistic financial program versus Jefferson's democratic and agrarian program, a conflict that led to the formation of two opposing national political parties. Later in the decade the Alien and Sedition Acts led to
12201-432: The force of terms, and to deny so plain a conclusion. The report also detailed the specific southern grievances over the tariff that led to the current dissatisfaction. Fearful that "hotheads" such as McDuffie might force the legislature into taking drastic action against the federal government, historian John Niven describes Calhoun's political purpose in the document: All through that hot and humid summer, emotions among
12348-486: The former, it would seem impossible to deny to the States the right of deciding on the infractions of their powers, and the proper remedy to be applied for their correction. The right of judging, in such cases, is an essential attribute of sovereignty, of which the States cannot be divested without losing their sovereignty itself, and being reduced to a subordinate corporate condition. In fact, to divide power, and to give to one of
12495-422: The futility of his plans for the presidency would lead him into their ranks. Calhoun, meanwhile, had concluded that Van Buren was establishing himself as Jackson's heir apparent. At Hamilton's prompting, McDuffie made a three-hour speech in Charleston demanding nullification of the tariff at any cost. In the state, the success of McDuffie's speech seemed to open up the possibilities of both military confrontation with
12642-570: The historic republican values of the Founding Fathers (many of whom owned slaves, including Washington, Jefferson, and Madison). The issue of accepting slavery (in the guise of rejecting slave-owning bishops and missionaries) split the largest religious denominations (the Methodist , Baptist , and Presbyterian churches) into separate Northern and Southern denominations. Industrialization meant that seven out of eight European immigrants settled in
12789-411: The late 1790s] first found Jackson wanting. These purists identified the tariff of 1828, the hated Tariff of Abominations, as the most heinous manifestation of the nationalist policy they abhorred. That protective tariff violated their constitutional theory, for, as they interpreted the document, it gave no permission for a protective tariff. Moreover, they saw protection as benefiting the North and hurting
12936-638: The latter drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen . Jefferson often found his mail opened by postmasters, so he invented his own enciphering device, the " Wheel Cipher "; he wrote important communications in code for the rest of his career. Unable to attend the 1787 Constitution Convention, Jefferson supported the Constitution but desired the addition of the promised Bill of Rights. Jefferson left Paris for America in September 1789. He remained
13083-422: The legislation's passage, but it faced strong opposition in a state whose economy was largely agrarian. Jefferson took seven cases of freedom-seeking enslaved people and waived his fee for one he claimed should be freed before the minimum statutory age for emancipation. Jefferson invoked natural law , arguing "everyone comes into the world with a right to his own person and using it at his own will ... This
13230-486: The military, levied new taxes, and enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts . Jefferson believed these laws were intended to suppress Democratic-Republicans, rather than prosecute enemy aliens, and considered them unconstitutional. To rally opposition, he and James Madison anonymously wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions , declaring that the federal government had no right to exercise powers not specifically delegated to it by
13377-456: The nation's second vice president under John Adams . Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism , and natural rights , and he produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels. Jefferson was born into the Colony of Virginia 's planter class , dependent on slave labor . During the American Revolution, Jefferson represented Virginia at
13524-922: The nation's territories. Congress made extensive revisions and rejected the ban on slavery. The provisions banning slavery, known as the "Jefferson Proviso", were modified and implemented three years later in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and became the law for the entire Northwest Territory . On May 7, 1784, Jefferson was appointed by the Congress of the Confederation to join Benjamin Franklin and John Adams in Paris as Minister Plenipotentiary for Negotiating Treaties of Amity and Commerce with Great Britain and other countries. With his young daughter Patsy and two servants, he departed in July 1784, arriving in Paris
13671-660: The nation, taking place in the self-declared republics of the Donetsk People's Republic , the Luhansk People's Republic , and the peninsula of Crimea . Crimea is disputed by both Ukraine and the Russian Federation . Many nations oppose Russia's annexation of Crimea . In 1977, the province of Quebec started an independence movement from Canada , wanting to be an independent French-speaking nation. There were two referendums (1980 and 1995) for whether Quebec would stay as
13818-672: The next month. Jefferson had Patsy educated at the Pentemont Abbey . Less than a year later he was assigned the additional duty of succeeding Franklin as Minister to France. French foreign minister Count de Vergennes commented, "You replace Monsieur Franklin, I hear." Jefferson replied, "I succeed . No man can replace him." During his five years in Paris, Jefferson played a leading role in shaping U.S. foreign policy . In 1786, he met and fell in love with Maria Cosway , an accomplished—and married—Italian-English musician of 27. She returned to Great Britain after six weeks, but they maintained
13965-535: The noble consolation that your submissive patience will survive triumphant your beggary and despair. Rhett's rhetoric about revolution and war was too radical in the summer of 1828 but, with the election of Jackson assured, James Hamilton Jr. on October 28 in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterborough "launched the formal nullification campaign." Renouncing his former nationalism, Hamilton warned
14112-456: The nullifiers accelerated their organization and rhetoric. In July 1831, the States Rights and Free Trade Association was formed in Charleston and expanded throughout the state. Unlike state political organizations in the past, which were led by the South Carolina planter aristocracy, this group appealed to all segments of the population, including non-slaveholder farmers, small slaveholders, and
14259-412: The open Senate seat, the legislature chose the more radical Stephen Decatur Miller over William Smith. With radicals in leading positions, in 1831 they began to capture momentum. State politics became sharply divided along Nullifier and Unionist lines. Still, the margin in the legislature fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for a convention. Many of the radicals felt that convincing Calhoun of
14406-470: The parties the exclusive right of judging of the portion allotted to each, is, in reality, not to divide it at all; and to reserve such exclusive right to the General Government (it matters not by what department to be exercised), is to convert it, in fact, into a great consolidated government, with unlimited powers, and to divest the States, in reality, of all their rights, It is impossible to understand
14553-404: The people that "Your task-master must soon become a tyrant, from the very abuses and corruption of the system, without the bowels of compassion, or a jot of human sympathy." He called for implementation of Jefferson's "rightful remedy" of nullification. Hamilton sent a copy of the speech directly to President-elect Jackson. But despite a statewide campaign by Hamilton and McDuffie, a proposal to call
14700-447: The period from 1800 to 1817 "did little to advance the cause of states' rights and much to weaken it." Over Jefferson's opposition, the power of the federal judiciary, led by Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall , increased. Jefferson expanded federal powers with the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory and his use of a national embargo designed to prevent involvement in a European war. Madison in 1809 used national troops to enforce
14847-619: The phrase " all men are created equal " has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language". The Declaration of Independence, historian Joseph Ellis wrote in 2008, represents "the most potent and consequential words in American history". At the start of the Revolution, Colonel Jefferson was named commander of the Albemarle County Militia on September 26, 1775. He
14994-593: The political rivalries taking shape; he wrote to Washington, imploring him to run for reelection that year as a unifying influence. He urged the president to rally the citizenry to a party that would defend democracy against the corrupting influence of banks and monied interests, as espoused by the Federalists. Historians recognize this letter as the earliest delineation of Democratic-Republican Party principles. Jefferson, Madison, and other Democratic-Republican organizers favored states' rights and local control and opposed
15141-438: The power to act within its borders against the authority of the general government to oppose laws the legislature deemed unconstitutional. Historian Sean Wilentz explains the widespread opposition to these resolutions: Several states followed Maryland's House of Delegates in rejecting the idea that any state could, by legislative action, even claim that a federal law was unconstitutional, and suggested that any effort to do so
15288-557: The presidency. In 1804 , Jefferson was reelected overwhelmingly to a second term. As president, Jefferson assertively defended the nation's shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies, promoted a western expansionist policy with the Louisiana Purchase , which doubled the nation's geographic size, and was able to reduce military forces and expenditures following successful negotiations with France. In his second presidential term, Jefferson
15435-518: The previous year's election, the choice was clear between nullifiers and unionists. The nullifiers won and on October 20, 1832, Hamilton called the legislature into a special session to consider a convention. The legislative vote was 96–25 in the House and 31–13 in the Senate. Sectionalism Sectionalism occurs most notably in the constituent nation of Scotland , where various sectionalist/separatist political organizations and parties have existed since
15582-510: The price of slaves soared, as slaves were considered imperative for the harvest and refinement of cotton. Historians have debated whether economic differences between the industrial Northeast and the agricultural South helped cause the Civil War . Historians now disagree with the economic determinism of historian Charles Beard in the 1920s and emphasize that Northern and Southern economies were largely complementary. Historians do agree that social and cultural institutions were very different in
15729-467: The race as being about nullification, the radicals lost. The October election was narrowly carried by the radicals, although the blurring of the issues left them without any specific mandate. In South Carolina, the governor was selected by the legislature, which chose James Hamilton, the leader of the radical movement, and fellow radical Henry L. Pinckney as speaker of the South Carolina House. For
15876-622: The release of papers related to the incident, called the XYZ Affair after the letters used to disguise the identities of the French officials involved. However, the tactic backfired when it was revealed that French officials had demanded bribes, rallying public support against France. The U.S. began an undeclared naval war with France known as the Quasi-War . During the Adams presidency, the Federalists rebuilt
16023-416: The said compact, the States, who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound to interpose to arrest the evil, and for maintaining, within their respective limits, the authorities, rights, and liberties appertaining to them. ... The Constitution of the United States was formed by the sanction of the States, given by each in its sovereign capacity. It adds to the stability and dignity, as well as to
16170-463: The satisfaction of the South, but the states' rights doctrine of nullification remained controversial. By the 1850s, the issues of the expansion of slavery into the western territories and the threat of the Slave Power became the central issues in the nation. The historian Richard E. Ellis wrote: By creating a national government with the authority to act directly upon individuals, by denying to
16317-424: The second at the home of Senator Robert Y. Hayne . They were rebuffed in their efforts to coordinate a united Southern response and focused on how their state representatives would react. While many agreed with McDuffie that tariff policy could lead to secession, they all agreed that, as much as possible, the issue should be kept out of the upcoming presidential election . Calhoun, while not at this meeting, served as
16464-490: The situation: Throughout the colonial and early national periods, South Carolina had sustained substantial economic growth and prosperity. This had created an extremely wealthy and extravagant low country aristocracy whose fortunes were based first on the cultivation of rice and indigo, and then on cotton. Then the state was devastated by the Panic of 1819 . The depression that followed was more severe than in almost any other state of
16611-412: The speech was consistent with the states' rights position of most Jacksonians, and even Daniel Webster remarked that it "was the ablest and most plausible, and therefore the most dangerous vindication of that particular form of Revolution", the speech still placed Calhoun clearly in a nullified camp. Within South Carolina, his gestures at moderation in the speech were drowned out as planters received word of
16758-435: The state many of the prerogatives that they formerly had, and by leaving open to the central government the possibility of claiming for itself many powers not explicitly assigned to it, the Constitution and Bill of Rights as finally ratified substantially increased the strength of the central government at the expense of the states. The extent of this change and the problem of the actual distribution of powers between state and
16905-692: The state's economic problems on the Tariff of 1816 and national internal improvement projects. Soil erosion and competition from the New Southwest were also very significant reasons for the state's declining fortunes. George McDuffie was a particularly effective speaker for the anti-tariff forces, and he popularized the Forty Bale theory. McDuffie argued that the 40% tariff on cotton finished goods meant that "the manufacturer actually invades your barns, and plunders you of 40 out of every 100 bales that you produce." Mathematically incorrect, this argument still struck
17052-519: The state's natural resources and economy and wrote at length about slavery and miscegenation ; he articulated his belief that blacks and whites could not live together as free people in one society because of justified resentments of the enslaved. He also wrote of his views on the American Indians, equating them to European settlers. Notes was first published in 1785 in French and appeared in English in 1787. Biographer George Tucker considered
17199-571: The state. However, courts at the state and federal level, including the U.S. Supreme Court , repeatedly have rejected the theory of nullification by states . The controversial and highly protective Tariff of 1828 was enacted into law during the presidency of John Quincy Adams . The tariff was strongly opposed in the South, since it was perceived to put an unfair tax burden on the Southern agrarian states that imported most manufactured goods. The tariff's opponents expected that Jackson's election as president would result in its significant reduction. When
17346-451: The states collectively agreed in their declarations, there were several methods by which it might prevail, from persuading Congress to repeal the unconstitutional law, to calling a constitutional convention, as two-thirds of the states may. When, at the time of the nullification crisis, he was presented with the Kentucky resolutions of 1799, he argued that the resolutions themselves were not Jefferson's words, and that Jefferson meant this not as
17493-409: The subject of slavery. The report was submitted to the state legislature, which had 5,000 copies printed and distributed. Calhoun, who still had designs on succeeding Jackson as president, was not identified as the author, but word on this soon leaked out. The legislature took no action on the report at that time. In the summer of 1828, Robert Barnwell Rhett , soon to be considered the most radical of
17640-500: The subject: that with them alone it is proper to communicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last resort of the powers exercised under it ... The Virginia Resolutions, written by James Madison , hold a similar argument: The resolutions, having taken this view of the Federal compact, proceed to infer that, in cases of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers, not granted by
17787-554: The third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent, and was born a British subject . His father, Peter Jefferson , was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen; his mother was Jane Randolph . Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745 on the death of William Randolph III , the plantation's owner and Jefferson's friend, who in his will had named Peter guardian of Randolph's children. The Jeffersons returned to Shadwell before October 1753. Peter died in 1757, and his estate
17934-467: The vociferous planter population had been worked up to a near-frenzy of excitement. The whole tenor of the argument built up in the "Exposition" was aimed to present the case in a cool, considered manner that would dampen any drastic moves yet would set in motion the machinery for repeal of the tariff act. It would also warn other sections of the Union against any future legislation that an increasingly self-conscious South might consider punitive, especially on
18081-503: The west. When the General Assembly reconvened in June 1781, it conducted an inquiry into Jefferson's actions which eventually concluded that Jefferson had acted with honor—but he was not re-elected. In April of the same year, his daughter Lucy died at age one. A second daughter of that name was born the following year, but she died at age two. In 1782, Jefferson refused a partnership offer by North Carolina Governor Abner Nash , in
18228-414: The work "surprising in the extent of the information which a single individual had been thus far able to acquire, as to the physical features of the state"; Merrill D. Peterson described it as an accomplishment for which all Americans should be grateful. Jefferson was appointed a Virginia delegate to the Congress of the Confederation organized following the peace treaty with Great Britain in 1783. He
18375-497: The wretchedness of the country's transportation links, and the need for extensive new roads and canals. A boom in American manufacturing during the prolonged cessation of trade with Britain created an entirely new class of enterprisers, most of them tied politically to the Republicans, who might not survive without tariff protection. More broadly, the war reinforced feelings of national identity and connection. This spirit of nationalism
18522-443: Was a local South Carolina affair. The state's leaders were not united and the sides were roughly equal. The western part of the state and a faction in Charleston, led by Joel Poinsett and Thomas Smith Grimké , remained loyal to the Union. Only in small part was the conflict between "a National North against a States'-right South". After the final vote on the Tariff of 1828, South Carolina's congressional delegation held two caucuses,
18669-442: Was a member of the committee setting foreign exchange rates and recommended an American currency based on the decimal system that was adopted. He advised the formation of the Committee of the States to fill the power vacuum when Congress was in recess. The committee met when Congress adjourned, but disagreements rendered it dysfunctional. In the Congress's 1783–1784 session, Jefferson acted as chairman of committees to establish
18816-572: Was accompanied by a young slave from Monticello, Sally Hemings . Jefferson had taken her older brother, James Hemings , to Paris as part of his domestic staff and had him trained in French cuisine. According to Sally's son, Madison Hemings , the 16-year-old Sally and Jefferson began a sexual relationship in Paris, where she became pregnant. The son indicated Hemings agreed to return to the United States only after Jefferson promised to free her children when they came of age. While in France, Jefferson became
18963-558: Was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767, and lived with his mother at Shadwell. He represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1769 until 1775. He pursued reforms to slavery, including writing and sponsoring legislation in 1769 to strip power from the royal governor and courts, instead providing masters of slaves with the discretion to emancipate them. Jefferson persuaded his cousin Richard Bland to spearhead
19110-484: Was an American statesman, planter, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence . Following the American Revolutionary War and before becoming president in 1801, Jefferson was the nation's first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then
19257-685: Was beset by difficulties at home, including the trial of his former vice president Aaron Burr . In 1807, Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act to defend the nation's industries from British threats to U.S. shipping, limiting foreign trade and stimulating the birth of the American manufacturing industry. Jefferson is ranked by both scholars and in public opinion among the upper tier of American presidents. Presidential scholars and historians praise Jefferson's public achievements, including his advocacy of religious freedom and tolerance, his peaceful acquisition of
19404-421: Was completed late in 1828. He argued that the tariff of 1828 was unconstitutional because it favored manufacturing over commerce and agriculture. He believed the tariff power could be used only to generate revenue, not to provide protection from foreign competition for American industries, and that the people of a state or several states, acting in a democratically elected convention, had the power to veto any act of
19551-483: Was content to ask its sisters to unite in declarations that the acts were "void and of no force", and in "requesting their appeal" at the succeeding session of the Congress." The key sentence, and the word "nullification" was used in supplementary Resolutions passed by Kentucky in 1799. Madison's judgment is clearer. He was chairman of a committee of the Virginia Legislature, which issued a book-length Report on
19698-479: Was destroyed in a fire at his Shadwell home. His second library replenished the first. It grew to 1,250 titles by 1773, and to nearly 6,500 volumes by 1814. Jefferson organized his books into three broad categories corresponding with elements of the human mind: memory, reason, and imagination. After British forces burnt the Library of Congress during the 1814 Burning of Washington , Jefferson sold his second library to
19845-457: Was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph . John Harvie Sr. became 13-year-old Thomas' guardian. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres (2,000 ha; 7.8 sq mi), which included Monticello , and he assumed full legal authority over the property at age 21. Jefferson began his education together with the Randolph children at Tuckahoe under tutors. Thomas' father Peter, who
19992-509: Was greatly pleasing to Jefferson. In October of that year, however, Jefferson mourned his sister Jane's unexpected death at age 25; he wrote a farewell epitaph for her in Latin. Jefferson treasured his books and amassed three sizable libraries in his lifetime. He began assembling his first library, which grew to 200 volumes, in his youth. It included books inherited from his father and left to him by Wythe. In 1770, however, Jefferson's first library
20139-460: Was largely the work of Martin Van Buren (although Silas Wright Jr. of New York prepared the main provisions) and was partly a political ploy to elect Andrew Jackson President. Van Buren calculated that the South would vote for Jackson regardless of the issues, so he ignored their interests in drafting the bill. New England, he thought, was just as likely to support the incumbent John Quincy Adams, so
20286-412: Was linked to the tremendous growth and economic prosperity of this postwar era. However in 1819, the nation suffered its first financial panic and the 1820s turned out to be a decade of political turmoil that again led to fierce debates over competing views of the exact nature of American federalism. The "extreme democratic and agrarian rhetoric" that had been so effective in 1798 led to renewed attacks on
20433-508: Was not renewed. Jefferson continued his pro-France stance; during the violence of the Reign of Terror , he declined to disavow the revolution: "To back away from France would be to undermine the cause of republicanism in America." In the presidential campaign of 1796 , Jefferson lost the electoral college vote to Federalist John Adams 71–68 and was thus elected vice president. As presiding officer of
20580-520: Was not very frugal with his expenditures; in his second year, regretting that he had squandered away time and money in his first year, he committed to studying fifteen hours a day. While at William & Mary, Jefferson became a member of the Flat Hat Club . Jefferson concluded his formal studies in April 1762. He read the law under Wythe's tutelage while working as a law clerk in his office. Jefferson
20727-454: Was one of the youngest delegates to the Second Continental Congress beginning in 1775 at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War , where a formal declaration of independence from Britain was overwhelmingly favored. Jefferson was inspired by the Enlightenment ideals of the sanctity of the individual, and the writings of Locke and Montesquieu . Jefferson sought out John Adams ,
20874-610: Was quoted as saying, "Architecture is my delight, and putting up, and pulling down, one of my favorite amusements." Construction was done mostly by local masons and carpenters, assisted by Jefferson's slaves. He moved into the South Pavilion in 1770. Turning Monticello into a neoclassical masterpiece in the Palladian style was his perennial project. On January 1, 1772, Jefferson married his third cousin Martha Wayles Skelton ,
21021-429: Was self-taught and regretted not having a formal education, entered Thomas into an English school at age five. In 1752, at age nine, he attended a local school run by a Scottish Presbyterian minister and also began studying the natural world, which he grew to love. At this time he began studying Latin , Greek , and French , while learning to ride horses as well. Thomas also read books from his father's modest library. He
21168-578: Was taught from 1758 to 1760 by the Reverend James Maury near Gordonsville, Virginia , where he studied history, science, and the classics while boarding with Maury's family. Jefferson came to know various American Indians, including the Cherokee chief Ostenaco , who often stopped at Shadwell to visit on their way to Williamsburg to trade. In Williamsburg, the young Jefferson met and came to admire Patrick Henry , eight years his senior, and shared
21315-497: Was then elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for Albemarle County in September 1776, when finalizing the state constitution was a priority. For nearly three years, he assisted with the constitution and was especially proud of his Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which prohibited state support of religious institutions or enforcement of religious doctrine. The bill failed to pass, as did his legislation to disestablish
21462-479: Was treasonous. A few northern states, including Massachusetts, denied the powers claimed by Kentucky and Virginia and insisted that the Sedition law was perfectly constitutional . ... Ten state legislatures with heavy Federalist majorities from around the country censured Kentucky and Virginia for usurping powers that supposedly belonged to the federal judiciary. Northern Republicans supported the resolutions' objections to
21609-535: Was well-read in a broad variety of subjects, which, along with law and philosophy, included history, natural law, natural religion, ethics, and several areas in science, including agriculture. During his years of study under the watchful eye of Wythe, Jefferson authored a Commonplace Book , a survey of his extensive readings. Wythe was so impressed with Jefferson that he later bequeathed his entire library to him. On July 20, 1765, Jefferson's sister Martha married his close friend and college companion Dabney Carr , which
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