Unit Eight The Jeffersonian Era American Wonder The

Unit Eight: The Jeffersonian Era American Wonder

The Louisiana Territory • The Purchase of the Louisiana Territory opened up a vast area (the boundaries being truly unknown) for American expansion. • The only problem was that few Americans had traveled west of the Appalachians, let alone west of the Mississippi River into the Great Plains region. • To find out what the new lands held two separate expeditions were sent into the west: the Louis and Clark expedition and the Pike expedition.

The Louisiana Territory • To explore the northern half of the Louisiana Territory, Jefferson chose a close friend Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to head a group called the Corps of Discovery. • Their job was to explore, map, keep detailed records, and make first contact with any Native Americans in the area. • Lewis hired a French fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau as a guide and his wife Sacagawea (Bird women), a Shoshone Indian, as a translator for the mission.

The Louisiana Territory • The expedition started in St. Louis in 1804 and cannoned up the Missouri River up to the Rocky Mountains. • They then crossed the continental divide or “Great Divide” (ridge of the Rockies) following the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. • On the return trip Lewis and Clark split up to cover more territory, but canoed back together down the Missouri into St. Louis in 1806. (Most people even Jefferson thought they were dead)

Lewis and Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark Expedition York also called Toby: slave on trip Meriwether Lewis William Clark Sacagawea Click on the picture above to join the journey.

Pike Expedition • In 1805 Jefferson commissioned Lieutenant Zebulon Pike to find the source of the Mississippi River, exploring the upper Mississippi River valley. • In 1806, Pike was commissioned to explore the southwestern half of the Louisiana Territory. • In what is today Colorado, Pike named the highest mountain top after himself called Pike’s Peak.

The Great American Desert • He then turned south crossing into Spanish territory going through the town of Santa Fe and crossing over the Rio Grande (big river) where he was captured by Spanish soldiers. • After he gave the Spanish his maps and notes they allowed the expedition to return home. • Pike influenced future settlement into the Great Plains region because he called it the Great American Desert due to the endless grassy plains and lack of trees, stating it was only good for Indians. • This caused many early settlers to skip over the Great Plains and head to the coastline of the Pacific Ocean.

Pike Expedition Rio Grande

The Napoleonic Wars • A major international issue developed in France in 1806 when Napoleon Bonaparte issued the Berlin Decree installing the Continental System. (to not allow Britain to trade with French allies or dependants) • Shortly after the Berlin Decree Napoleon planned an invasion of Great Britain leading to the Third Napoleonic War. • He then issued the Milan Decree which waged economic war on Britain ( any nation that traded with England was an enemy of France)

Trouble on the High Seas • In response to the decrees of Napoleon the British made the Orders in Council forbidding any trade with the French. • The Napoleonic War caused troubles for American merchants because they where caught in the middle. • American merchant ships were stopped on the high seas and American sailors were impressed (forced to serve for another navy) into the British navy.

Troubles on the High Seas • In response to the impressnment of American sailors, Americans offered any British sailors who wanted to desert (leave) the British navy safe passage to America and citizenship. • Britain then issued a loose blockade of the American coastline to search American ships for deserters. • The British warship HMS Leopard attacked and boarded the U. S. S. Chesapeake taking three prisoners known as the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair. • The attack on an American vessel off the coast of Virginia highly enraged the American public.

Embargo Act of 1807 • In response to the attack and the impressnment of American sailors Jefferson issued the Embargo Act of 1807 (later changed to the Nonintercourse Acts) restricting American merchants from trading with any foreign nation from 18071812. • The Embargo was meant to be a peaceful diplomatic weapon against England France, but angered many American merchants due to the lose of money. • Many American merchants turned to smuggling, making the embargo inefficient.

Embargo Act of 1807

Domestic Issues • During Jefferson’s second term he also had to deal with many issues at home. • In 1807 he signed legislation that banned the importation of slaves into America, but also disallowed Free blacks from carrying the male. • Jefferson began the policy of relocation of Native Americans into the West, only allowing the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole) to remain. • He had to deal with a huge corruption scandal known as the Yazoo Land Controversy. • He also had to deal with members of his own party who believed he had went against the principles of the party.

Home to Monticello • By the end of 1808 Jefferson was tired of dealing with the nation’s problems and followed Washington’s example and refused to run again. • Jefferson retired to his home in Virginia that he had designed and built called Monticello. • Jefferson then went on to found the University of Virginia. (a school free of church dogma) – Jefferson was a deist (people who believe in God, but that he does not interfere into our lives; he is a watchmaker). – Jefferson even had his own bible with all the miracles removed from it.

Jefferson’s Homes Click on the Picture for a virtual tour of Monticello and other information.

Legacy of Jefferson • Thomas Jefferson left behind a presidency of contradictions that was seen as a fulfillment of republican democratic ideals, but also as a Nationalizer of power in the hands of the Federal government. • He established the Army Corps of Engineers and West Point but believed in a small military. • Jefferson was a man ahead of his time, but was also the man needed in his time.

Jefferson Memorial We hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We. . . solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. . . And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.