Jefferson had destroyed political traditions. From his contradictions
and defecting his priciples, Jefferson destroyed the political precedent
and is a exemplatory hypocrite, which can be seen throughout his administration.
Jefferson was an admired statesman who was grappling unsuccessfully
with the moral issue of slavery. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration
of Independence, opposed slavery his whole life, yet he never freed his
own slaves. He championed Enlightenment principles, yet never freed himself
of the prejudices of his soceity. Jefferson was extremely hypocritical
in the issue of slavery. Jefferson was a plantation owner early in his
life, and had slaves working for him throughout his life. Jefferson had
tolerated while he didn't accept others who owned slaves. Jefferson denounced
the slave owners, while he was owning and using slaves. Although Jefferson
was supposedly a good slave owner, his hypocritical nature made him accuse
others not to own slaves while he, himself was owning slaves. Another part
of the hypocrisy was that Jefferson believed that the slaves were dependent
upon the white man, while he, himself was dependent upon the slaves. Jefferson
also was hypocritcal in his acquisition of the Loisiana territory. In Jeffersonian
principles, large expansive governments were bad, and small was good. This
was a antithesis of that principle. Jefferson knew that the acquisition
of the Loisiana territory was beneficial to the welfare of the U.S. According
to the constitution, nowhere in the constitution is the acquisition of
land a right of the government, Jeffersons' predisposition was to strictly
go by the constitution (as seen with the national bank controversy), this
is another contradiction during his administration. Since the appropriation
of the Lousiana territory was important for the expansion of the united
states, he temporarily dismissed his principles, therefore destroying political
traditions.
Another hypocritical event during Jeffersons' administration was his
acceptance of the National Bank. Early in Jefferson's political career,
Jefferson had debated with Hamilton on whether to have the National Bank.
"When this government was first established, it was possible to have kept
it going on true principles, but the contracted, English, half-lettured
ideas of Hamilton destroyed that hope in the bud, We can pay off his debts
in 15 years." Early in Jefferson's Administration, Jefferson had denounced
the National Bank. At the end of his administration, Jefferson realized
that the National Bank was important and this is hypocritical by disregarding
his principles.
The Burr conspiracy depicted Jefferson as a ruthless, and a individual
who will do anything inorder to achieve his goal. Jefferson championed
civil liberties and unalienable rights. Yet, Jefferson violated civil liberties
by coercing witnesses, arrested with out habeus corpus and prosecuting
in a "court" of his own. Jefferson and Jeffersonians are hypocrites from
the start and they destroyed political tradition as seen during Jeffersons'
administration.
Jeffersonians show an immense amount of hypocritism in their policies.
For example, Federalists had supported high tarriffs, inorder to protect
national manufacturers and american industry. The tarriffs were a vital
determinent, which kept the economy of the United States viable. The Jeffersonians,
not the Federalists began the American system of protecting american industry
which initially was a major constituent of the federalist platform.
