Pragmatic Leader
Why Thomas Jefferson Was A Pragmatic Leader
The Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, Thomas Jefferson sent James Monroe to France to buy Louisiana for the expansion of the country. Monroe and Napoleon Bonaparte agreed to settle on Louisiana for 15 million dollars. Jefferson was Pragmatic in this situation because he did what was right for the people but he went slightly out of his beliefs because at the time, the Louisiana purchase was unconstitutional.
Where Jefferson was Pragmatic
The Constitution
Hamilton VS Thomas Jefferson
The Embargo Act of 1807
Hamilton vs Thomas Jefferson
While Jefferson shared Hamilton's admiration for America's commercial might—he had just come back from a stint in Europe negotiating free-trade treaties, he profoundly disagreed with Hamilton about the basic make-up of the American people. Hamilton's financiers, Jefferson claimed, were parasitic commercial elites, dependent for their success on the virtuous labor of independent farmers. The government, Jefferson believed, had no responsibility to help them. If the government was going to help anyone, it should be helping those farmers on whom the commercialists preyed.
The Embargo Act of 1807
The neutrality of the United States was tested during the Napoleonic Wars. Both Britain and France imposed trade restrictions in order to weaken each others' economies. This also had the effect of disrupting American trade and testing the United States' neutrality. As time went on, harassment by the British of American ships increased. This included impressment and seizures of American men and goods. After the Chesapeake Affair, Thomas Jefferson was faced with a decision to make regarding the situation at hand. In the end, he chose the Embargo act of 1807.
The Constitution
Although Thomas Jefferson was in France serving as United States minister when the Federal Constitution was written in 1787, he was able to influence the development of the federal government through his correspondence. Later his actions as the first secretary of state, vice president, leader of the first political opposition party, and third president of the United States were crucial in shaping the look of the nation's capital and defining the powers of the Constitution and the nature of the emerging republic. Jefferson sought to establish a federal government of limited powers.
Thomas Jefferson~Pragmatic
Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration Of Independence. Many don't think he was pragmatic due to what he said. You might ask what things made him pragmatic. The Louisiana Purchase is one of our examples because he tried to interpret the Constitution, also cutting taxes and enforcing the Embargo Act were signs of him being pragmatic. Pragmatic means dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations. Thomas Jefferson was very practical in the matter of how he handled things and considered them just like in the events we mentioned above, that's what makes Thomas Jefferson pragmatic