Jeffersonian Era Quiz

It took 36 ballots in the House of Representatives to break the Electoral College tie between Jefferson and Burr. In the end, Alexander Hamilton was able to convince a Federalist Burr supporter to break ranks and abstain from the final vote, tipping the numbers in favor of Jefferson.

Prior to the Twelfth Amendment, the vice presidency was awarded to the second place finisher in the presidential election. By giving the vice presidency its own spot on the ballot, it reduced the likelihood of conflicts in the executive branch and partisan Electoral College face-offs.

Despite a divisive and hard-fought campaign, Jefferson used his address to try and build some solidarity that spanned party lines. His policy themes, however, were focused almost exclusively on ideas and plans to shrink the federal government’s size and limit its power.

Shrinking the federal government was a key part of the Democratic-Republican party’s platform, and Jefferson wasted no time in putting the plan into action as President. The entire military saw major cuts and the number of federal employees was cut down to a few hundred people. Jefferson also repealed the federal taxes put in place by previous administrations.

This was a landmark ruling stating that Congress cannot pass laws that are contrary to the Constitution, and that it is the role of the Judicial system to interpret what the Constitution permits.

The court's role in reviewing legislation and deciding whether it violates the Constitution is known as judicial review. Marbury v. Madison established a very important precedent because nothing in the text of the Constitution explicitly authorizes the power of judicial review.

Though the constitutional legality of the purchase was questionable, Jefferson doubled the size of the United States overnight with this purchase. The Louisiana Territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The deal was a bargain for the United States, with Jefferson paying less than 3 cents per acre.

Napoleon was gearing up for war with Britain and saw the Louisiana Territory as an asset he could turn into much needed funds. When Saint-Domingue fell in the Haitian Revolution, Napoleon’s interests in the Western Hemisphere dwindled. As a result, Napoleon chose to sell the territory to the bordering United States.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were chosen by President Jefferson to get a better picture of the land and resources he had acquired from the French in the Louisiana Purchase. Both men had backgrounds in science and experience with Native Americans, which allowed them to create a fairly complete picture of not only the land of the American west, but also what that land contained. This would provide a valuable foundation for future westward expansion.

Sacagawea, a teenage Shoshone woman, joined up with the Lewis and Clark expedition in the winter of 1804. Her assistance as a guide and interpreter would prove invaluable to the success of the mission.

Pike and his men were taken prisoner by the Spanish in early 1807 as they were returning home through the Spanish-controlled New Mexico territory. The Spanish believed Pike was scouting their land for a possible American invasion. Ironically, while it had not been a primary goal for the trip, Pike’s expedition was a key component in stoking the fire for American westward expansion towards the very same Spanish territories.

The rivalry between Hamilton and Burr was deep seeded. The final dispute was based upon Burr’s anger over Hamilton’s work to ensure Burr would not win the New York governorship. Hamilton was certain that Burr was looking to take the state of New York and its prosperous ports out of the Union. Although Hamilton had made it abundantly clear that he was only participating in the duel symbolically and would miss his rival on purpose, Burr aimed at Hamilton and fatally wounded him.

The war in Tripoli was not a resounding success for the Americans. While Jefferson was able to get Tripoli to end its constant demand for protective bribes, he also had to pay ransom to return American merchants and troops who were captured during the conflict.

Jefferson won a second term with 162 of the 176 available electoral votes. The Federalist platform had become substantially less popular nationwide following a positive four years of Democratic-Republican leadership under Jefferson.

At the beginning of the war, America was able to use its neutrality to profit from both the French and British sides of the conflict. In time, this neutrality would end harming both American trade and American foreign relations.

Impressment is the practice of forcing people to serve on ships or in the military. Jefferson was not willing to let the British actions go unchecked, but a military option was not on the table. Despite urgings from his cabinet and some sectors of the American public, Jefferson knew that America was in no position to go to war with Britain.

After negotiations over impressment failed, Jefferson chose to punish the British economically with the Embargo Act of 1807. By banning trade with all foreign nations, Jefferson hoped to ensure that there was no way for American goods to make it to Great Britain.

The Embargo Act was a failure. It included many loopholes, it was difficult to enforce, and by crippling trade it damaged the American economy. Meanwhile, the British found other trade partners to replace the American market. Congress was left with no choice but to repeal the Embargo Act in March of 1809.

Jefferson could have run for a third term, but he chose not to. He endorsed his Secretary of State, James Madison, as the Democratic-Republican nominee to face off against the returning Federalist candidate Charles Pinckney. While Madison was not able to defeat Pinckney by as wide a margin as his predecessor had, his lopsided win left little doubt that the successful political momentum of the Democratic-Republican party would continue.

As the United States pushed westward under Jefferson’s leadership, Native Americans were forced off of their lands. Native American cultures lost access to key natural resources they relied upon for survival and their way of life. Americans also brought European diseases with them in their ventures into the North American frontier. Native Americans died at alarming rates due to the exposure to the new germs and infections their culture had no natural resistances to.

The Shawnee put up a solid resistance to Harrison and his men, but were unable to achieve the victory they needed to keep sovereignty over their lands. The victory for the Americans meant that the westward expansion movement would continue with significantly less risk of Native American harassment.