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Jefferson Begins Construction of Monticello
Located outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, Monticello was a neoclassical building designed by Jefferson. It served as his primary residence. It also contained a 5,000 acre plantation. -
Thomas Jefferson becomes Minister to France
Thomas Jefferson is Minister of France until 1789, which is the same that the French Revolution breaks out. -
Thomas Jefferson become Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson is the Secretary of State during George Washington's Presidency. He will have many disagreements with Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. Ultimately, Jefferson will resign from this post in 1793. -
Thomas Jefferson becomes Vice-President
Thomas Jefferson runs for President as the Democratic Republican candidate. He loses to John Adams, a Federalist, but Jefferson ends up serving as his Vice-President. -
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions secretly written
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison anonymously pen these Resolutions which denounce the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the Adams administration. The Resolutions declare the acts as unconstitutional, and they affirm the importance of states' rights. Jefferson wrote the Kentucky Resolutions; Madison wrote the Virginia ones. -
Thomas Jefferson is Inaugurated
Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president of the United States, becoming the first president inaugurated in Washington, D.C. Aaron Burr, who had tied Jefferson in electoral votes but then lost the election in the House of Representatives, is inaugurated Vice President -
First Barbary War begins
The ruler of Tripoli declares war on the United States after Jefferson decides to no longer bribe Barbary pirates to leave American ships alone. After 4 years of war and the capture of the USS Philadelphia, Jefferson agrees to pay $60,000 for the ship to be returned. -
Louisiana Purchase
Jefferson purchases the territory of Louisiana from Napoleon. The territory was 828,000 square miles. He paid $15 million for it, which was less than 3 cents a mile. -
Marbury vs. Madison decision
At the very end of his term, President John Adams had made many federal appointments, including William Marbury as justice of the peace in the District of Columbia. Thomas Jefferson refused to recognize the appointment of Marbury. Secretary of State Madison refused to deliver Marbury's commission. Marbury sued Madison, and the Supreme Court took the case. Court decides that it has no authority to appoint Marbury. This sets precedent for judicial review. -
Lewis and Clark Explore the Western United State
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out from St. Louis to explore the West. They were to explore and map the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase and find out how many Spanish, French and other European natioanls were there. They also sought to find a route across the Western half of the continent, and establish an American presence in this territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim it. -
Twelfth Amendent is Ratified
In order to avoid having a President and Vice-President from two different political parties (as was the case with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson) each member of the Elector College each elector must pick a President AND a Vice President on his ballot. Previously, each elector cast two votes for President, -
Jefferson is reelected a second term
Thomas Jefferson defeated the Federalist candidate Charles Pinckney for the Presidency. Jefferson's Vice-President is George Clinton. Jefferson and his former VP, Aaron Burr, had grown apart ideologically -
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase is Aquitted
The Democratic-Republican-controlled House of Representatives impeached Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in January 1805. Chase was a Federalist and had been one of the most overzealous enforcers of the Alien and Sedition Acts, imprisoning several Republican leaders and journalists. -
Napoleon Issues the Berlin Decree
Initiated the Continental System, which declared Great Britain to be under a blockade. Napoleon sought to wage economic war against Britain because he wasn't able to engage in a naval war. The Berlin Decree called for the confiscation of British goods found on any ship. -
Prophetstown founded on Tippecanoe River (Indiana Territory)
Tenskwatawa ("The Prophet") of the Shawnee had been gaining followers for a few years. He claimed that the Mashter of Life told him that the Native Americans should discard the white setters' way of life and go back to their traditional ways. The Prophet preached that white people would vanish from the world, although he never encouraged the Natives to attack whites, but to resist them. -
HMS Leopard (British) attacks USS Chesapeake (American)
British navy vessel Leopard attacked the Chesapeake, engaged it in a battle that killed three Americans, hanged a British deserter, and kidnapped three American sailors from their ship. The attack took place only about 10 miles off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia. -
Napoleon Issues the Milan Decree
Authorized French ships to capture neutral ships sailing from any British port. -
Jefferson Signs the Embargo Act
Because the French and the British did not respect America's neutrality, Jefferson and Congress passed the Embargo Act. The Act closed all American foreign trade until France and England recognized America's neutrality. This will be a disaster for the American economy. -
Non-Intercourse Act
Congress passed this legislation only a few days before Jefferson was to leave office. It allowed the US to trade with all countries again, except for Britian and France (unless the lifted their restrictions on US trade)
