Thomas Jefferson as President, Betrayed his ideals or not Options

[x OB x]

When Thomas Jefferson was president did he betray his ideals. Or did he stay true to his ideals. Please leave me all of your thoughts. I would appreciate it very much .

[heyyfrankie]

*dusts off his old history book and starts looking...*

[*kryogenix*]

When Thomas Jefferson was president did he betray his ideals. Or did he stay true to his ideals. Please leave me all of your thoughts. I would appreciate it very much .

Is this for your homework assignment or something?

[Teesa]

I think he stayed true to his ideals. Like with religion, he didn't side with one, or endorse any of them. And he upheld his belief of church and state.

here's something I found on the internet that sums it up:

Jefferson did not permit himself to become personally involved in the controversies over his religious views, even after elected to the presidency. He felt to side with any one religious group or another would betray his ideals of religious freedom. As President he refused to respond to his critics, saying of them, “Let the slanders, slander.” He refused the endorsements of religious groups, upholding his belief in the separation of church and state.

[*CrackedRearView*]

Oh wow, I'd rather not write you a book. I'll just tell you that Thomas Jefferson is my favorite figure in all of the history of the United States for that very reason -- his rock hard support of his ideals.

Man, the battles between Jefferson and the Supreme Court were endless... but I'm not going on a tirade here.

I'm finished.

[Aesirus]

He didn't live up to his ideals 100%, but he certainly did enough to not be considered a sellout.

[william]

for one of our history tests at the beginning of the year we had to write a paragraph on how jefferson contradicted himself, but the only points i can remember were that he said he was against slavery yet kept slaves himself and that he said he was for the common people yet lived in a giant house. i'm going to try to find that section again, and then i'll edit this.

[Spirited Away]

he said he was for the common people yet lived in a giant house. i'm going to try to find that section again, and then i'll edit this.

Being for the common man meant that he had to live like the common man?

[OriskybusinessO]

He felt to side with any one religious group or another would betray his ideals of religious freedom. ... He refused the endorsements of religious groups, upholding his belief in the separation of church and state.

So is this saying he didnt have any religion? Did he believe in god?

[Spirited Away]

So is this saying he didnt have any religion? Did he believe in god?

He was Deist, so yea, he believed in God. However, that doesn't mean he believed in the Church or the Bible.

[f4113n]

jefferson believed in a strict interpretation of the constitution, but when he bought the louisiana purchase the constitution never gave him the right to do that. he went through a loophole were the constitution says that the president can make treaties as long as congress passes it (they did).

^do u guys think that he kept to his beliefs in this or did he just make an excuse to seem politically correct to the general public?

[*CrackedRearView*]

Well -- he went with his convictions in buying the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon Bonaparte...

Two pluses from this:

1) We got the port of New Orleans.
2) The future impact of having such a land mass is almost immeasurable. Just look where we are today...

[william]

Being for the common man meant that he had to live like the common man?

not exactly, that was just one of the points our history book made. i should have been clearer with what the question we were asked was- i said contradicted, but i think it was actually worded "what did jefferson say that was different than what he actually did?". it still doesn't mean he had to live like the common man; it just was going a little against what his beliefs were (that america was going to/should be a nation of farmers).

i think the logical thing to do with the louisiana purchase was to take napolean's offer, even though it went against his beliefs. i think that's kind of a "duh" decision, even if it was a little hypocritical.