Making of a Nation: Jefferson Moves to Cut Debt, Spending - Pgm No. 32

May 08, 2013

Making of a Nation

From VOA Learning English, welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION, our weekly program of American history - for people learning English. I’m Steve Ember.

In our last program, we talked about President Thomas Jefferson’s decisions about who would be in his new government. Jefferson was the leader of a new political party, the Republican Party. But not the Republican Party we know today; in fact, Jefferson's party laid the roots for today's Democratic Party.

During the election of 1800, the Jeffersonian Republicans struggled bitterly with the opposition party, the Federalists. Jefferson won that election. In his inaugural address of 1801, he said he wanted to work with the Federalists for the good of the nation.

But he chose no Federalists for his cabinet. All the cabinet officers were strong Republicans. All were loyal to Thomas Jefferson.

Once President Jefferson formed his cabinet, he began planning the policies of his administration.

“Jefferson, of course, thought central government should be almost invisible. He saw its prime role as acting as a referee between the states. He wanted to keep it to a minimum.”

Andrew O’Shaughnessy directs a center for Jefferson studies at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia. He says Jefferson was especially concerned about the public debt. In the first year of Jefferson’s presidency, the government owed millions of dollars. Each year, the debt grew larger because of the interest charged on these loans. Jefferson wanted to balance the budget.