Thomas Jefferson Has Lasting Influence on the United States - Program No. 35

May 30, 2013

Making of a Nation No.35 - Thomas Jefferson

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.

We have been talking about Thomas Jefferson’s second term as president. Historian Joseph Ellis calls it “a disaster,” defined by the trade embargo and the looming War of 1812.

“He leaves office in 1808, 1809. He really wants to get out of town and sort of lick his wounds.”

In the months before he left office, Jefferson had signed a bill banning all trade with Europe. No ships could enter the United States, and no ships could leave. The purpose of the trade embargo was to keep America out of the war between Britain and France.

But the embargo slowed the American economy. Many Americans opposed the trade ban.

Jefferson’s political opponents, the Federalists, used the issue to increase their strength in northeastern states. The year 1808 was, after all, a presidential election year.

Thomas Jefferson had served two four-year terms as president. No law prevented him from running again. But Jefferson had decided years before that a president should be limited to two terms.

Without such a limit, Jefferson believed, a powerful man might be able to keep the position for as long as he wished. George Washington had served two terms, and then retired. Jefferson would do the same.